Poker Software Experts Debate Holdem Manager Versus PokerTracker 3

PokerSoftware.com contributed this helpful article to Poker News Daily.

In the online poker era, players who aren’t using a poker tracking software program with a built-in Heads-Up Display (HUD) are a few steps behind at the tables.  These programs have the ability to import hand history files from online poker rooms into a database and spit out just about every statistic possible about players’ poker games.  For most sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and rooms on the iPoker Network, this is a completely acceptable business practice and outlined as such on their Terms of Service.

For users who are upgrading from some other, possible older, solution or moving into this space for the first time, the inevitable question becomes, “Which one do I buy, Holdem Manager or PokerTracker 3?” Let’s take a look at the following key factors and break down each program’s strengths and weaknesses: Price, Site Compatibility, Add-Ons, HUD, and Stability/Performance.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: Price

PokerTracker 3 offers a 60 day free trial, which is appealing for a player who hasn’t made up their mind yet.  As listed on the site, PokerTracker 3 is available for $89.99 as a new purchase.  For PokerTracker 2 customers, there is an upgrade discount available.

Hold’em Manager has a list price of $80 for the Professional Version, which allows a player to import hands from all stakes.  Alternatively, there is a Small-Stakes edition available for $55 that allows a player to import hands through the $0.25-$0.50 No Limit games, the $0.50-$1 Limit games, and tournaments with up to a $22 buy-in.  If a user wants to upgrade from the Small-Stakes to the Professional edition, they buy a new license for the difference in price between the two.

Hold’em Manager has the better price for the full edition as compared to PokerTracker 3. In addition, the fact that Hold’em Manager has a Small-Stakes edition is a big plus.  However, PokerTracker 3 has a 60 day free trial, while it’s just 15 days for Hold’em Manager.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: Site Compatibility

Holdem Manager supports PokerStars, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, the CEREUS Network, Dracula, the Prima/MicroGaming Network, the iPoker Network, Bodog, the OnGame Network, Everest, Betfair, Pacific, Red Kings, NoiQ Poker, and Lucky Ace.

PokerTracker 3 supports PokerStars, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, the CEREUS Network, the Prima/Microgaming Network, the iPoker Network, the OnGame Network, Everest, Pacific, the Entraction Network, and the Boss Media Network.

There are a few decently sized rooms in Bodog and Betfair that Hold’em Manager supports that PokerTracker 3 hasn’t been able to bring in.  However, both programs do a great job bringing in all of the major card rooms.  It should be noted that Carbon and Cake Poker, popular rooms in the United States, do not allow native importing of hands.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: Add-Ons

PokerTracker 3 has one add-on called Table Tracker, which is a fairly common program either integrated into a tracking program or coming as a stand-alone solution.  What this program does is scan tables with a certain set of filtered variables, cross-reference the results with a database, and then provide a detailed list of juicy tables to join.  This is a great tool to find fishy tables that is available for $14.99 per month for No Limit tables up to $0.25-0.50 or $0.50-$1 Limit tables. The Silver membership costs $24.99 per month and covers No Limit games through the $2-$4 level and Limit games up to $8-$16.

Hold’em Manager has a variety of add-ons that a user can purchase.  The most popular is Omaha Manager, which allows a user to play any Omaha game and perform the same analysis as they could with Hold’em hands.  In addition, a user can even set up a custom HUD for Omaha tables.  This add-on is priced at $65 for the Professional version and $40 for the Small-Stakes version.  Users can upgrade from Small Stakes to the Professional edition for $30.  In addition to this, a Table Scanner is currently in a free beta period.  Pricing is not yet set, but there will be a version with a one-time fee as well as a subscription based Server Scan edition available sometime in July.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: HUD

Both programs offer an HUD, a graphical overlay of statistics.  The stats for both programs are totally customizable; users can select which stats they want to appear, the location in the HUD that the stats appear, the color ranges for the fonts for the stats, and a whole lot more.  Early on, PokerTracker 3 was notorious for HUD bugs and crashes, but in the last few months, the editions have been stable.  Hold’em Manager’s HUD is widely regarded as the best in the industry.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: Stability and Performance

Both programs offer great stability and performance.  Again, there were a lot of early issues with early builds of PokerTracker 3 that have since been patched through beta releases.  However the “V4” edition of the program is a solid build that works well.  Hold’em Manager is also on its fourth edition of 1.08. Tons of upgrades and fixes have been put into place to keep the program importing and running smoothly.

It’s often recommended by both software developers that regular database management and maintenance be performed to keep the database in good shape so that each program continues to operate smoothly.

PokerTracker 3 Versus Hold’em Manager: Final Word

For Omaha players or Hold’em Players who also like to play Omaha, there’s little doubt that the right program to buy is Hold’em Manager since it’s the only one that currently imports Omaha Hands.  Although the folks at PokerTracker 3 have gone on the record in to say an Omaha add-on is in development, they also cautioned that it might not be available until 2010.

Poker players are highly encouraged to take advantage of both programs’ free trials.  Both offer up fun reports, break down stats, and all of the graphing options you would want out of a program.