dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
The only free tracker to speak of is FPDB. It's open-source and community supported. They have a support forum at 2+2.
I'll caution you though that it won't have the level of polish or functionality of a commercial product like PT or HM. You'll need to be adept at editing XML configuration files to make some things work.
I don't know that they support WPN, so you may be out of luck anyway with BCP. Someone asked on their support forum last month about WPN support and got no response, and it's not indicated on their wiki page.
As to Bovada, HUDs won't work (aside from Hold'em Indicator), but I believe FPDB will import their HH's (once you get them) for self-analysis.
I'll caution you though that it won't have the level of polish or functionality of a commercial product like PT or HM. You'll need to be adept at editing XML configuration files to make some things work.
I don't know that they support WPN, so you may be out of luck anyway with BCP. Someone asked on their support forum last month about WPN support and got no response, and it's not indicated on their wiki page.
As to Bovada, HUDs won't work (aside from Hold'em Indicator), but I believe FPDB will import their HH's (once you get them) for self-analysis.
dealio96
The LAG Monkeys
Silver Level
Have you ever played at americas cardroom? Its the exact same thing as blackchippoker only on a different skin. I think its a pretty cool site imo. Software is pretty sweet and the gtds are ok. As far as Hud set ups and PT I know nothing about.
T
tca3rd
Enthusiast
Silver Level
I have the software for Americas cardroom installed, but I haven't registered there yet. I will give it a try tomorrow sometime. How much does pockertracker cost? I guess I could look it up, but does everyone think it is worth the money?
dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
Bovada isn't really suited for tracker use. Neither of the major trackers will import Bovada hands directly. You can purchase a 3rd party tool to convert Bovada HH's to a format that the trackers can import, but you have to wait 24 hrs to get your HH's from Bovada and you of course won't have any opponent stats. The only software that captures Bovada hands "live" is Hold'em Indicator, which is little more than a basic HUD with and odds calculator. It doesn't maintain a persistent database that you can review and report from.
A tracker doesn't really tell you "how well you played a hand." There's far more to HH analysis than that. I'd recommend posting hands here in the analysis forums to get feedback on specific hands.
Trackers allow you to gather and report stats on samples of hands to identify leaks you may have or where adjustments may be called for. It's up to you to interpret those stats, however. They can also track your profit & loss, EV, rake, ROI, etc. And they provide a HUD to give you real time stats on opponents you're playing against.
BCP is another skin on the WPN network, like ACR. I would rate BCP the best WPN skin, but WPN is not my preferred network.
Both PT4 and HM2 cost the same, $100 for the full stakes version. Both offer less expensive small stakes versions for around $60-$70 that you can upgrade later to the full version.
And of course they're worth the money -- they're worth far more than their cost if they're used properly. But that's the trick, like with any tool if not learned and applied properly, it won't do you much good. Just having it won't make you a better player or give you any sort of edge.
dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
You mean which tracker, between PT4 and HM2?
I have both. I've probably owned most of the major ones. Hold'em Indicator, PT2, PT3, PT4, HM1, and HM2.
HM2 is my standard, but use PT4 for League games and WPN since when I started at WPN, HM2 didn't support them. They do now though.
Both are excellent, and each have some unique features. I favor HM2 because I've used it longer and came from HM1 before that, which was far better than PT3 IMO. However PT4 is quite good, I could easily be swayed to use it exclusively if I put the time into learning and configuring it like my HM2.
Both offer free trial periods, so my recommendation would be to download and try both before deciding.
W
Weissr
Visionary
Silver Level
Personally I like HM2 over PT4 for the HUD features (I prefer to hover over stats then having to click them) but I find PT4 is better at auto-filling the tournament info on various sites (ie. buy-in, finishing position, money won, etc..), HM2 seems to either put in the wrong info or put in nothing at all and you have to manually input it yourself (which becomes difficult when you're multi-tabling tournaments and starting new ones/ getting knocked out). PT4 is more consistent for getting the info from my experience. That being said, if you only play on Stars/ FT I doubt it's an issue. One other thing that's a little glitchy is how you have to run HM2 in administrator mode to play zoom/speed poker/etc.. tables. PT4 doesn't require this.
dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
Both support Merge (Carbon) and WPN (BCP). Neither of them support Bovada. You can buy a 3rd party converter that will let you import Bovada HH's (once you get them) for your own analysis, but it's not officially supported.
Both offer free trials, so download it and give it a spin. Odds are you're not going to master it inside of the trial period, but you'll get a good enough idea to know if it'll work for you.
Only PT4 works on Mac.