Tournament Auto Detection

PokerTracker 3 version 3.10
October 25, 2013
  • Introduction

    PokerTracker 3 has a Tournament Auto Detection mechanism which is a major enhancement of tournament classification and detection.

    Tournaments are analyzed as they are imported (or afterwards) and tournament type, buy-in, results and prizes are detected automatically where possible.
    In many cases tournament summary requests will no longer be necessary unless detailed result data on opponents is required.

    You now have complete control over tournament types and can change them however you like.

    Filtering has also been upgraded to utilise the new types and this allows much finer filtering.

     

    Important Note on Tournament Auto-Detection

    Auto-Detection is a process that will be continually improved. Not all tournament types can be supported in the auto-detection process, and as sites change their tournament structures the rules will need to be updated.
    For some sites and tournament types results will be very accurate but for others the information in the hand history files does not allow full automatic detection. Detection rules will be automatically updated each time you start PokerTracker 3.

    We urge you to help us improve these results by reporting incorrect detection results.

    Please attach hand history (and summary) files for tournaments which are not detected correctly to a Support ticket and tell us exactly what type each tournament actually is.

  • Tournament Detection Overview

    The Tournament Auto Detection mechanism analyzes tournaments as they are imported and automatically determines what type of tournament it is, what the buy-in is and what your winnings are.

    There are a large number of built in tags and descriptors and you can add your own for any other types you might play.
    You can filter tournaments based on these tags to see any combination of types.

    • Table Types

      The "Table Type" is now in the format:

      STT|MTT [x-Table] (x max) [Turbo|Super-Turbo] [Flags]


      Where:

      STT - Single Table Tournament
      MTT - Multi-Table Tournament

      x-Table - If the tournament has an exact number of tables that is specified here. This normally applies to Sit'n'Gos.

      Turbo - Blinds are increased about every 5 minutes
      Super-Turbo - Blinds are increased about every 3 minutes or less

    • Flags

      Flags can be any combination of the following:

      SNG - Sit and Go
      DON - Double or Nothing (a.k.a. "Double up", half the players win.)
      BOUNTY - (a.k.a. "Knockout") bonuses are awarded for eliminating players.
      SHOOTOUT - a multi-table tournament that is played in phases of single-table events
      REBUY - players are allowed the option to rebuy upon elimination during the initial phase. This initial phase is typically an hour or a half-hour for turbo events.
      MATRIX - structured as a group of Single-table events played simulteneously. Bonuses are awarded for placing on multiple tables.
      RUSH - players are instantly assigned to a new table when they fold or upon the completion of a hand.
      POF - Push or Fold. only Push or Fold options are available.
      SATELLITE - players compete for entry into another tournament.
      STEPS - similar to SATELLITE but are structured as a series of satellites leading up to a grand prize.
      DEEP - starting stacks are at least 2x normal leading to longer, usually slower-paced games.

    • Examples

      A typical single-table 6 seat Turbo SNG tourney is now has the Table Type: "STT (6 max) Turbo SNG"

      A single-table Double-or-Nothing tournament now has the Table Type: "STT SNG DON"

      A Multi-table Bounty (a.k.a. Knockout) tournament: "MTT BOUNTY"

      A 45 player SNG with 9 seat tables: "MTT 5-Table SNG"

    • Working with tournament auto detection and tournament types

      For new tournaments auto detection can be enabled on the Auto Import or Manual Import tabs.
      During Auto Import detection will be triggered shortly after the last hand is imported for a tournament.
      In a Manual Import detection will happen at the end of the import for all tournaments imported.
      See this section for information on enabling these options.

      If you have existing tournaments which you wish to have detected this can be done via the Tournaments > Enter Holdem|Omaha Results window.
      This window also allows you to adjust any tournament information which was not detected correctly, including entering your own tournament types, and to enter information which it is not possible to detect.
      See this section for information on running auto detect for existing tournaments or this one on how to change data manually.

      The new tournament types can be filtered very effectively using individual or combinations of flags.
      These filters can be used in the main application reports but also the Enter Results window and when exporting or purging tournaments.
      See this section for more information on using tournament type filters.

  • Configuring detection in imports
    • Auto Import

      To enable Auto Detection during Auto Import enable the Tournament Detection option on the Preferences tab.

       

       

      When the final hand of a tournament is imported auto detection will be triggered. This will not happen immediately after the final hand but shortly after because PT3 needs to be sure that it is really the final hand. For this reason you should not stop Auto Import immediately after you are knocked out or win - you should leave it running for a few minutes or until the detection is triggered (you can see this reported in the Import Status window).

    • Manual Import

      To enable Auto Detection for Manual Imports enable the Auto-Tournament Detect option in the Import Options.

       

       

      Detection will happen at the end of the import once all files have been imported.

       

      Note: The Overwrite Tournament Summary Data option will overwrite information imported from hand histories (or already in the database) with non-zero information from tournament summary files. This is separate from Auto Detection and is primarly used to force the import of manually set data in summaries exported from PT3, such as manually updated rebuy information.

  • Detection of existing tournaments

    If you have existing tournaments in your database from before Auto Detection was introduced, or if you have tournaments which were not detected for some reason (maybe you stopped Auto Import before the detection was triggered) then you can trigger detection manually for any tournaments you choose.

    This is accessed via the PT3 menu Tournaments > Enter Holdem|Omaha Results.

     

     

    This will open the following window:

     

     

    Use the Filters button (see below for filter info) and/or Only Tournaments Needing Results option to narrow down the list of tournaments displayed and then select the tournament(s) that you want to Auto Detect. You can select multiple tournaments by shift-clicking or control-clicking, or click the Select All link.

    When you have the appropriate tournaments selected click the Auto Detect button.

     

     

    On the Auto-Detecting Tournaments window there are three options which determine what will be updated and what existing data (that might have been already filled manually or from hand histories or tournament summaries) will be protected.

    • Update Finish and Amount Won - If this option is enabled and the detection process can determine the place and prize for a player it will assign these values and automatically store them.
      This will not overwrite any non-zero information - place or prize information which has already been set will not be changed.
    • Update Table Type - When this option is enabled, the detected table type will be updated and stored in the database - otherwise it will just display the detected type in the dialog. If you want to see what type PT3 thinks the tournament is before updating it you can disable this option. If Do not overwrite filled Table Type is enabled too then only tournaments which are currently N/A will be overwritten.
    • Do not overwrite filled Table Type - When this option is checked, the system will not overwrite any Table Type value except "N/A". If you have already set the Table Type and only want to Auto Detect results information then tick this option.

    Tip! The default "safe" option is to have all 3 options ticked - this will mean that no data that is already set will be changed, and that any new information which is detected will be saved to your database.

    • Defaults for unknown types

      You can set defaults for tournaments which cannot be detected due to lack of information.
      If you normally play a type which isn't detected correctly then you can set the correct defaults here and PT3 will use these if it is unable to determine the type.

      When you have set the options click Detect to start the process. The type of the detected tournaments will be displayed.
      Click Close to finish.

       

       

      Table Type and results information is now filled in for the selected Tournament(s).

       

       

      Note that because I was knocked out in 3rd in this tournament the hand histories stop there so PT3 can't detect who won. If you know the remaining results you can enter them manually by selecting the players in the Results section and entering any additional information that you know.

      If the Table Type was detected incorrectly then you can change it by selecting from the Table Type list (top right). See the next section for more information and how to add your own table types.

  • Updating tournament information manually

    It is not possible to auto detect all information for all tournament types - for some there just isn't enough information available in the hand history files. For these, or any which are detected incorrectly*, you can update the information manually using the Tournaments > Enter Holdem|Omaha Results window.

    * Please report tournaments which import incorrect so that we can improve the detection rules - attach the hand history file(s) to a Support ticket and tell us what type of tournament it actually is.

     

     

    This will open the following window:

     

     

    Use the Filters button (see below for filter info) and/or Only Tournaments Needing Results option to narrow down the list of tournaments displayed and then select the tournament(s) that you want to change. You can select multiple tournaments by shift-clicking or control-clicking, or click the Select All link.
    When you have the appropriate tournaments selected make the required changes and the click Save.
    Only the information which you change will updated on all of the selected tournaments - unchanged values will not be changed for any tournament (although you can optionally apply all settings to all tournaments).

    If you need to you can change the Buy-In and Rake amounts, the number of entrants (for MTTs this is often not included in the hand histories), the Tournament Type (Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit will nearly always be set correctly from the hand histories) and the Table Type.

    If you have tournament Auto Detect enabled for imports then the Table Type should be set but if the wrong type was detected you can select another already used type from the dropdown list.

    • Adding new Table Types

      If the correct Table Type is not yet in the list then you can add your own choice of Table Type with any label or tags that you like. Click the Add Table Type link to initiate this.

       

       

      In the Add Table Type window you can define exactly what you want the tournament label to consist of by selecting the following options:

      • Seats per Table - The number of seats at each table. You can specify from 2 to 8 explicitly, or "Full" for 9 or 10 seat tables.
        Anything other than "Full" will add a (x max) tag to the tournament definition.
      • Total Tables - The number of tables in the tournament. For single table tournaments use 1 - this will start the label with "STT". All other tournaments are "MTT". For scheduled multi-table tournaments with no fixed number of tables use 0 (zero). For SNGs with a fixed number of tables/entrants specify the relevant number of tables - this isn't necessary but will allow you to identify and filter these specific tournaments.
        Any value other than 0 or 1 will add a x-Table tag to the tournament definition.
      • Blind Speed - Select Normal, Turbo or Super-Turbo.
        Anything other than "Normal" will add a tag to the tournament definition.
      • Flags - Tick the appropriate flags to add tags to the tournament definition. The flags are explained in the overview section of this tutorial.

      Should you want to add a tournament type which isn't possible using the existing options you can type directly into the text field at the bottom to create any label that you want.

      When you have defined the new type that you want, click Add to close the Add Table Type window.
      Your new type will now be available to select in the Table Type dropdown list.

    • Updating player results

      In the Enter Results window you can also enter or update individual players' results where they have not been imported or detected.
      For single table tournaments PT3 should Auto Detect all finishing positions and prizes (if the entry fee and payout structure is known) but for most tournaments with more than one table it is not possible to determine finishing positions or prizes unless this information is imported from hand histories or summaries.

      If you play MTTs at a site where this information is not provided in the hand history or summary files then you can enter any player results that you know in the lower section of the Enter Results window. Select each player in turn and enter their results on the right hand side - be sure to click Save for each player you change.

  • Filtering Tournament Types

    For general information on using filters please read the Tutorial: Filters - this post is specifically about filtering Tournament Types.

    As described in the Overview Tournament Types consist of a set of flags and you can filter for individual or combinations of flags to generate a list of whatever tournaments you like.

    These filters can be used in the main application reports but also in the Tournaments > Enter Results window and when exporting or purging.

    The Filters window Tournaments tab looks like this, and the section we're going to focus on is the middle section consisting of explicit Table Types and a selection of Flags, Tables, Seats, Speed and Tourney Types which make up the individual types:

     

     

    To filter for specific Tournament Types you can select (tick) the appropriate types in the Table Types section.

    The remaining filters allow for more general sets of tournament types to be viewed.
    You can tick combinations of options in the Flags, Tables, Seats, Speed and Tourney Types sections to include a subset of tournaments. For instance if you want to see all SNG tournaments with 5 tables but you don't care about the speed or size of each table you would tick Flags > SNG and Tables > 5.

    As a general rule, if you select more than one option within a group and apply the filter then it will include any tournaments which match any of the selected options - e.g. if you tick both "STT SNG" and "MTT 5-Table SNG" then all tournaments of either of these types will be included.

    However, if you tick one option and add it to the list of applied filters and then tick another option in the same group and add that too then both of these filters will need to be true for a tournament to be included. When added like this the filters appear on separate lines in the Selected Filters section to the right and filters on separate lines are applied with AND, meaning that all lines need to be true for a tournament to be included in the filter.
    In the above example no tournaments can be "STT SNG" and "MTT 5-Table SNG" so nothing would be included. This type of filter is useful for the Flags section, though - for instance if you want to view SNG BOUNTY tournaments (as opposed to all SNG and all BOUNTY tournaments).

    • Filter Examples

      The following example filters use this set of tournaments:

       

       

      All Single Table Tournaments

       

      All 5 table tournaments

       

      All 5 table and 20 table tournaments

       

      All Turbo tournaments

       

      All Turbo or Super-Turbo Tournaments

       

      All 5-Table Turbo Sit'n'Go tournaments

       

      This final example uses NOT to filter out Sit'n'Go tournaments - it includes all Multi-Table Tournaments which are not Sit'n'Gos.
      For more information on using NOT and other more advanced ways of combining filters please read the Tutorial: Filters.

       

      All Multi-Table Tournaments which are not Sit'n'Gos