Interview with Cake Personal Stats Tracker Founder

Recently, PokerSoftware.com sat down with the creator of a brand new program that tracks hero stats on Cake Poker. While it doesn’t track tendencies of your opponents like you’d find with programs like PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager, the Cake Personal Stats Tracker is one of the few software programs that is available for the online poker site. Tim Miller, its founder, revealed the background behind his product, which has quickly caught on in the poker software world.

PokerTracker and Hold'em Manager do not yet support Cake Poker, in part due to the site’s Terms of Service, according to Miller: “Since Cake Poker has decided to ban the use of all HUDs, the creators of both programs would not add Cake support. They decided to err on the side of caution rather than try to come up with a way to support Cake hand histories without violating their Terms of Service.” The lists of software programs that are not allowed on each site vary widely. PokerStars, for example, identifies each program that is not permitted. Online poker rooms such as Full Tilt Poker display more generic statements.

The program is currently in its Alpha stage, which means that new features are being added and many are not yet 100% usable. However, Miller stated, “Most features are there. I just want to refine them and fix any bugs.” The main stats display is below and includes just about every stat that you could think of, including 3bet%, 4bet%, C-Bet%, PFR%, and WTSD%. Miller told us that he’s exhausted his imagination. Hand history information contains your position, hole cards, net win, as well as what your final hand was. The ability to sort stats by blind level appears to be available already. However, the full spectrum of stats available is not yet known, as the program is constantly evolving. Here’s a look at the main stats screen:



Miller’s program is completely free at the moment. However, he has contemplated charging for its use in the future. After all, as potentially the only game in town on Cake Poker, his product could see widespread use at least in the beginning, allowing its customers to track their own stats on the U.S. friendly site. Miller explained, “I've considered charging for it, but it there would have to be two conditions met. First, there would have to be a fair-sized user base. If that occurred and nobody was willing to donate a few bucks here and there, then I might consider charging for it. Before that, though, I would want to get formal word from Cake Poker that it doesn't violate their Terms of Service.” Cake’s Terms of Service state that the “use of any software during the game that is designed to track and display the actions of the other players on the site” is prohibited. It does not list out specific programs or give examples.

Originally, Miller used SQL Server for his database, but has since switched to PostgreSQL, which is utilized by both Hold’em Manager and PokerTracker. Miller gave full download instructions in a post on our very own Poker Software Discussion Forum. System requirements include Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher, PostgreSQL, and Npgsql. Here’s a look at the screen that will appear when you begin to set up your Cake Stats Tracker database:



So what does the future hold for the industry as a whole? He revealed, as a man who is firmly entrenched in it, “I don't think that we'll see any big revolutions in any type of tracking software. Most of the future will just be covering the new games that are emerging and maybe trying to give users different perspectives on the same stats. Even more generally speaking, I think that the percentage of players using these programs will be very high unless new markets are developed or the U.S. government decides to release the restrictions on online poker.”

Miller is actively seeking your feedback to help make the program as useful as possible for consumers. Check out more information on the Cake Stats Tracker in our discussion forums right here on PokerSoftware.com. Make sure to post your feedback on additional stats that could be added, changes to the interface, or any difficulties you encounter along the way.

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