Pokerbase review: session tracking and poker planning

Pokerbase puts session records, saved hands and tournament plans on your phone. Its most useful job is a fairly ordinary one: keeping the details you would otherwise forget. A top-up, a second tournament entry or an unfinished session can change the story your results tell.

This review looks at the developer’s published features and shows how to build a recordkeeping routine around them. HPD has not tested Pokerbase’s imports, calculations or performance. The worked records below are fictional teaching examples, not results produced by the app. Product information was checked on 18 October 2026.

Explore the sample ledger · Moving existing records · Choose your workflow

What Pokerbase is designed to organize

Pokerbase is a mobile poker tracker with iPhone and iPad and Android listings. The developer’s current product overview describes live and online session logging, cash games and tournaments, filtered results, a hand recorder and replayer, tournament receipt scanning, PDF reports and an event calendar with calendar sync.

The store descriptions add multiple bankrolls, currency tracking, imports from other poker trackers and study tools. Google Play explicitly lists Excel reports; check that format on your own device and plan before depending on it. Both stores show in-app purchases. A store listing establishes what the developer offers, not how reliably a particular feature will handle your records.

The distinction matters if you arrived here looking for automatic hand collection. The sources checked for this review do not establish Pokerbase as an opponent HUD or confirm automated hand capture from a particular poker room. Its recorder and session diary are useful for different questions: what happened, what did it cost and which decision should you revisit?

Pokerbase also advertises social updates and staking packages. Decide separately whether you want to share a record. A personal diary does not need an audience, and a staking arrangement involves commitments beyond logging a session.

Make each session understandable a month later

Start with a consistent naming system. Use the same name for the same venue, identify the game and stakes, and record the original currency. If you play both online and live, make the distinction clear in the fields or notes available to you. Otherwise, a later filter may compare unlike sessions.

For a cash game, record every buy-in and top-up, the full cash-out, and start and finish times. Decide how you will handle breaks before using hourly figures. For a tournament, record the event, flight, each entry or re-entry, any add-on and everything returned. Keep an entry fee visible without subtracting it twice when it is already included in the entry payment.

Travel, parking and food need a consistent expense policy. Keeping those costs separate lets you distinguish the table result from the cost of the outing. These are recordkeeping requirements to test in your setup; they are not promises that Pokerbase has a dedicated control for every field.

Before the first session: a setup checklist

• Choose one spelling for each venue or poker room and a clear game label.
• Record amounts in their original currency. Decide where converted totals will be shown.
• Check how the app records a top-up, re-entry, add-on, tip and separate expense.
• Decide whether playing time excludes breaks, and use that rule consistently.
• Check the audience setting before saving or sharing. Keep a separate note if an important detail has no suitable field.

One evening, two ways to record it

Both examples use EUR throughout. The amounts are deliberately ordinary: a small cash win and a tournament with no prize. Good records should be equally clear in either case.

Sample A: an evening cash session

• First buy-in: €500
• Later top-up: €200
• Total paid into the game: €700
• Cash-out: €740
• Session result: +€40
• Separate travel expense: €18
• After the recorded expense: +€22

€740 − (€500 + €200) = €40. Then €40 − €18 = €22.

The cash-out is the full amount returned. Entering €40 as the cash-out would confuse the net result with the money received. Keep the result before expenses available even when you also want a total for the outing.

Sample B: an event with one re-entry

• First entry, including €30 fee: €210
• Re-entry, including €30 fee: €210
• Total entry cost: €420
• Prize received: €0
• Event result: −€420
• Separate travel expense: €18
• After the recorded expense: −€438

€0 − (€210 + €210) = −€420. Then −€420 − €18 = −€438.

The two entry payments already contain €60 in fees. Subtracting those fees again would overstate the loss. If the terminology on an event receipt is unclear, read our guide to tournament re-entry and late registration before deciding how to record it.

Fix an incomplete tournament note

• Original note: “Tournament: €210, no cash. Train €18.” Read literally, this records a €228 outing and misses the second entry.
• Corrected note: “Two entries at €210 each, fees included. Prize €0. Train €18.” The complete outing is €438.
• Check the entry count against the receipts. The missing re-entry changes this record by €210.
• Keep the original receipts and a short correction note so you can explain the change later.

These examples demonstrate arithmetic only. Neither evening establishes the player’s long-term profitability.

Turn a hand note into a useful review

The advertised recorder and replayer give saved hands a place alongside your session notes. You still have to supply a reliable sequence. Write down positions, effective stacks, blinds, actions and bet sizes while the hand is fresh and recording is permitted. Mark an uncertain detail as uncertain.

“Lost a big pot with top pair” gives you very little to study. “Turn, out of position, facing a half-pot bet; review the call” at least identifies a decision. Add the board, prior action and stack information before trying to judge it. A replay can only show the line entered; it cannot repair a hand reconstructed from a vague memory.

A hand note worth keeping

• Write the game, blinds or antes, positions and effective stack before the hand.
• List hole cards, board cards and action in order. Keep bet amounts and pot estimates distinct.
• Label any amount or action you do not remember accurately.
• Name the decision you want to review instead of writing only the outcome.
• Include difficult hands you won as well as hands you lost, and remove unnecessary personal details about other players.

When you sit down to study, hide the result long enough to assess the decision. HPD’s guide to hand history review without results bias explains that habit. Choose a manageable number of hands and put the review into a study routine you can keep. A folder full of unreviewed hands is still an unfinished task.

Read reports after checking the inputs

Before comparing filtered results, inspect a few underlying sessions. A venue saved under two spellings can split one history. A missing top-up can improve the result on paper. An unclosed session can distort recorded time. Fix those problems before interpreting a chart.

Keep the original currency amounts even if you use a reporting currency. Check the exchange rate and conversion date behind a total. A EUR cash session and a USD tournament should not become one total simply because the numbers sit next to each other.

When a total looks wrong, check these first

• Compare the number of sessions in the report with the dates you actually played.
• Look for duplicate imports, missing entries and sessions left open.
• Check whether the same venue or game appears under several names.
• Reconcile a session to its buy-ins, top-ups, cash-out and receipts before changing the report.
• Check the date range, currency treatment and expense inclusion. Save a note of the settings used.

Then ask a narrow question: are all this month’s cash sessions entered, or did every tournament entry make it into the report? Those are answerable checks. A short run of results cannot establish an enduring edge. Our explanation of expected value and realized results helps keep that distinction clear.

Use the calendar to plan, then confirm the event

An event calendar is a starting point for a trip. Shortlist an event, confirm its details with the organizer, then put travel and review time around it. A saved listing alone is a poor basis for a non-refundable booking.

For an event with several starting flights, record which one you intend to enter and which later day applies if you advance. Check sync and reminders on your own devices before relying on them. The practical goal is to avoid discovering a schedule conflict after you have traveled.

A tournament-trip checklist

• Before booking, confirm the venue, local start time, entry conditions and current structure with the organizer.
• Check the chosen starting flight, later-day schedule and any clashes with travel.
• Set a time and spending limit before leaving, including a decision about further entries.
• After each session, reconcile entries, receipts and hand notes while the details are fresh.
• After the trip, close incomplete records and open a saved export outside the app.

The structure affects both the schedule and the record you need. Use our guide to tournament types if an event label is unfamiliar. For a separate planning check, review limits and breaks before the trip. A tracker should support the limits you chose, not become a reason to keep playing.

Moving records, exporting them and keeping them private

Import support is only the first question when moving a history. The more useful question is whether your records arrive intact. Keep the original export. If the current importer permits a small trial, choose a few completed sessions that include a cash top-up, a tournament re-entry and an expense.

Check dates, currency, entry counts and totals before migrating the rest. Check notes and attachments separately. A row can arrive with the correct result and still lose the explanation behind it. HPD has not run an import test; these are checks for your own data.

A small migration test before moving everything

• Save an untouched copy of the original file and note its export format.
• Choose representative sessions, including one with more than one payment into the game.
• Compare dates, currencies, entry counts, results and expenses with the source.
• Open transferred notes and receipts. Do not infer that attachments arrived because the session exists.
• Check the importer’s duplicate handling before submitting the same file again.
• Export the trial records and open the files elsewhere. Confirm what you can keep if you later leave the app.

A PDF is useful for reading and sharing a report. A reusable data export matters when you want to sort records elsewhere or move to another app. Confirm the formats included in your current plan and test them. Neither an export button nor a neat report establishes tax compliance.

Privacy needs a separate check. The iOS privacy label lists contact information and identifiers that may be linked to identity; Apple says the disclosure is supplied by the developer and has not been verified by Apple. Review the in-app audience settings before sharing a session, hand or receipt. Remove unnecessary names, membership numbers and other personal details from anything you choose to share.

Is this the workflow you need?

Pokerbase is worth evaluating if your records are scattered across receipts, phone notes and a spreadsheet you rarely finish. The combination of session logging, saved hands and event planning fits that problem. Its usefulness depends on whether you will complete the record and whether its imports and exports preserve what you need.

Try one representative session from beginning to end before moving years of history. Include a second payment, a separate expense and a hand note. Close it, inspect the report and open an export outside the app. A week later, you should still be able to explain every number.

Before paying, check the plan on your own device for record access, imports, exports, receipt handling and any device requirements. Confirm the billing period and renewal terms in your storefront. This review does not quote a price or promise a free-tier allowance.

If your priority is collecting supported online hand histories for a separate database or HUD, read HPD’s EliteHUD guide and check the poker platform’s current software rules. Our poker software hub puts the different tool categories in context.

Plan the recordkeeping before the next session

Choose the information you need, write down a consistent expense policy and finish a small sample record. Keep the original files until you have checked the move. The best test is simple: can you trace the total back to what actually happened?

For questions about HPD’s guides or the poker options we cover, contact HPD. Pokerbase account, billing and app issues belong with its developer. You can also explore poker software before choosing a workflow.