Poker Software A guide to PokerTracker and PAHud.

[RedJoker]

I promised to do this thread a while back but have been fairly busy recently. Sorry for the delay but hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

PokerTracker is a program that takes hand histories and gives you huge amounts of data about your own play and your opponent’s play. It is almost a necessity for online play and used properly will greatly improve your winrate. Two other similar programs which are popular are Holdem Manager and Poker Office.

These programs don’t work on all sites but they do work for all the large sites, check that the software is compatible before buying.

Using PokerTracker to improve your own game.

Play at least 10,000 hands, preferably more, at whatever stakes you’re currently playing, import them to PT and go through this excellent post by Pokey. Be honest with yourself and if you think you may have leaks take steps to fix them.

At the end of every session/day it's also a good idea to go back through your biggest winners or losers or any other interesting hands and review them. Recognize if you made any mistakes and try not to repeat them in future. If there are any hands that confused you or you'd like opinions on, convert them and post them on the forum for discussion.

Using PokerTracker to track your opponents play

You’ll often see players described as things like 27/18/2, well what does this mean? The first number is VPIP, the second is PFR and the third is AF.

Voluntarily Put $ In Pot % (VPIP) – this shows how loose a player is preflop, it is the best tool for estimating a player’s hand range. You want your opponent’s VPIP to be as large as possible at low stakes, the more hands they play the worse they usually are. You need at least about 50 hands to be confident assigning ranges based on this stat.

<15% is very tight. They are only playing super premiums from early position and only slightly loosen up in late position.

15% - 22% is tight. They will usually be a bit looser from early position then the <15% players, make notes on whether they play PPs from early position or not and whether they raise or limp. They tend to have a much wider range in late position.

22% - 30% is semi loose. They’ll usually open all PPs and strong non pair hands, like suited broadways and strong aces, from early position. They will have a wide range from late position.

30% - 40% is loose. These players are usually playing too many hands in all positions.

40% - 60% is very loose. They’re playing all sorts of trash from all positions, these are the type of players you would like to have at your table.

>60% is free money.

Preflop Raise % (PFR) – is the percentage of hands your opponent is raising preflop. It must always be less or equal their VPIP and should be analyzed in context with their VPIP. A 60/18 is not that aggressive, while a 20/18 is an extremely aggressive player. Again you need at least 50 hands to have confidence in this stat.

If their PFR is very small (<5%) then you don’t need to worry about getting raised off marginal hands. If they do raise you can fold nearly all speculative hands unless you have the implied odds to call and stack them with PP type hands.

If their PFR is <1/2 their VPIP, then this player is fairly passive preflop and limping over half the hands they play.

If PFR is between 50% - 75% of VPIP then they’re raising more than limping but they’re not super aggressive.

Any player with a ratio >75% is raising the majority of their hands and are aggressive preflop.

Aggression Factor (AF) – is an indicator of postflop aggression. It is calculated as (raise% + bet%)/(call%) postflop. It’s the ratio of times a player is aggressive vs. times they’re passive. You need at least 100 – 200 hands to be confident with this stat but more hands for tighter players.

It’s important to look at this in the context of VPIP and other stats to work out what it means. One of the limitations of AF is that it doesn’t include fold% so two players with the same AF could have vastly different ranges for raising.

A weaktight nit with a VPIP of 12% is going to make much stronger hands on average and fold his marginal hands more often then a maniac with a VPIP of 65% who bets and raises with random hands.

The weaktight nit will have a high AF because he often folds unless he has the nuts so a raise from him will often mean a strong hand. The maniac on the other hand might have the same AF but since he’s playing more hands preflop and folding fewer hands postflop his range for raising will be far larger.

It’s important to be able to tell what type of player you’re up against. Take note of the type of hands they show down, the maniac will lose a lot of hands at showdown while the nit will go to showdown infrequently and often with monsters. Using AF with WtSD, W$SD and W$WSF (explained soon) will give you a better idea what type of player you’re up against. Looking at how they react to cbets can also be a useful indicator.

Some rough guidelines:

<1.5 is passive, these players are calling a lot and betting/raising very little, a raise from these players usually means a strong hand. You can value bet lighter against these opponents because they tend to call with wide ranges.

1.5 – 2.5 is about average. These players aren’t overly aggressive postflop but it’s important to look at it in the context of their VPIP and other stats.

2.5 – 3.5 is aggressive. Be prepared to assign a wider range to bets and raises.

>3.5 is very aggressive. These players prefer to bet or raise rather then call and may do so lightly. Against these players it may be profitable to induce bluffs. As mentioned, in some cases a high AF can be an indication of a high fold%, so don’t just assume they’re raising you light.

GameTime+ is a free add-on for PokerTracker, it takes stats on your opponents from your database and displays them on your table while you play. It can also display stats for how you’ve been playing over that session.

Along with the trinity (VPIP, PFR and AF) it can also display the following stats:

Won $ When Saw Flop % (W$WSF) – How often a player wins the pot when he sees a flop; this gives a good indication of how aggressive a player is postflop.

>45% – this player is likely to be extremely aggressive postflop and is probably firing multiple barrels. It’s also likely this player goes too far with marginal holdings, usually indicates a maniac.

40% – 45% – this player is playing aggressively, most commonly a good TAG/LAG

35% - 40% - this player is slightly passive postflop, he gives up easily and may be playing too many hands preflop. Usually indicates a weak-tight postflop player.

<35% - this player is giving up far too easily and may be playing too many hands preflop. Usually means that the player is nitty.

Went to Showdown % (WtSD) – How often a player gets to showdown when he sees a flop. The higher this number is the more likely the player is to be a calling station and the lighter you can value bet. The lower the number the more you can bluff and the less inclined you should be to value bet. This should be looked at with W$SD.

<22%, this player is fairly nitty and doesn’t get to showdown often, most likely has a high W$SD

22% – 27%, indicates a reasonably tight range and is the most common, should be looked at in terms of W$SD.

27% - 33%, fairly loose range for getting to showdown, a low W$SD would indicate a calling station while a high W$SD would usually indicate a competent LAG.

>33%, this player is almost definitely going too far with his hands. Value bet relentlessly.

Won $ at Showdown % (W$SD) – How often a player wins at showdown. This can give a rough measure of a player’s postflop skill, the higher the number the more likely an opponent is to have the winning hand at showdown.

This really needs to be looked at in context with a player’s WtSD and they’re overall style of play. A maniac is likely to have a low W$SD while a smart, aggressive player’s will be higher. A good LAG will have a high W$SD where a bad LAG wouldn’t. This will also separate the nits from the TAGs. You can bluff frequently and use smaller bet sizes against players with high W$SD as they’re likely to be weak tight. On the other hand a player with a low W$SD is likely calling too much so we can value bet lighter and bet bigger against them.

>55%, this player probably isn’t going to showdown too often and can be bluffed more frequently.

48% - 55%, fairly common for TAGs/LAGs, look at in terms of WtSD.

<48%, usually has the worst hand at showdown, value bet relentlessly and don’t bluff them.

BB/100 – Lets you know if the player is winning over the sample. A good stat to have up on your own play if you multitable as it will tell you what your table image is like for each table. If you’re down a good bit on the table then your image will be bad and you will get called and played back at lighter. If you’re up a good bit, haven’t shown down much (or only strong hands) your image is likely to be good and you’ll have more steal and fold equity.

Total Hands Played (Hands) – Probably the most critical stat you can have up. This tells you how much weight you can give to the stats. VPIP and PFR become meaningful after about 50 hands, AF after about 200-500 hands depending on how loose the player is. W$SD and W$WSF will need several thousand hands to be truly accurate so should be used carefully, WtSD will become accurate a lot faster though.

PAHud is another add-on for PokerTracker, there’s a 30 day free trial but will only work on 1 table at a time. After that, or if you want to play more tables, you must buy a registration code.

It can display all of the stats that GameTime+ can and many, many more. Here are a few of the ones I use while playing:

Aggression Factor by Street (FlopAF/TurnAF/RiverAF) – Having these three stats up can give you a good idea of what type of player you’re up against.

A player with high flop AF will be cbetting frequently, use this with Cbet% to determine how likely a player is to cbet.

A player with low flop AF and unusually high turn AF (>2) is most likely a floater. They tend to have a fairly high Call PFR % as well as a high Call Cbet %.

A player with high flop and turn AFs will often be firing a double barrel, if they have a high W$WSF and Cbet% with a fairly low WtSD you can be fairly confident they will fire 2nd barrels.

A player with low flop and turn AF and high river AF is usually a fish; they like to see all the cards before betting and are often calling stations as well.

A player with normal flop and turn AFs but with a low river AF (<2) is often turning their hand into a bluff catcher on the river, they prefer to check/call then bet/fold. Conversely a player with a high river AF will be bet/folding more of their marginal hands and you can raise their bets as a bluff more often.

Attempt to Steal Blinds % (AttSB) – This is an incredibly useful stat, it can tell you if a player is positionally aware or not. It needs to be looked at in context with PFR. If their AttSB is significantly higher then their PFR then they are definitely positionally aware and you can give more respect to their UTG opens and less to their CO/BTN opens. A high Fold SB/BB to steal % is another sign that they are positionally aware.

A player with a high AttSB who is opening from the CO and particularly the BTN is a good candidate to 3bet light. If they also have a high Cbet% then you could consider calling light with the intention of c/ring (or just raising if your on the BTN) their cbet. PPs go down in value against these types of players since you can’t expect to get paid off if you hit.

<20% - These players aren’t taking advantage of their position and are giving up a lot of value. We would like this type of player in LP when we’re in the blinds.

20% – 27% - these players aren’t stealing too light and we can give their CO/BTN opens a tightish range. We’re not losing much against this type of player.

27% – 35% - these players are stealing fairly lightly, we should assign a wider range to their LP opens and 3bet them is they’re getting out of line.

>35% – these players are stealing very lightly and are often raising a lot of trash hands. We can 3bet more hands for value and should be 3betting them frequently as their range can’t take much pressure.

Continuation Bet % – How often a player bets or raises the flop after raising preflop. At micro stakes players should be cbetting almost all of the time, however at small-mid stakes this is likely burning money. Pay attention to PFR and AttSB, a player with a very low PFR most likely has a big hand when he cbets and should be given credit. A player with a high PFR and high Cbet% will have a much wider range when they cbet.

>85%, this player is cbetting almost always and is unlikely to be paying attention to the number of opponents or the flop texture. You can raise and call him lighter. These are also prime candidates for floating unless they fire a lot of 2nd barrels. If they do fire 2nd barrels often then you can be more inclined to slowplay or call down lightly against them trying to induce bluffs.

65% - 85%, this player is probably playing closer to optimally at small-mid stakes and is much harder to exploit.

<65%, this player doesn’t cbet often enough. We can see more flops with them and take the pot away when they check. However, they should be given more credit when they do cbet.

Bet River % - How often a player bets the river. It’s important to know what type of opponent you’re up against. A lot of fish like to check-call cbets and bet the river after the turn checks through. They assume you would have bet a strong hand on the turn and believe they can win the pot by betting. Maniacs are probably bluffing the river frequently.

>30%, this player is likely betting a lot of marginal hands on the river. Be prepared to call down lighter.

20% - 30%, this player is betting the river fairly frequently, they may bet-fold more often then check-call.

<20%, this player should be given a lot more respect on the river.

Fold SB/BB to steal % - This stat is very useful and can tell you how likely your steal attempts are to be successful. A player with a low fold blind to steal % is defending regularly. If they also have a high call cbet% then stealing light is unlikely to be successful. If a player has a high fold blind to steal % or a high fold to cbet % then you can steal extremely lightly but be prepared to shutdown against resistance.

>90%, playing super tight OOP, attack mercilessly.

80% - 90%, still playing fairly tight and a good target for steals, the higher their fold to cbet % the better.

70%-80%, very player dependent, o.k. steal targets if they give up easily postflop. Not great targets if they’re competent players.

<70%, calling too much OOP and will find it difficult to make hands or continue postflop without the betting lead, highly exploitable but not great targets to steal light against.

Calls PFR % – This is a very useful tool to use with Fold SB/BB to steal. If they have a low Call PFR (less then about 5% – 6%) and a low Fold SB/BB to steal (less then about 70% – 75%) it’s very likely they are 3betting light and you can adjust.

Fold/Call/Raise cbet % – These are very, very useful stats to have up. They can show you how an opponent is likely to react to your cbet.

The most important stat is fold to cbet %. It’s important to know how likely your cbet is to be successful and who you should cbet against. For a fold to cbet %:

<50%, cbetting against them is often just burning money, they are calling stations and chase too lightly. Value bet them relentlessly but don’t bother cbetting with air on boards likely to have hit their range. Cbetting on dry boards heads-up can sometimes be o.k. though.

50% - 70%, they’re probably not huge calling stations but may play back or chase with marginal hands or draws.

70% - 80%, likely to only be putting money in with a reasonable hand and probably aren’t chasing too lightly.

>80%, should nearly always be cbet against in heads-up pots, they need a good hand to continue and usually won’t have it.

Call and Raise cbet %:

Very useful when deciding how to play marginal draws on the flop. Against players with high raise cbet compared to call cbet we should be more inclined to check behind a weak hand like a gutshot or a hand we don’t want to get raised off. If the player rarely raises cbets and is more likely to call if he’s continuing then we can bet these hands and expect to see a turn and river if we don’t take the pot down straight away. It’s also more likely that we get to see all 5 cards this way.

A raise cbet % >15 would be fairly high and can be given less respect. Be wary of players whose raise % is larger then their call %.

You can also work out what a donk bet is likely to mean. A player who never raises cbets that has donk bet is likely to be donk betting their strongest hands and conversely a player with a high raise cbet % who donk bets is often weak and should be raised.

Fold to flop bet – Very similar to fold to cbet% but this applies to non raised pots, the figures are usually fairly close.

Cold Call % – How often they call a raise with no money already invested. Anything above 2 indicates that a player is probably calling preflop raises with marginal or trash holdings. You can assign a wider range to them and you should be less inclined to steal from the CO if they're on the BTN.

Name - You don't want to be basing decisions off incorrect information. If a player gets up and another takes his place before the stats refresh you could make some very costly mistakes.

I also include most of the other stats I don't have displayed in the pop-up screen, you never know when you might need it.

It’s possible to put up stats on your own play for the session. I highly recommend doing this as it can give you a good indicator of what your image is likely to be. I have VPIP, PFR, AF, AttSB, Cbet%, BB/100 and Hands displayed.

As you can see a lot of these stats require large amounts of hands to become accurate. Datamining is extremely important if you want to use a lot of these stats. Not all sites allow datamining and there are a number of programs available for the bigger sites which will datamine for you. Other players are doing it and I strongly recommend you do it too.

It is critically important that you use these stats to supplement note taking and NOT to replace it. Note taking is still vitally important and I can’t stress this enough.

Here’s a thread which should help improve the speed of PokerTracker.

Auto rate rules categorize opponents as you import hands, not hugely useful and I definitely wouldn't base any decisions off them but I'll include them here for people who are curious.

6 max

Full Ring

Different rules with an explanation

I highly recommend having showdown information switched on in PAHud. This can save you time instead of having to go back through hand histories. You should also use the database cache to help improve PAHud performance. Some players like to use the combination stats to display stats whereas others prefer having them individually, try both out for a while and see which one you prefer.

Some players will use certain stats more then others, I rarely use WtSD and W$SD while a lot of players use it regularly. This will be dependent on your personal style and there is no right or wrong stats to use (just wrong ways to use them), find what suits you and have the other stats as a back up.

Further reading on PT and PAHud:

What stats do you display on your PAHUD

Interpreting PAHUD Stats (Cardrunners members only)

Profiling opponents using PAH

MS Sunshine on using Poker Tracker

Some notes on notes

P5 PT guide part 1

P5 PT guide part 2

P5 PT guide part 3

[dvdfan]

Super post Red, ill re-read this again soon and adjust my PAHUD as theres some good stuff there that i hadnt considered like using the W$WTS in conjunction with Went To SD and Won at SD and also the calls PFR and folds BB to steal to see if theyre 3betting light...

[cooker3]

Wow. Fantastic stuff RJ. This should be stickied immediately

[breadmonkey]

Very nice, thanks

[LuckyLloyd]

Bookmarked. Thank you for the effort.

[opr]

Awesome post.

Opr

[Mr.Plough]

tl;dr. i will sometime tonight though

bookmarked

[Van Dice]

kudos RJ

very nice, I like!

[MuddyDog]

cheers
very helpful.

[The Al Lad]

Just started using PT, cheers man very helpful

[RoadSweeper]

Brilliant asusual RJ!

[TommyGunne]

Great post! Will be reading this over and over! I'm new to PT so there's a lot of work to be done it seems...

[BobSloane]

nice one red joker. great help putting some words behind them numbers! sometimes i feel like one of those guys reading the matrix, in the movie - the matrix. lol im so drunk

[NeoSlicerZ]

Wow, just, wow, can we hide this somewhere?

[The_Chopper]

Excellent, thanks