Poker tracking apps?

Recently I started playing poker again. I used to play all the time but kids got in the way for a while. I downloaded a few aps but was curious to what others use or are happy with. I basically just want to track each session including tips, time, location, profit.


PS I forgot how soft these games are. I had a horrible hand that turned out great last night. Had JJ on button in 1/3. Raised to $12 and had 4 callers. Flop game kqT. Checked to me and I went $30. Had one caller. Turn was q. He checked and I went $75. He called. Turn was a blank and he checked. I went all in with $120 or so. He though for a sec and called. I figured I was screwed and showed my jacks. He looked at my hand with amazement and mucked. Wtf, maybe he had A T and missed the draw and thought ACE was enough. Either way. After the hand the guy next to be said he folded his flopped straight because he didn't want to end up all in when a flush or FH would get there.

checkyourbets.com is the best and easiest one in my opinion.

I respect your info but I am not sure I like that one. It doesn't seem to be as mobile friendly as I was hoping. I would prefer something that is more of an app.

Quote: GWAE

I respect your info but I am not sure I like that one. It doesn't seem to be as mobile friendly as I was hoping. I would prefer something that is more of an app.

I created a shortcut on my iPhone and I have never had an issue using it on my phone. I don't travel with a laptop most of the time so I love having such an easy to work tracker on my phone. Also free is good lol.

Since it is free I am going to at least mess around with it so thanKS for the recommendation

I like C.Y.B. fine too, along with a couple of others that are apps rather than web-site based. And I have no argument with those who decide they get the job done with the ease of use and nearly zero up-front time investment to set up and go.

But, one of the quibbles I've had with all of them that I've seen is that there's no accounting for any sort of promo/jackpot money separately from treating it as poker playing results. Play often enough in a variety of games in different venues, and some payouts from poker promo funds eventually become inevitable. And in theory, on average, these are simply the return of the extra promo fund rake (at least in Nevada per NGCB regulations). In theory, but only on average, and an individual's choice of play and game type is not going to be average. And with the extremely "lumpy" variance of most of these, I don't think it is useful at all to put something like a $1,700 high-hand bonus or bad-beat jackpot table-share payment in the result of a +$100 three hour session to show a $600 hourly poker playing profit from that table.

I have a series of other little reservations about all of them I've seen, all related to some lack of flexibility. What about freerolls, for example? Could I be the world's most awesome freeroll tourney player ever 'cause I've never lost a dime in any of them, by always either making money, or else at worst breaking even at a net of zero dollars + free coffee? I don't think so. Are they random meaningless money that fell out of the sky onto my head completely unrelated to the playing I did that qualified to play them? Well, not exactly.

I think most people would consider them all minor drawbacks, and the recommendation above would be just great for what they want from it. But I prefer to use a spreadsheet. Because spreadsheets can be made however I like, as detailed and robust or simple and quick as I feel like doing for my own purposes. And I'm accustomed to using them for all sorts of things. Including every single thing I ever do in any casino, anywhere, ever, and I do mean any, anywhere, ever. So no fooling yourself allowed. Because of poker being the way it is, requiring tracking of results in the aggregate by time/game rather than including any real detailed individual decision metrics, I do keep my poker spreadsheet much more light and simple than those for other stuff. The appropriately named "Simple Spreadsheet" which is a free Android download does that for me. And from time to time I can put the data into my regular more robust spreadsheets to chart, fold, spindle, and mutilate it into whatever more complicated shapes I may want to look at.

But whatever you go with, good on you for setting out to track results. Because there's only one reason not to. And it doesn't involve winning, or truth.

I had thought about promo as well. I wasn't sure how to handle that. If I win 300 high hand then I just assumed i would add it to the daily win. It may skew the hourly and all but you wouldn't have won it without playing.

I was going to use a spreadsheet but I am not sure I trust myself to update it quickly and if I have a few sessions before I update it then it may not be accurate.

My main reason for tracking is to show my wife. We have an agreement that if I can be a winning player then I can play whenever I want. We also have an agreement that she gets 25% of any session win. 25% goes to savings. 25 to me and 25 to BR. I will probably put mine towards BR. I am starting with $1500 and if it hits $0 then I am done. I had 6 sessions since we started and I am 6-0 with a bankroll increase of $600. So far so good. Yes I know a $2100 bankroll is nothing but it is what it is.

For Android people like Poker Income.
For iPhone people like Poker Journal.

Poker income is one of the ones I downloaded. It seems ok.

I've used it since I got my smart phone back in October 2015. I've entered 275 sessions since then with the app ever crashing. My only complaint is that I have to open the app up to pause a session. When you have a session running, the small notification window has quick options for "TIPS REBUY END" - wish it would show Pause/Play. I take frequent breaks from the table.

Quote: PokerGrinder

checkyourbets.com is the best and easiest one in my opinion.

I used that one for years however IIRC you needed the internet.
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I have checked out many gambling log apps and have yet to find the perfect one.

GWAE if you're not to cheap/frugal check out Poker Log it's 4.99 and you can track casino gambling as well.

Quote: AxelWolf

I used that one for years however IIRC you needed the internet.
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I have checked out many gambling log apps and have yet to find the perfect one.

GWAE if you're not to cheap/frugal check out Poker Log it's 4.99 and you can track casino gambling as well.

If I am not too cheap? Come on axel...

Besides no way in hell do I want to track my craps play.

Quote: BTLWI

I've used it since I got my smart phone back in October 2015. I've entered 275 sessions since then with the app ever crashing. My only complaint is that I have to open the app up to pause a session. When you have a session running, the small notification window has quick options for "TIPS REBUY END" - wish it would show Pause/Play. I take frequent breaks from the table.

Why do you stop it during a break? If you are tracking hourly wouldn't you want to track the time with breaks as well since that is time spent playing?

Quote: GWAE

Why do you stop it during a break? If you are tracking hourly wouldn't you want to track the time with breaks as well since that is time spent playing?

Not at all. If I go to the bathroom or something like that I keep the time running but I also will take a 20-30 minute walk during a really long session sometimes and I don't include that in the session time.

Axel yes you have to have wifi when I don't I keep track of the session in my iPhone notes and enter the data later that night.

If there is a 500 an hour high hand bonus with 12 tables running; what is the approx EV of such a promotion?

Quote: GWAE

If there is a 500 an hour high hand bonus with 12 tables running; what is the approx EV of such a promotion?

Short answer: about five bucks.

Longer answer: tables aren't that important, players are. Those cash game tables might typically average about 8-ish active players actually dealt into a hand at each, resulting in about 100 players potentially cashing on that, but the number could be significantly higher or lower. And the probability of getting a high hand that would've been dealt out by the river will depend on players' propensity to stay in a hand, which can vary not only by an individual's tendencies toward loose/tight play, but also the passive/aggressive play of others. And that is also partly influenced by the structure and stakes of the game.

The chance of someone ever seeing their backdoor draw turn into a runner-runner straight flush is vastly different at an aggressive 5/10NL table with many hands over by the turn vs. a drunken 1/2NL game, or a tough 10/20L table vs. six calling stations making beer bottle pyramids while socializing after work for free drinks and cheap river cards at 3/6L. And they can vary a lot in hand count per hour. These things are impossible to really quantify very effectively throughout a busy poker room, so the lazy very imprecise calculation is to give up and assume random distribution of $500 over the number of players being dealt in throughout the room: $500 / (perhaps about a hundred or so) = ~$5 each.

I assume all games involved are at least Hold 'Em. Once in a great while I've seen a poker room making the ridiculous mistake of having an Omaha game participating in the same promo fund as their Texas Hold 'Em games. Usually not for very long 'till they get a clue, as the Omaha table will inevitably rape the promo money from the other eleven, again and again, all night, every night.

Don't obsess over promo whoring at all while making poker decisions; but do seek out mindless arithmetic challenged promo whoring players calling offf their stacks while oblivious to the reality of counting odds/outs. Seatchanging Leroy: "Ooooh, I almost had a straight flush!" You: "Oh wow, that's a tough beat then, you almost had me there! More cocktails please; my friends are thirsty! And overdue for a straight flush!" (There is no such thing as "almost a straight flush" that isn't a straight flush, ever.)

I figured it wasn't worth much. Like I mentioned I haven't played a ton in about years. Since then I have noticed that rooms have increased their promo rake to $2 which has really got to hurt hourlys. I figured if I win 3 pots an hour then that is $3 an hour that I am losing. However, with that drop there are now hourlys, splash pots, and royal flush bonuses on top of the bad beat that weren't that common 4 years ago. Maybe it is better for the game since the poppies call of stacks going for the high hand pot

I asked the last question because with the hourlys there is a wide range depending on the day. Not sure if I am better off playing a Thursday where it is $1 per hour instead of friday for $200 an hour or maybe none of that really matters?

I need to get my ass handed to me very soon. Not losing is going to my head.

I am using poker income bankroll tracker and it seems to work just fine. One thing it definitely helps with is making your hourly black and white. Today I won $120 and at first I was like big deal but when I put my session into the tracker I realized that I was at $46 an hour.

The other thing it did was put tipping into persepctive. I don't want to make this a tupping discussion but in 10 3 hour sessions I have tipped $120 between dealers and waitresses. That's a lot of money.

I'm confused! Flop KTQ... Check to you and you bet 30. Turn came another Queen... You went 75... Now you said a blank came next and your all in 120 with JJ and a board of KTQQX?? So all in 120 on the river with the button right? If so... You need more than an app with that style of play!

Quote: monet0412

I'm confused! Flop KTQ... Check to you and you bet 30. Turn came another Queen... You went 75... Now you said a blank came next and your all in 120 with JJ and a board of KTQQX?? So all in 120 on the river with the button right? If so... You need more than an app with that style of play!

haha yes, yes indeed.

Quote: GWAE

I had thought about promo as well. I wasn't sure how to handle that. If I win 300 high hand then I just assumed i would add it to the daily win. It may skew the hourly and all but you wouldn't have won it without playing.

I was going to use a spreadsheet but I am not sure I trust myself to update it quickly and if I have a few sessions before I update it then it may not be accurate.

My main reason for tracking is to show my wife. We have an agreement that if I can be a winning player then I can play whenever I want. We also have an agreement that she gets 25% of any session win. 25% goes to savings. 25 to me and 25 to BR. I will probably put mine towards BR. I am starting with $1500 and if it hits $0 then I am done. I had 6 sessions since we started and I am 6-0 with a bankroll increase of $600. So far so good. Yes I know a $2100 bankroll is nothing but it is what it is.

I ain't no poker professional....with that being said, if you're bleeding 50% of your session wins to your wife or savings, you're not going to be a winning player for long. I think your wife swindled you. ;)


IMO just write up a spread sheet. After your poker session, write info in your phone in a notes type app (iPhone) or a text message to yourself or something like that. There's a lot of flexibility in an Excel spreadsheet. You can make graphs to see your w/l over time, bankroll over time, how much that 50% will be hurting you, add special exeptions (ie: some high hand bonus thing that counts but not really), do stuff like see what your average win, average loss is, how frequently you win or lose, if time played has an impact on results (maybe you play longer when you're down), and you can update it down the road with ease if there's functionality you want to implement.

If you get lazy about updating the spreadsheet -- so what? If it's on your phone or hand written, the info will still be there weeks or months down the road.

Everything you need to know about Excel can be found online. If you're too stoopid shy* to make your own spreadsheet, I'm sure people would be willing to help. I actually like making Excel spreadsheets (I just hate entering results).

Quote: RS

I ain't no poker professional....with that being said, if you're bleeding 50% of your session wins to your wife or savings, you're not going to be a winning player for long. I think your wife swindled you. ;)


IMO just write up a spread sheet. After your poker session, write info in your phone in a notes type app (iPhone) or a text message to yourself or something like that. There's a lot of flexibility in an Excel spreadsheet. You can make graphs to see your w/l over time, bankroll over time, how much that 50% will be hurting you, add special exeptions (ie: some high hand bonus thing that counts but not really), do stuff like see what your average win, average loss is, how frequently you win or lose, if time played has an impact on results (maybe you play longer when you're down), and you can update it down the road with ease if there's functionality you want to implement.

If you get lazy about updating the spreadsheet -- so what? If it's on your phone or hand written, the info will still be there weeks or months down the road.

Everything you need to know about Excel can be found online. If you're too stoopid shy* to make your own spreadsheet, I'm sure people would be willing to help. I actually like making Excel spreadsheets (I just hate entering results).

Well I am upto $2450 BR so that is at least 8 losing sessions so if I do that poorly then I will have no problem quitting. Not like this is for a living or anything so no biggy. I am more likely to quit playing before running out of money.

We do have an agreement that if BR goes below 1k then entire winnings go to BR so we will see.

Have my session record up to 14-0. Been playing middle lately 3am-6am and games are horrible. Maybe that is a little secret? However games get down to 6 handed often and that may be my weakness. Can't figure that out, may have to read more about 6 handed play. If you get AA and bet 4x then it seems like you never get a caller but if you bet 2x you get 4 6 beating you.

So I just finished my best session ever. I started at 2 am and left at 515am. Table is 1/3 no limit. Table is 1-300 buy in. I sit down with 300 and 3 people at the table have 1200 plus. Not sure exactly what had been going on but I find out in very short order.

Player to my right, and thank god he was to my right, would raise pre flop to 20 with basically any 2 cards.

I picked up AA, KK, KK, and QQ within 30 minutes. I went from 300 to 1875. Mostly from this 1 guy. He just kept reloading to 300. I cashed out with 1975 and only left because he trippled up aND had around 1k. Where it might be a dream to go against that but I didn't want to put my great night against that. 1675 profit in under 3 hours is going to really skew my hourly.

How often do these type of players come around? My guess is he came from the broken 5/5 game and is the bad player at that game.