Live Tracker
One of the most important and most useful features of PokerOffice is the Live Tracker. The Live Tracker has two key purposes:
- Track play in real-time: The Live Tracker keeps track of play during the hand. It gives you real-time information about your play, your opponents' play, and your outs and pot odds. This information is continually updated so that you always have access to the most up-to-date information
- Import data to database: The Live Tracker also automatically imports each hand into your PokerOffice database during play. The Live Tracker does all the work to ensure that your database contains all hands you've seen on all of your open tables.
On many poker sites, you can use Live Tracker to start tracking a game before you even sit down at the table. The tracker will then still track your opponents' hands and arm you with valuable statistics once you actually do join the game.
Note that much of the information available in the Live Tracker window can also be viewed through the Poker Table Overlay. You can turn off the live tracker window completely if you wish and only use the poker table overlay to display statistics.
The following sections describe the use of Live Tracker:
Starting Live Tracker
Overhead Tabs
Menu Options / Customization
Starting Live Tracker
You can put a Live Tracker on each of the poker tables that you have open (see the Appendix for a list of the maximum number of tables that can simultaneously be tracked for each poker site). There are two ways to start a Live Tracker:
Auto Detect Mode - In "auto-detection" mode, a new Live Tracker will automatically be started whenever you open a new poker table. Leaving the auto-detection mode on is the simplest way to take advantage of Live Tracker's features.
Manual Mode - Manually start a new Live Tracker. This allows you to control which tables are tracked.
Note that if you start the Live Tracker in the middle of a hand, the tracker will start tracking when the next hand is dealt.
Starting Live Tracker in "Auto-detection" Mode
It's generally easiest simply to set Live Tracker to "auto-detection" mode. Then, every time you open a new poker table, a new Live Tracker window will automatically open. To activate auto-detection:
- In the Main Program, open the auto-detection window by pressing the auto-detection icon button or selecting "Live Tracker auto-detection icon" from the Live Tracker menu.
Press the "activate" button in the new window to turn on auto-detection.
- A Live Tracker window will open for every poker table that you have open
- A new Live Tracker window will open every time you open a new table.
- The auto-detect mode will remain selected after PokerOffice closes, so you will no longer need to manually open Live Tracker windows.
You can also choose any of the startup options.
When auto-detection is active, you will see a green arrow over the auto-detection icon in the main program window. To stop using auto-detection, press the "deactivate" button in the pop-up options window.
Starting Live Tracker in Manual Startup Mode
To start Live Tracker manually, either press the Live Tracker icon button or select "Start Live Tracker" from the Live Tracker menu. When you start Live Tracker you will see a pop-up window which will allow you to select your startup options.
Choosing "OK" from the options window will open a Live Tracker if you have only a single poker table open; if you have more than one table open, you can choose which tables to track with Live Tracker by checking or unchecking the appropriate boxes.
Startup options (Auto-Detect or Manual Mode)
Select Poker Site - Select the appropriate site or poker network from the drop down menu.
- Please note that most poker sites belong to a poker network; if your site is not listed on the drop down menu, you may need to choose the appropriate network instead.
- See the Appendices for a list of supported poker sites and networks.
Live Analysis Window/Display Stats - Check this box if you wish to display stats in the Live Analysis Window during play.
- By default, the box is checked and the Live Analysis Window shows statistics on each player at the table. This can give you invaluable information about your opponents' playing style.
- You can turn off stats section of the live window (and make the window smaller) by unchecking this box. Data will continue to be imported into your PokerOffice database.
Live Analysis Window/Display Odds - Check this box if you wish to display odds in the the Live Analysis Window during play
- By default, the Live Analysis Window gives you information about the current strength of your hand and mathematical probability of improving to a stronger hand.
- You can turn off the odds section of the live window (and make the window smaller) by unchecking this box.
- You can turn off the live window completely by unchecking both the odds and the stats boxes. Note that even if the live window is closed completely, data will continue to be imported into your PokerOffice database and you will still see the stats on the table via the poker table overlay.
Live Analysis Window/View Choices - Specifies the view to be used for the live window.
- The compact view will use shorter names for the statistics, hence the window will be smaller (for the same amount of stats used).
- The default view is the normal view.
- Customized view will enable you to set the names and header sizes any way you want to, please see Customizing the Live Window
Note: You can turn off the live window completely by unchecking both the odds and the stats boxes. Note that even if the live window is closed completely, data will continue to be imported into your PokerOffice database. You will still also see the stats on the table via the poker table overlay.
Poker Table Overlay options - The three checkboxes allow you to choose whether or not to display Stats / Odds / Player Moves on the Table Overlay.
- Note that the options that you choose here can be overridden by the Table Overlay options screen; it's probably easiest just to leave these checked and to use the Table Overlay options screen to set all your configuration options at the same time.
Update Frequency - You can choose how frequently each Live Tracker window is updated.
- Warning! If you would like to use the poker table overlay you must update stats after each hand, otherwise the overlay will not work.
- By default, Live Tracker updates after each hand. If your system is running slowly, you might try changing the frequency to a higher number.
- No matter what number you choose here, statistics from every hand will be imported into your PokerOffice database.
Closing Live Tracker
Whenever the Live Tracker is running, all of the information from the tables that you are tracking is stored in your PokerOffice database as soon as a hand is complete.
When you close a Live Tracker Window, or close a table that you have been tracking, you will receive a popup window asking you whether you would like to refresh your data. If you answer "yes", you will notice that your Main Program tables and graphs are immediately recalculated using the data from that Live Tracker. If you answer "no" then your tables and graphs won't immediately be updated, but all of the data from that Live Tracker will remain stored in your PokerOffice database. So, the next time you start PokerOffice (or the next time that you manually refresh your data), your tables and graphs will be updated with all of the information from your Live Trackers.
In other words, whether you answer yes or no to this prompt, your PokerOffice database will always retain all of the information from your Live Trackers. The only effect of answering "no" to the prompt is that you won't immediately see the new information in your Main Program tables and graphs.
The prompt can be turned off by checking "always answer no"; it can also be turned off from the Main Program by going to Settings | Preferences | Advanced and unchecking the box next to "Refresh Window on Live Window Closing."
You can manually refresh your Main Program data at any time by clicking the "Update" button near the top of the screen. You may find it easiest to turn off the prompt box and simply manually refresh your Main Program as needed; this way you will not be interupted by the popup window during table selection.
Overhead Tabs
The key information available in the Live Tracker window is accessed by the four overhead tabs
These tabs will give you access to both the most important statistics on your opponents as well as more detailed information on their play.
The Live Tracker window initially displays the Main Stats tab which summarizes the statistics you have on each player at the table. To get more detailed information on any player, click on the player's name and then click on one of the other overhead tabs.
Main Stats Tab
By default, each new Live Tracker window opens to the Main Stats tab and provides information in two panels:
- Live Statistics Panel - in the top half you will see Live Statistics, providing you with a summary of information about each player at the table
- Odds Panel - if you're playing at the table, the bottom half of the Live Tracker window will also show you your cards, the cards on the board, and a summary of information about the strength of your hand and the likelihood of improving to a better hand.
Live Statistics Panel
The top half of the window shows you Live Statistics for each player at the table. Each row provides statistical about one of the players at the table. The last row shows a summary for the entire table.
By default, Live Tracker reports two types of data: data based on the particular _session _that is being tracked and "lifetime" data based on every hand in your PokerOffice database. So, in the default setting, the first column after the Player's name is "Hands"; in that column, you will see the total number of hands recorded on that player from this session. In the unnamed column immediately to the right of that column , you will see the total number of Hands recorded on that player from every session in your PokerOffice database. The rest of the columns follow the same convention: the named column shows data for the session you're tracking right now; the unnamed column to the right shows data from every session.
Note that you can customize the information displayed in the Live Statistics panel. See the following sections for more information:
The other tabs in the Live Statistics panel show more detailed information about each of the players at the table. Simply select a player in the panel and then click on one of the other overhead tabs:
Statistics used in the default Live Statistics table:
- Player - Nickname of the player
- Hands - Number of hands tracked for this player.
- SawFlop% - Percentage of hands where player saw the Flop, out of all hands.
- Flop-Turn% - Percentage of hands where the player saw the Turn, out of all the hands he saw the flop.
- Turn-River% - Percentage of hands where the player saw the River, out of all the hands he saw the turn.
- $Won - Amount which the player has won or lost; winnings are displayed in green and losses in red.
- PreFlopRaise% - Percentage of hands where you raised the pot before the Flop, out of all hands.
- AggrTotal - Aggression Factor total post flop. The aggression factor defines how aggressive a certain player is. It is defined as (Bet% + Raise%) divided by Call %. The higher the value, the more aggressive the player. The aggression factor total post flop is the total aggression factor for all actions on the Flop, Turn and River.
- Raised Flop% - Percentage of hands where the player raised the flop, out of all hands he saw the flop.
- AggrFlop - Aggression Factor flop. The aggression factor defines how aggressive a certain player is. It is defined as (Bet% + Raise%) divided by Call %. The higher the value, the more aggressive the player.
For complete list of all the statistics in PokerOffice, see the Glossary.
Sorting the table: By clicking the header for a specific column you can sort the table on that column. It can be sorted in either ascending or descending order.
Mouse Over information to understand column headings: To get a more detailed description of what a column displays, move the curser over the specific column heading.
Note that as your database grows big, the calculations for the total statistics of your own player will become quite complex and you may want to exclude this for performance reasons. This statistics is also quite redundant to update when playing live and you can always view it in the main PokerOffice window. By default PokerOffice will exclude to display your own total stats when you exceed 500 hands at the level your are currently tracking, your own stats will then be replaced by a "-" in the tables and your icon will become a question mark. You can easily change to tell PokerOffice to keep showing your own stats, please see Performance
Odds Panel
The Odds Panel displays probabilities for future hands, pot odds, best hands etc. It is always based on your current hand and arms you with valuable information about future hand development. The Odds Panel displays the following information:
- Stage: Displays the current stage of the game, Pre Flop, Flop, Turn, and River.
- Pot Odds: Pot Odds represent the instant return on the pot. A Pot Odds of 5:1 should therefore be interpreted as "If a bet 1 dollar and win, I will make a profit of 5 dollars". The Pot Odds is continuously updated throughout the game.
- Pot: Displays the current value of the pot and is continuously updated.
- Rank: (Pre Flop) Displays the rank of your starting hand, as defined by the Malmuth-Sklansky groups [see Hold’em Poker For Advanced Players, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth].
- Rank: (Flop, Turn, River) Displays the rank of your 5 card hand as compared to all possible 5 card hands.
- Best Hand: Displays the best possible hand for the current board.
Probabilities for Flop, Turn, and River: Display the probability distribution for improving to a certain hand on each street. The probability is presented both as a percentage and as odds. The following information is presented in this section:
- Outs: The number of cards that will make the future hand.
- Odds: The probability expressed in odds. An odds of 3:1 is interpreted as :3 times out of four I will not make the hand, 1 time out of four I will make the hand".
- Percentages: The probability expressed as a percentage.
- Total Playable Hands: Display the summarized probabilities for all future hands that are acknowledged to be roughly playable. Probabilities shaded in gray are defined as not playable.
- Hands and probabilities shaded in grey: Defined as not playable and are therefore not summarized in the Total Playable Hands.
- The Color of the odds: Odds that are below the current pot odds are colored in green and odds that are above in red.
Flop Stats Tab
You can access information about a player's flop actions by clicking on a Player's name in the Main Stats window and then clicking on the overhead Flop Stats tab.
The upper table is called Flop Hand Analysis. Here the player's actions are summarized by type of hand the player had on the Flop; each row represents a single Flop type.
The table is divided into two parts, one purple and one yellow. The purple part shows the player's actions where he was the first person to act on the Flop. The yellow part shows his actions where someone acted before him and made a bet on the Flop; his actions after that bet are described here. This information may help you discover habits in your opponents' play.
Both purple and yellow parts
- HandType - The type of Flop hand
- Times - Number of times you have had this particular hand on the Flop
- $Won - Amount which you have won or lost for the specific situation in the column to the left; winnings are displayed in green and losses in red.
Purple part - You're the first to act
- CheckFold % - Percentage of hands where you were the first person to act and checked, someone made a bet and you folded to it.
- CheckCall % - Percentage of hands where you were the first person to act and checked, someone made a bet and you called it.
- CheckRaise % - Percentage of hands where you were the first person to act and checked, someone made a bet and you raised it.
- Bet % - Percentage of hands where you were the first person to act and you made a bet.
Yellow part - Someone already bet before you acted
- Fold - Percentage of hands when someone acted before you on the Flop and made a bet which you folded to
- Call - Percentage of hands when someone acted before you on the Flop and made a bet which you called
- Raise - Percentage of hands when someone acted before you on the Flop and made a bet which you raised
Position Stats Tab
You can access information about the actions that a player has taken in various positions by clicking on the Player's name in the Main Stats window and then clicking on the overhead Position Stats tab. The information here is presented in two tables:
Position Details Table
The upper table shows a player's statistics for each of the different positions around the table with respect to the Dealer Button.
- The Button has position 0, the Small Blind position 1 and so on.
- Each row represents a single position and summarizes the player's action from that position.
Left-click on any row to select a specific position. The table below will update to show information about each of the starting hands that the player was dealt in the selected position.
Starting Hands
- The lower table shows each of the starting hands that you saw dealt to the player in the position selected in the Position Details table above.
- Each row represents a single starting hand and gives information about the actions the player has taken with that hand.
Starting Hands Stats Tab
You can access information about the actions a player has taken with various starting hands by clicking on the Player's name and then clicking on the overhead Starting Hands tab.
This table shows each of the starting hands that you saw dealt to that player, regardless or position. Each row represents a single starting hand and gives information about the actions the player has taken with that hand.
Menu Options / Customization
The purpose of the Live Tracker window is to provide you with useful data on your play and the play of your opponents. Live Tracker comes preconfigured to display many of the statistics that you may find most useful. But, you might want to change the statistics that you see; or you might want to change the order in which the statistics are displayed; or you might want to see statistics only when you have a certain minimum number of hands on your opponents. PokerOffice gives you the ability to customize the Live Tracker windows so that data is displayed in the way that you find most useful.
In general, you can get to the customization options from the main PokerOffice window (by using the small icons on the right side of the screen, or from choosing one of the options under the Live Tracker menu) or from the Live Tracker window itself. The various customization options are described in more detail below.
In general, any changes that you make will take effect at the beginning of the next hand.
You have the following options for customizing your Live Tracker windows:
- Customize Display (choose which statistics to display and how to display them)
- Customize Data (filter statistics by date or other criteria)
- Performance (optimize the speed of PokerOffice)
Customize Display
The Customize Display option allows you to alter the appearance of the Live Tracker window. You can choose from over 40 different statistics to display in your Live Tracker windows. You can customize the order in which the statistics are displayed and determine the heading and size of each of the columns.
There are several ways to access the Customize Display window:
- From the PokerOffice Main Window, go to the Live Tracker drop down menu and choose Customize Display.
- From the PokerOffice Main Window, click on the small icon on the upper right of the screen (the tooltip for this icon reads ‘Customize Live Window').
- From the Live Tracker Window, go to the Statistics menu and choose Customize Display
Display Options
Choose View - You can choose to view the Live Tracker in either Normal View or Compact View.
- Normal View - The default view used for the Live Window. When normal view is used all the column headers will be written with long names such as "Saw flop %".
- Compact View - When compact view is used all the column headers will be written with short names such as "SF%". This will make the window smaller and more streamlined.
Restore Default - You can go back to the original settings for the live window by pressing the restore default button.
- Load Light Default - You can use this is you have a very old computer and would like to minimize the memory and CPU usage when using PokerOffice while playing. This will load a number of statistics that have are the least processor and memory sensitive. Only use this if you have an old computer.
You can specify which statistics are displayed in your Live Tracker windows. To change the statistics for a given column simply use the drop down menu for that position, and choose one of the statistics. For a definition of the available statistics, please see the Glossary.
Note that for most statistics there is a "session" statistic, reflecting only statistics from the current session, and a general statistic, reflecting all of the data in your PokerOffice database (as modified by any filter settings you may be using). So "Saw Flop %" will show the percentage of hands where this player saw the flop out of all hands that you have recorded for this player; "Saw Flop % Session" will show the percentage of hands where this player saw the flop out of all hands in the current session only.
Customize View: Rename and change width of columns
If you choose customized view you can also rename any of the columns by typing a new description into the Name box; the name you type will be used as the new column header. Change the width of any column by typing a new number into the Width box.
Customize Data
The Customize Data option allows you to filter the statistics that are displayed in the Live Tracker windows. For example, you can filter by number of players; so, you might choose to view a players' statistics from short-handed tables only. Or, you can choose to view only statistics from the current blinds level.
There are several ways to access the Customize Data window:
* From the PokerOffice Main Window, go to the Live Tracker drop down menu and choose Customize Data.
From the PokerOffice Main Window, click on the small icon on the upper right of the screen (the tooltip for this icon reads ‘Customize live data').
From the Live Tracker Window, go to the Statistics menu and choose Customize Data.
You have the following options for customizing your data:
Filter by Number of players -
- The first row of the Customize Data window allows you to select a filter based on the number of players that were in a hand. When you select this filter, the data in your Live Tracker window will reflect only those hands where your opponents were sitting at a table with the selected number of players.
- So, if some of your opponents play both full-ring games and short-handed games, you can set this filter to 7-10 players. The statistics in your Live Tracker window will then reflect only the full-ring games and not the short-handed games.
- One important thing to note is that the filter will only be applied to the total statistics. The session statistics (i.e. the stats for the ongoing session/tournament) will always be unfiltered. The filter will be applied to both the Live Window statistics, the overlay statistics and the player icons.
Filter by Level - The second row allows you to choose whether to view only data from the current level. There are two options here:
- Use all hands from all levels - All the data you have gathered for your opponents will be used, regardless of the playing level that data refers to, where level is referred to the blinds level.
- Only use hands played on the specific level - Will filter the statistics based on the current level of play. For example, if you are playing $1/$2, the statistics displayed will only use hands that have been played on the level $1/$2.
Table Summary Settings - The lower half of the Customize Data window allows you to determine how the table summary data is calculated. There are two choices here:
Straight Mean Value (Unweighted) -
- This option calculates a mean value from all the players at the table, regardless of the number of hands that a player have played.
- This is the default and recommended approach, especially if used in combination with the option "Only include players with at least X hands played".
Weighted Mean Value - Calculates a mean value that is weighted by the number of hands played. So, if one user has played a lot of hands, his stats will have a greater weight in the mean value.
"Only include players with at least X hands played" option -
- This filter determines whether a player's data is included in the table summaries.
- Since a player needs to play a certain number of hands before his stats are somewhat realistic, you may wish to exclude players that have played less than a certain value. Otherwise these will distort the mean value. For example, lets say that a player who usually is very tight player and only plays 15 % of all starting hands, sits down at a table and happen to catch a good first hand. He will then have a sawflop % of 100 % after 1 hand. So if this player is included in the mean value it will show much higher than supposed to. If you instead specify that a player must play at least 10 hands it will show a more realistic value.
Exclude Stats - Finally, you can use the checkbox to exclude your own stats from the calculation of the table summary.
Performance
You can improve the speed and performance of the Live Tracker by setting the Performance tuning options. You can access the Performance options from the PokerOffice Main Window or from the Live Tracker window itself:
From the PokerOffice Main Window, go to the Live Tracker drop down menu and choose Performance.
From the Live Tracker Window, go to the Statistics menu and choose Performance.
Performance Options
Exclude Own Stats
- As your database grows, calculating and auto-rating your own player becomes quite performance-intensive.
You may therefore wish to exclude your own total stats from the Live Tracker Windows (since it is quite redundant when playing live).
- You can choose to exclude your hands Always, once you reach a certain number of hands or Never
Note that your session _stats will never be excluded. Only your _"lifetime" stats will be excluded from the Live Tracker windows.
- Also, you can still view your "lifetime" stats from the More Detailed Statistics window or from the Replayer.
- When your own stats have been excluded, you will no longer see an icon for yourself and you will see only two dashes in place of your statistics in the totals column.
Update Frequency
- You can also choose the frequency with which your Live Tracker stats are updated. By default, Live Tracker updates after each hand. If your system is running slowly, you might try changing the frequency to a higher number.
- **Warning! If you would like to use the poker table overlay you must select to update every hand or the overlay will not work.
- No matter what number you choose here, statistics from every hand will be still be imported into your PokerOffice database.
Change to MySQL
Changing your database to MySQL is the best way to enhance the speed and performance of the Live Tracker (and the main program), strongly recommended. Read more about changing to MySQL here. Step-by-step instructions for converting your database to MySQL are available in the Appendix.
Player / Table Icons
Overview
For every player in your database, PokerOffice provides a Player Icon that summarizes that player's general tendencies.
Based on how often they see the flop, players are characterized as Loose, Semi-Loose, or Tight
Based on how often they bet or raise as compared to how often they check or call, players are also characterized as Passive, Neutral, Aggressive.
Icons are assigned to players based on these two characteristics; a player who is tight and aggressive preflop and aggressive postflop (generally considered to be the strongest combination) has a wizard's hat, for example. In general, the icons follow a color scheme:
- Green Icons for loose players (these are often the most desirable opponents to have at your table);
- Blue Icons for semi-loose players
- Red Icons for tight players
There is no consensus in the poker world as to exactly what numbers make a player "loose", what the ideal amount of aggression is, etc. These numbers will vary depending on the type of game you play (limit vs. no-limit), the blind levels, the poker site, and other factors. In general you should strive to be a tight aggressive player, especially if you are starting out in poker. Over time you may be able to open up a little bit and play more marginal hands in order to exploit weaker opponents or vary your play.
PokerOffice comes with a default set of rules to characterize players. These rules are optimized for 10 handed ring games. Once you become comfortable with how PokerOffice calculates the various statistics and confident in your ability to assess other players strengths, you may wish to alter these rules so that they more accurately reflect your own personal assessments.
The Table Icons setting provides you with a single icon that summarizes these same tendencies for all of the players currently playing at a table (players who are sitting out are not included). In general, the Table Icon provides an average of the various players playing at the table.
The following sections describe the options for customizing the icons.
Edit / View Icon Rules
Begin by opening the Player / Table Icons Settings Window. There are several methods:
From the PokerOffice Main Window, go to the Live Tracker drop down menu and choose Player Icons / Table Icons.
From the PokerOffice Main Window, click on the small icon on the upper right of the screen (the tooltip for this icon reads ‘Player (or Table) Icon in Live Window').
From the Live Tracker Window, go to the Icons menu and choose Player Icons or Table Icons.
General Options
From Icon Settings Window, you can save your current settings, restore the PokerOffice defaults, or specify a minimum number of hands that a player must have before receiving an icon (Player Icons Window only).
Edit/View Rule
Clicking on this button will allow you to view the current rule or to edit it. You can use up to 5 fields to define your rule and you can create up to 14 different rules.
For an explanation of the statistics available, please see the Glossary. Note that the Min / Max figures are expressed as percentages
If you customize the player rules and you see a question mark instead of an icon, this may be because a player's statistic contains a number for which you have not provided a rule. For example, if you determine that a "loose" player sees the flop 40% or more often, and a semi-loose sees the flop 30-35% then a player who sees 37% of the time will have a question mark instead of a loose or semi-loose icon.
Edit Icon
- Click on any of the icons to exchange it for your own icon file.
- Choose any 16x16 pixel .gif file as an icon and set the path here. Please note that we strongly recommend that you use icons of the standard GIF format (GIF89a). Please also note that Windows Paint sometimes does not create standard GIF's so we recommend using another program. The Poker Table Overlay especially may have problems showing the images if they are not standard GIF's.
- Note that you may only choose a new icon if you have no Live Tracker windows open; open the Player / Table Icons Setting window from main PokerOffice program if you want to change the icon.
Priority
When you have overlapping rules (for example, one rule for players who see 25-35% of flops and another rule for players who see 30-100% of flops), the priority setting will determine which icon is shown for a player who fits into more than one category. The rule with the lowest priority will be applied.
If a player's statistics fall into a gap between your rules, you will see a question mark instead of an icon.
Icon Description
This allows you to create a text description along with the graphical icon.
Other Menu Items
Trend
- Table Trend: View the average "Saw Flop" percentage of the current table by selecting the Trend Menu -> Profit Trend.
- Profit Trend:
- View your performance at the current table by selecting the Trend Menu -> Profit Trend.
- A new window will open with a graph of your performance. Following the same convention as the other graphs in PokerOffice, green sections represent profits; red sections represent losses; blue sections represent no change.
Table Overlay
- You can access the Customize Table Overlay window from any of your Live Tracker windows. Read more here.
Save State
- If you adjust the size of your Live Tracker window, you can make its current size the new default size by clicking on the Save State menu.
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