{"id":891,"date":"2023-01-16T17:16:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T17:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardschat.com\/?page_id=891"},"modified":"2023-06-26T12:48:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T12:48:04","slug":"pokertracker","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/tools\/pokertracker\/","title":{"rendered":"PokerTracker Software &#8211; Guide for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-page-heading\">\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PokerTracker Software &#8211; Guide for Beginners<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"sub-heading\"><strong>Find out how to take advantage of its features and start winning big.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-page-info\"><ul class=\"pageInfo__list\"><li class=\"pageInfo__listItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"pageInfo__icon pageInfo__icon--avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cc-icon-white-on-blue-96x96.png\" alt=\"Avatar for the CardsChat Editorial Team\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\"\/>Written by \u00a0<span>the CardsChat Editorial Team<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>PokerTracker 4 (PT4) is a recommended tool for anyone who&#8217;s serious about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/tips-for-winning-online-poker\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/tips-for-winning-online-poker\/\">winning at poker online<\/a>, and this handy guide will help you set it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But before that, the crucial question:&nbsp;<strong>is PokerTracker worth getting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re serious about improving your game, then&nbsp;<strong>yes!<\/strong>&nbsp;It&#8217;s great for&nbsp;<strong>tracking, stats and analysis<\/strong>, and is well worth the price tag (if used properly, it should pay for itself). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group section has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section__content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section__heading\">The Set-Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If this is your first time using any version of PokerTracker, along with the software you will need to install and configure the &#8220;<strong>PostgreSQL Database<\/strong>&#8220;. The installation is standard and is required to use PT4, but is a simple part of the installation process, so if you haven&#8217;t done it before you&#8217;ll be walked through creating your first database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have any problems, please refer to the PT4&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokertracker.com\/guides\/PT4\/general\/pokertracker-4-quick-start-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">quick start guide<\/a>. You can also search their forums, make a new thread in their support section, or contact their excellent customer service who will help you out. And it\u2019s always worth checking the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/forum\/\">CardsChat poker forums<\/a>&nbsp;to see if a community member has already answered your question!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PokerTracker 4 is compatible with a large number of poker sites and networks. As an example of the set-up process, let\u2019s look at&nbsp;<strong>getting PT4 to work with PokerStars<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First you need to tell&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/site-reviews\/pokerstars\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/site-reviews\/pokerstars\/\">PokerStars<\/a>&nbsp;to save your hand histories on your computer\u2019s hard drive. Open the PokerStars desktop client, go to the&nbsp;\u2018<strong>Settings<\/strong>\u2019&nbsp;menu and click on&nbsp;\u2018<strong>Playing History<\/strong>\u2019 &gt; \u2018<strong>Hand History<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check the&nbsp;\u2018<strong>Save My Hand History<\/strong>\u2019&nbsp;checkbox, and make sure the save directory says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/C:\\Users\\YourName\\AppData\\Local \\PokerStars*\\HandHistory\\<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* this may include your geographical region, so may say \\PokerStars.UK\\ for players in the United Kingdom, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On this screen you can also choose how long to save Hand Histories for: a minimum of&nbsp;<strong>30 days<\/strong>&nbsp;is recommended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group section has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section__content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section__heading\">The Database<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now on to setting up the PostgreSQL database server, which is the database that stores your hands and statistics for PT4 to analyze. PostgreSQL&#8217;s&nbsp;<strong>default settings are recommended<\/strong>&nbsp;and should serve the needs of most players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click&nbsp;\u2018<strong>Install<\/strong>\u2019 on the installation wizard pop-up to connect your database with PokerTracker 4. Next you will need to&nbsp;<strong>create your PT4 database<\/strong>, and again it\u2019s recommended to use the default settings, unless you changed them in the previous step. Here, you will also have the opportunity to connect to an existing database by checking the designated box and entering the appropriate information, or simply&nbsp;<strong>click \u2018Create\u2019 to set up the default database<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group section has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section__content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section__heading\">The Connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Next,&nbsp;<strong>follow the instructions in the installation wizard<\/strong>&nbsp;to set up PokerTracker 4, configuring the software to the currencies and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/best-online-sites\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/best-online-sites\/\">poker sites<\/a>&nbsp;you use most often (and converting old databases from PokerTracker 3 and similar programs, should you wish).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will see a list of popular poker sites, and asked to select those you play on before clicking \u2018<strong>Next<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you\u2019ll have the option to&nbsp;<strong>customize your interface<\/strong>&nbsp;if you wish, then clicking the \u2018<strong>Finish<\/strong>\u2019 button will import all your hand histories from your selected poker sites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group section has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section__content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section__heading\">The Fun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once your hands are imported, you&#8217;ll be able to view all the hands you have played so far that day and all hands from the tables you are currently on. Remember to&nbsp;<strong>start PokerTracker 4 whenever you begin a poker session<\/strong>, and to click&nbsp;\u2018<strong>Get Hands While Playing<\/strong>\u2019 in PT4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once that button is clicked your&nbsp;<strong>Heads-Up Display (HUD)<\/strong>&nbsp;will launch. To learn how to interpret the data you can see, refer to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokertracker.com\/guides\/PT4\/hud\/basic-hud-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PT4 HUD guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There will also be two new buttons at the top of your table. Clicking these presents you with a variety of options which will allow you to pull up your hand histories, access HUD options, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve been playing a while and have a nice hand history built up, you can then<strong>&nbsp;view your detailed statistics<\/strong>&nbsp;(for both cash games and tournaments),&nbsp;<strong>analyze your weak spots<\/strong>, pull&nbsp;<strong>graphs and charts related to your performance<\/strong>, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many players adding a tool like PT4 to their arsenal is a game changer; you may find it impossible to go back to playing online poker without it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group section has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section__content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section__heading\">In summary:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper wp-block-create-block-stepper--fancyNumber\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper-item\">\n<p>Download and install PokerTracker 4 and the PostgreSQL Database Server from PokerTracker.com<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper-item\">\n<p>Access your settings in PokerStars (or whichever poker site you use), and toggle the option to save hand histories to your hard drive<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper-item\">\n<p>Launch PT4 and create new PokerTracker data (or link to existing data) and connect it to your PostgreSWL database<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper-item\">\n<p>Use the setup assistant to select your currency and poker site(s) of choice<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-create-block-stepper-item\">\n<p>During real money poker play, open PokerTracker and start your auto-import of hand histories. You\u2019ll soon gain valuable insights into your habits, strengths and weaknesses<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>What you do with those insights is up to you, but the important thing is that you now have an&nbsp;<strong>accurate, data-led and objective view of your playing style<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking for more? Check out our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/\">poker strategy<\/a>&nbsp;section for more ways to improve your game, or visit our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/become-a-winning-poker-player\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/become-a-winning-poker-player\/\">Free Poker School<\/a>&nbsp;for a month of carefully curated poker lessons!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card wp-block-create-block-link-card--vertical\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__content\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__imageWrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poker-strategy.svg\" alt=\"Poker Strategy\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__image wp-image-1294\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__linkWrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__link\">Poker Strategy<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card wp-block-create-block-link-card--vertical\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__content\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__imageWrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/poker-hands-question.svg\" alt=\"Odds for Dummies\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__image wp-image-1291\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__linkWrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/odds\/\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__link\">Odds for Dummies<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card wp-block-create-block-link-card--vertical\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__content\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__imageWrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/three-card-poker.svg\" alt=\"Three Card Poker\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__image wp-image-1314\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__linkWrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/poker-starting-hands\/\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__link\">Poker Starting Hands<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card wp-block-create-block-link-card--vertical\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__content\"><div class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__imageWrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rtp-percentage-win-rate.svg\" alt=\"Odds Calculator\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__image wp-image-1304\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__linkWrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/strategy\/poker-equity\/\" class=\"wp-block-create-block-link-card__link\">Online Poker Equity<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Set-Up If this is your first time using any version of PokerTracker, along with the software you will need to install and configure the &#8220;PostgreSQL Database&#8220;. The installation is standard and is required to use PT4, but is a simple part of the installation process, so if you haven&#8217;t done it before you&#8217;ll be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":886,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"single-column-with-aside","meta":{"itm_adobe_analytics_page_language":"English","itm_adobe_analytics_page_country":"*GLOBAL*","itm_adobe_analytics_page_primary_category":"Non-Commercial","itm_adobe_analytics_page_vertical":"Poker","itm_adobe_analytics_page_sub_vertical":"","itm_adobe_analytics_page_tri_vertical":"","itm_adobe_analytics_page_sub_categories":["Tools"],"itm_adobe_analytics_page_primary_subcategory":"Tools","itm_adobe_analytics_page_is_toplist":false,"itm_adobe_analytics_page_equivalent":"","footnotes":""},"vertical":[69],"pagetype":[79],"pagesettings":[],"class_list":["post-891","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":891},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/891\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"pagetype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pagetype?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"pagesettings","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/poker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pagesettings?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}