Carl “The Dean” Sampson

 

 

During my time as a full time online poker player, I have encountered many changes in the online poker world. But undoubtedly, one of the biggest changes over the past few years has been the introduction of tracking software. PokerTracker leads the way in terms of popularity at the moment but Poker Office and Holdem Manager are not far behind.

 

So just how essential are these items if you want to be a successful player? Well first of all it all depends on your definition of successful. Many high-stakes online players don’t use tracking software for the simple reason being that it does not fare well against other top players who are adept at situational trickiness.

 

It is also of less use at the low and micro stakes games as well as many players are so weak that a good sound solid game will suffice at those levels without needing tracking software. But one of the least understood problems with them is that very few players really master the area of correctly interpreting the data.

 

I have witnessed this before with software packages in other fields like the stock market and sports betting and the software however good, tends to only help the player if it is dovetailed not only by sufficient knowledge but also sufficient expertise with the relevant software too.

 

It is perfectly possible that tracking software could be harming more people than it is helping and much of the help that players get could be illusory in nature if players think that it is dramatically helping them. But to suggest that tracking software doesn’t help anyone is obviously wrong as I know many people personally who swear by it and earn far more money as a result of using it. But I am convinced that the principle of using software as it was meant to be used is akin to people winning at poker full stop…many people attempt it but few succeed.

 

My sponsor Cake Poker have a facility on their site which enables the player to alter their screen name every week and I for one know that this is a feature that many players want. There are loads of players out there who take the game seriously by taking notes and such when they play online. But there are also tens of millions of players who simply want to play recreational poker and cannot be bothered to take notes and get to grips with advanced software.

 

These are exactly the types of players who are handicapped by these things and being able to change your name every week at least prevents the more serious players from accumulating and using data against you.

 

But despite using tracking software periodically myself I have never been a big fan of it and this is mainly why I am now working with Cake Poker. But I also sometimes coach players as well so I need to be conversant with the functionality of them in order to help certain people who come to me with certain types of data.

 

The fact of the matter is that it is perfectly possible to win money in poker without using software of any kind. In fact it may well be essential for an online player’s long term survival if they can get by without using them. Why is this? Well for a start, I can definitely see a time arising where the overall effectiveness of them diminishes simply because too many people are using them and it could easily get to a stage where everyone is using them against each other.

 

It is also possible that some poker sites could even go down the avenue of having them built into their software so that all players have access to that type of technology in some capacity. I personally think it is a mistake to place long term dependency on something that is freely available to everyone and is subject to changes within the online poker landscape.

 

So the bottom line is that yes, tracking programs are great tools that will certainly help you improve your game. But also on the flip side, millions of players are either put off by them or don’t want to use them for whatever reason so they are obviously not the answer to many peoples prayers and they are a long way from being the “holy grail” that many players see them as. It will be interesting to see where these players are in five or ten years time who place 100% total dependency on them.

 

 

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at cakepoker/thedean