Does Phil Ivey use Pokertracker?

As the title suggest.
Is poker tracker essential as I thought if I use that, I thought it will affect my live game?
Anyone got it or tryed the trial verion, what do you think?

Thanx

Poker tracker /Holdem Manager are not essential to online poker.

There are two aspects to tracking software. One is tracking sessions and two is Headsup display (HUD). The HUD is what you are thinking of when you refer to it affecting your live play.

Tracking software makes it very easy to review a session.

I am under the impression that most nosebleed stakes players do not use a HUD. There is a very limited population of players at nosebleed stakes, the play is much more dependent on understanding very specific plays each player makes. It's not like 50nl, for example, where I play against players every day that I haven't played against before.

So I doubt Phil Ivey uses PT3 or HEM.

Many people on this site use one or the other, and many do not. If you're interested in learning more about these tools, download the free trial software after searching this forum for threads about these tools (there are a lot of threads about these tools).

Somebody else asked recently about PT3/HEM affecting their live game - see here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/poker-tracker-so-cash-games-160371/

Cliff notes - can't hurt your live game, should improve it.

You should definately definately get a tracking program. Even if you don't use a HUD you should use it to review your play. It can help find leaks and really improve your win rate. You could for example be losing tons of money with AQ and with a tracker it will not only tell you that but tell you why and you can go about fixing it. Trust me, if you can afford it, buy one.

A HUD is also a great addition, it can help you spot regs that you've played with lots or remind you of the 70/30 fish as soon as he sits down. It also has information like this guy 3-bets very light and you can start taking advantage right away, information you would probably have to re-gather everytime you play or maybe info you hadn't really noticed until it was presented in a statistical form. It shouldn't affect your live play as you are only sat at one table and you can concentrate on the 8 other players in front of you. It's also alot easier to remember peoples faces than it is a name with random numbers.

I don't know what ivey uses. but I am pretty sure he doesnt use the HUD

There are two aspects to tracking software, Heads up display (HUD) and hand history database.

The hand history makes it a lot easier to review sessions and track your winning and loosing sessions.

I watched the September 6th 2 months, 2 million episode yesterday. In the episode Jay challenges David Benyamine to a high stakes heads up cash game. Jay uses Holdem Manager to review all of the games he has played with David to see how he plays.

It was the first time I had heard of, or seen a pro admit to using software to help their game.

I don't see Ivey playing much online anymore. Just the amount of play leads me to highly doubt he would waste the time using pokertracker or holdem manager.

Alot of the good younger players use HEM and a number of other programs.

Apparently ivey doesnt use any software but hes ivey so **** it, he can do what he wants as hes basically the biggest winner in NLH cash games online anyway.

Lonsdaleite said:

I watched the September 6th 2 months, 2 million episode yesterday. In the episode Jay challenges David Benyamine to a high stakes heads up cash game. Jay uses Holdem Manager to review all of the games he has played with David to see how he plays.

It was the first time I had heard of, or seen a pro admit to using software to help their game.

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The funny thing about that is that he said he was going to go over his HEM HHs, like he was doing a plug for it, but when they went to show the screen of him going over the HH's, he was definitely not in HEM, he was at pokertableratings.com going through all of David's hand histories...

I've read interviews with high-stakes online players who've said that basically, once you get past a certain level you don't really bother with a HUD any more because it becomes all about individual reads, levels and playing the player rather than stats.

I imagine most of them probably use tracking software, though Phil Ivey is in a slightly different position to others since he's one of the owners of the only site he plays on. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a team of lackeys in the Full Tilt office whose job it is to provide whatever stats or histories their big stars want

I can't see him using it. I think he would know the numbers in his sleep. History, maybe. For the most part I think he knows the trends of his regular opponents.

Yeah at the stakes he plays, he sees mostly regulars, so stats/HUD would be less useful and probably more of a distraction. Plus I imagine most players at those stakes are seldom robots, constantly changing up their tactics based on the situation, so historical stats would be less useful for the given moment.

At the stakes we common folks play at on the big sites, though, there are so many players that we seldom play with recognizable regs. At least not enough that I can remember all their stats/styles in my head.

When you have Ivey's bankroll, you can also better afford to test your opponents on the spot and get a quick read that way. It's more expensive but probably just as effective, if not more so, to buy that information at the table. While I am properly bankrolled for my stakes, I still would prefer to have a tool keep stats for me than to be constantly throwing money at players just to figure out what he'll do. Of course unless you buy datamined HH's you won't have meaningful stats until you've played a lot of hands against them, but with my failing memory I'd trust HEM better than myself to keep up with that stuff.

I remember reading an article on Tom Dwan and he seemed to imply that it was a necessary tool that he uses often and he thought most players won't use it because they are too lazy.

Quite the opposite.

One surprising thing about Dwan, and a testament to his natural poker ability, is that he plays without the tools that other online wizards, including Sass, find indispensable: data-mined statistics, opponent-tracking software, and optimal play devices (such as Pokerstove). ‘I’m lazy and I think they’re overrated,’ he says in a laconic tone. ‘I should use those things, but I think a lot of people spend time on the software and don’t apply logic. Besides, when you play against many different people, the software matters more.’ Because of his nosebleed stakes, says Dwan, ‘I play a small group. New names come in every day, but the regulars are maybe 200 or less.’

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from Inside Poker Magazine

I see no problems with Poker Tracker to figure out the holes in your game, assuming they are holes. I mean look at the pros who play on tv, they have as many different types of game as can be. So I doubt anyone can say a particular type of game is best. It's all how you feel playing in a certain way.

Someone like Farha or Hansen would die of boredom playing like Laak.

Anything that gives you instant stats on another players type of play shouldn't be allowed.

MDTed said:

Anything that gives you instant stats on another players type of play shouldn't be allowed.

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What are 'instant' stats?
The numbers I keep are from games I have played with people, sometimes over years, and are essentially the same as I would have as if I kept notes manually, but more detailed and a lot less work. I add to those with manual notes of course (donk, dufus, hoser... loves to check raise... that sort of thing )

And yes I agree with others above, Ivey and others playing in that rarefied atmosphere pretty much know each other well, do not need HUDs (might be useful for tracking newbies tho)...