What is a tracker?

Before talking about the tracker itself, you need to understand where the data comes from. When you play poker online, the room records every hand in a text file on your computer. That's the starting point of any analysis.

For every hand played, the room writes everything that happened into a text file: the players seated, the cards dealt, every action (fold, call, raise, all-in), the amounts, the board, and the final result.

Here's what a complete hand recorded by GGPoker looks like, for example:

The exact file format changes depending on the room: Winamax, PokerStars and GGPoker write structured text, iPoker uses XML, Betclic has its own format.

On most rooms, these files are written automatically to a folder on your computer while you play. On some rooms (like Betclic), you have to export them manually from the software.

The tracker reads these files, extracts all the information, and sorts it into structured tables inside a database on your computer. For example, here's what the tournaments table looks like (simplified):

And the hands table looks like this:

The two tables above are what we call unit tables: the tracker adds one row for every hand or tournament imported. This is the base data, the raw history. They only grow as imports pile up.

But the tracker also builds aggregated tables: tables that summarize the unit data to draw usable metrics from it. For example, a table that automatically calculates your stats per day:

The difference matters: unit tables only grow (rows are added to them), while aggregated tables are entirely rebuilt from the unit data with every import.

Small practical note: the database is not stored in the same place as the application. That means uninstalling the tracker doesn't delete your data.

For Poker Spin Tracker, it lives in a hidden .pst2 folder, at the root of your user folder:

• Mac: ~/.pst2/
• Windows: C:\Users\<your name>\.pst2\

That's where you'll find your database files (pst2.sqlite and pst2.duckdb).

Every tracker adopts an organization of its own. No two trackers will ever have exactly the same tables, the same calculations, or the same metrics.

If you've already heard of PokerTracker 4 or Hand2Note, you know these tools can be intimidating. They are designed to allow total customization, which means menus and an interface that are very complex to learn.

Poker Spin Tracker is built exclusively for Spins (Spin & Go, Expresso...). This specialization makes it possible to simplify everything: no settings for the number of players, no complex filters. Every screen is designed to give the information you need, when you need it.

This is a bit off-topic, but since we're explaining how a tracker works, we may as well clear this point up. We often get this question on Discord: what's the difference between Poker Spin Tracker and the Preflop Pack we offer on the website?

The tracker analyzes the hands played: it looks at what was done.

The Preflop Pack, on the other hand, brings together reference charts, Strategy Guides, a Trainer, and more: it teaches what should be done. A Postflop Pack will complete it later on.