PokerTracker 4 Rolls Out Major Cache and PostgreSQL Improvements

If you are using PokerTracker 4, we have great news for you.  PokerTracker 4, one of the leaders in poker tracking and analysis software, is now faster than ever thanks to its new database caching improvements released in Version 4.11, which came out on Monday.

PokerTracker 4 already works very quickly even before this major tune-up, but now you can receive all of your reports and graphs faster than ever before.  In particular, reports or graphs that use custom stats are most likely to see the greatest improvement in speed.

While having improved speed for your post-game review is important, the best benefit of this improvement might be the improved speed of the HUD when populating stats.  Speed in your HUD is important since, unlike when studying, you have a limited amount of time to make each decision.  The faster your HUD is, the more tables you can effectively play at once and the more money you can potentially earn per hour.

Caching stats improves speed since it takes away from calculations that need to be done on the fly.  One example relates that the 3bet Pre-Flop stats are calculated much quicker using caching data instead of calculating these stats on the fly.  3bet Pre-Flop stats represent how often a player 3bets by dividing the number of time a person 3bets "cnt_p_3bet" by the number of times this person had an opportunity to 3bet "cnt_p_3bet_opp".  "cnt_p_3bet" and "cnt_p_3bet_opp" are both columns in a database table that can be used to calculate the 3bet stat and other stats.

Since "cnt_p_3bet" and "cnt_p_3bet_opp" are cached in your database, PokerTracker can quickly use these data columns to populate any report, graph, and HUD much quicker than if the software had to calculate two pieces of data separately on the fly to come up with it.

Just by using this example, you can see the power cached stats have, especially if you are calculating something that requires tons of stats or columns of data.

Almost all of PokerTracker 4's stats are cached and, for the first time, most custom stats can also be cached in Version 4.11.  There are some exceptions such as most time-related stats, since real-hour information is not required to be cached.  Also, some tournament-based stats such as ROI and ITM are un-cached because these are not stats based on poker hands themselves; only stats based on poker hands are populated in the database cache.

Custom stats can also be cached provided that the columns the stats are using are also cached.  This means players using popular third-party premium HUD providers should experience a huge improvement in the speed their dynamic HUDs provide.

PokerTracker 4 already makes it simple to create new stats.  But now, most new stats will also be calculated much quicker even if you make them yourself.  Stats are built by using the "Columns" page in the software's "Statistic Configuration" window.

Programmers and HUD creators should be excited that any time they create a custom stat that uses a cached column, the database will not have to recalculate every time there is an update since the cache addresses these issues.

If you're going the next step and creating a new column, PokerTracker 4 makes it easy and you can potentially cache this column by clicking the box that says "Cache" before saving.

These new improvements are important even if you are not a developer because it means more efficient third-party HUDs should be available for you to take advantage of. PokerTracker is focused on developing tools for third-party developers to create a vibrant protected ecosystem.  We are just beginning to feel these effects, but the staff at PokerTracker tell us that before the end of the year, there will be many more add-ons available that can take advantage of these new caching improvements to provide fast data on demand in the HUD and reports.

So if speed is your need, download the newest version of PokerTracker 4 today to rev up your HUD and database.

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