Personal Poker Pal

Poker Bankroll Management Software

The success or failure of a poker player over time depends upon a large number of controllable and uncontrollable variables - personal skill, knowledge and experience, level of research, good table selection, mental toughness, patience and discipline, performance of opponents, and short/long term statistical variance (run of the cards) are just a few of the factors any player would put high up their list.

However the positive monetary impact of an effective poker bankroll management strategy has not always been regarded as a key element in the arsenal of weapons at a poker player’s disposal. The primary focus (in poker literature) was on understanding the game and its complex strategy and tactics with unfortunately only a passing reference to poker bankroll in a chapter near the end and a cursory mention of the ’300BB rule’. Bankroll was only ‘a means of counting your gains and losses’ to many people and although every book would state the importance of ‘playing within the limits of your roll’ not a lot of time was taken to explore the subject matter in any depth.

This situation has now changed.

There is now a better understanding of the need for goal setting, forward planning, game analysis and performance review to be included in an overall bankroll strategy. The huge advances in technology in recent years, together with the explosion of the online game, have resulted bankroll management being included in new software releases of existing poker aids.

Poker bankroll calculators are becoming more popular as the demand to manage money is becoming more and more important.

PERSONAL POKER PAL ($50 USD) is a new offering from Australian company Triskele Software, under the Trip P’s label. It claims ‘managing your bankroll just got a whole lot easier’ and Personal Poker Pal will ‘manage yours in style’ and ‘track all your results in one place - online, live, tournaments and ring games, and report on them like never before.

Personal Poker Pal is quite easy to use, with a clear online instruction manual, menu driven choice options and simple data entry fields for each session. Ring games Live and Online Tournaments (SNG/MTT) are treated separately for input, analysis and reporting. It only takes a minute to enter session data and this is automatically updated to all reports.

Personal Poker Pal Calculator has some of the best grahics the industry has to offer in a variety of 12 different charts available.

The 12 Common Reports displayed using graphs are;

1. Running Profit
2. Profit
3. ROI%
4. Running Profit + ROI% Overlay
5. ITM%
6. Time Played
7. Site vs Site
8. Hourly Rate by Groups
9. No. of Games by Groups
10. SNG vs MTT
11. SNG - Positions Finished
12. Turbo vs Standard - Running Profit

Personal Poker Pal functions well (using a MS Access type format), both for manual input of session information or for automatic import using their Excel Template. There is a simple one or two click process between the various sections (data entry, reports, bankroll, data management, home) and the request for any of the 12 standard graphic reports. The ability to design custom graphic reports is provided in an easy to use multiple choice ‘pick and mix’ format and the data management section allows corrections to be made without any fuss. However the running total sequence is out of sync with the introduction of negative numbers (although the totals are correct).

Personal Poker Pal allows the user to input the majority of required information. However the number of hands per session are ignored and there is no facility to enter site bonuses, rakeback or other other bankroll adjustments (except as a note to a standard deposit). The major flaw is in the analysis and reports, where ROI (and not BB/hour) is used for cash performance - BB/100 hands is not even possible - and there are no figures for standard deviation. There are no summary tables of key data, the graphs confuse rather than clarify and the level of flexibility is limited in the customs graph mode with only one choice per category and no ability to create a different graphic style.

Personal Poker Pal claims to ‘report on results as never before’ but there are no unique features. There are lots of graphs, but nothing to provide a unique insight into performance when compared to other products in the market. Information is only of value if presented in a clear and concise manner and highlights previously defined Key Performance Indicators. This does not happen. A lot of raw data is available and is presented in many different ways, but there is nothing unique within the product.

Personal Poker Pal provides an ability to import raw session data via Excel, but this has to be cut and pasted onto the Excel Template. There is no automatic link to any other software product (as there is for example, when transferring data from Poker Tracker to Prospector). This is a product in isolation.

Personal Poker Pal is priced at a similar level to Poker Tracker and Poker Prospector (a little above Poker Office). However it does not provide the same level of analysis and the limited Bankroll Section is the only feature they do not provide. It provides similar (but fewer) features than the Poker Dominator online product (which does provide good summary information) - and it is free. It provides similar (but fewer) features than the free bankroll spreadsheets on Poker Calculator Report - which also give you Standard Deviation, Bankroll Risk Comfort Levels and comparison against targets. The Triskele Website is ‘coming soon’ and this may (or may not) be a support/development issue for the future.

Personal Poker Pal is a nice idea, but far from a finished product. It has good potential, but there are better (and much cheaper) products currently in the marketplace.