Poker tracker on GGPoker: what is allowed and what is not.
Looking for a poker tracker for GGPoker? The well known names are banned there. Here you read what the risk is, what is allowed, and how to improve on data anyway.
Anyone moving to GGPoker from another poker site soon misses their familiar HUD: the row of numbers next to every avatar that appears on other sites through PokerTracker or Hold'em Manager. On GGPoker that row stays empty, and that is not a technical fault. It is an explicit rule.
GGPoker bans external tracking software entirely, whether you use it to track GG itself or to track another site while your client is open. In the worst case a breach costs you your account, including the balance on it. At the same time you do not have to play blind: there is a built in alternative and there are ways to analyse your own game thoroughly afterwards, without ever breaking the rules.
This guide sets out what is banned, what is allowed, and how to learn at least as much with those permitted means as with a classic HUD.
what is not allowed
Banned: every live HUD.
The rule is simple to remember: anything that automatically shows statistics next to an avatar while you play is not allowed. It makes no difference whether the software is popular or unknown, paid or free. Four examples that will get you a warning or a closed account on GGPoker:
PokerTracker 4
The best known HUD software. Reads the hand history live and shows opponents' statistics next to their avatar while you play.
Hold'em Manager (2 and 3)
Same function as PokerTracker: a live HUD overlay based on hands read in. Banned on GGPoker, even if you use the account only for other sites while GG is open.
Hand2Note
More extensive still than the two above, with its own calculation models. Banned for the same reason: it is a live overlay based on automatically imported data.
Separate scripts and scrapers
Home built tools that read the table or show statistics automatically fall under the same rule, even if they do not come from a shop. The rule is about what the software does, not about where you got it.
what is allowed
Allowed: everything that is afterwards, or built in.
The built in SmartHUD
GGPoker shows four numbers next to every avatar: VPIP, PFR, 3-bet and WTSD. Those run inside the client itself, so without external software, which makes it the only HUD you are allowed to use at the table.
PokerCraft, afterwards
GGPoker's own statistics module lets you look at your sessions, your results per position and your general figures after the fact. Everything happens after the session, never live at the table, and that is exactly why it is allowed.
Exporting your hand history and analysing it yourself
You may export your own hands from GGPoker as a file and have them worked through afterwards, by yourself or by a separate program that is not running while you play. That is the gap tools like Pokiq fit into: no live overlay, but deep analysis afterwards.
Notes at the table
Manual notes about an opponent, typed while you play, do not fall under the definition of tracking software. That is allowed as long as you type it yourself and no program keeps statistics for you automatically.
the rule of thumb
Live is banned, afterwards is allowed.
Any doubt about whether something is allowed on GGPoker you settle with one question: is this running while I play a hand, or am I looking at it after the hand is over? Everything in the first category is banned. Everything in the second is allowed, even if it calculates as thoroughly as a classic HUD.
A HUD overlay, automatic notes during the hand, any tool that shows figures next to an avatar while you play. Banned, full stop.
The built in SmartHUD and manual notes you type yourself. Allowed, because it runs inside the client itself and adds no automatically imported data.
PokerCraft, your own exported hand history, and tools that analyse it such as Pokiq. Allowed, however deep the analysis goes.
Improving without a live tracker.
A missing HUD feels like a handicap at first, but in practice most of your profit was never in what you read off your opponents anyway. It is in your own repeated mistakes: calling too often from the blinds, bluffing against somebody who calls anyway, or tilt after a lost pot. You do not find those patterns live at the table, but in a calm look afterwards at hundreds of your own hands.
In practice it works like this: export your hand history from GGPoker, have it worked through by a program that is not running while you play, and look at what goes wrong structurally. Pokiq does exactly that. You import the hands you played, and the app points out your most expensive leak with what it costs you per 100 hands, instead of digging through thousands of lines of text yourself.
If you are stuck on the exporting itself, that is explained step by step in the guide to exporting your hand history. And if you first want to know what the four SmartHUD numbers at the table mean, read the SmartHUD guide. If instead you are wondering whether your biggest problem lies somewhere else, look at the five most common leaks at NL10, often the same five patterns a HUD would not have shown you either.
Pokiq itself never runs while you play and shows nothing at the table. You can see the full price overview and what each tier includes on the pricing page.
frequently asked questions
Rules, risks and alternatives.
Why does GGPoker ban external trackers in the first place? +
A live HUD gives you extra information during the hand that you would not have without software, such as the exact percentage of hands an opponent plays. GGPoker wants everybody at the table to have the same information and counts that as an unfair advantage, like most large poker sites.
What happens if I use a HUD anyway? +
Since 2024 GGPoker actively detects whether tracking software is running while your client is open, even if that software is meant for another poker site. The first time usually gets you a warning; if it is repeated, a temporary or permanent closure of your account follows, including the balance on it.
Is PokerCraft the same as a tracker? +
No. PokerCraft is GGPoker's own statistics module and shows your figures after a session, not alongside it while you play. That distinction, live during the hand versus afterwards, is exactly what the rule turns on.
May I download my hand history and look at it myself? +
Yes. Exporting your own hands and analysing them afterwards, with a separate program that is not running while you play, is allowed. Only a live overlay during the hand itself is banned. Pokiq works with exported hand history, so your account is not at risk.
How do I improve without live HUD figures about my opponents? +
Use the SmartHUD as a first glance while you play, that is allowed and is already enough to sort an opponent roughly. For lasting improvement, analysing your own hands afterwards works better than live figures about others: that way you learn your own patterns instead of reacting to one session.
Can I keep opponents' statistics across several sessions, as with a HUD? +
No, and it would not work even if you wanted to. GGPoker encrypts opponents' names in the hand history, so the same player gets a different code the next session. Your own figures can be followed in full across every session, and that is where most of the return is anyway.
So is Pokiq a tracker? +
No. Pokiq never runs while you play and shows nothing next to an avatar at the table. You import your own, already played hands, and Pokiq works out afterwards which leak costs you the most and how to fix it. No live overlay, so no breach of GGPoker's rules.
free leak detection
Analysis with no risk to your account.
Import your own, already played hands and Pokiq shows which leak costs you the most per 100 hands, with a concrete fix plan. No live overlay, no rule broken. Free to start.
Find my leaks →Curious what you get for your money? See the full overview on the pricing page.