Using PokerTracker for Taxes...

[Robbie Robb]

Okay, I've been playing around with this to see if I could figure out a way (an EASY way) to report a daily gross win and a daily gross loss. (that is what you're looking for right???)

I don't know that there is an easy way. You could pull a daily report and then setup a filter to show you the hands won @ showdown, toss that number in a spreadsheet, then filter for hands won without showdown, through that number into the spreadsheet then subtract your net win from the sum of those two and you have your gross losses. Not easy. Very time consuming.

Then, lying in bed last night, I think I figured out the easiest way for someone to do it. It would be necessary to whip up some short vb code for excel that accesses (pardon the pun) the PT database (since it's in Access format) and pull out the information you need for each day. It would be able to automate the ENTIRE process.

I haven't actually done the math but I'm assuming that it will work out so that the NetWin=GrossWin-GrossLoss-BuyIn.

Yeah, that's gonna screw a LOT of people since GrossWin will include your own money. Won't it? As an example: if you win a 3-way pot worth $1500 isn't $500 of that already your own money? Yet it's still going to show up in the win for the hand. Over and over again.

Oh man...I'm confused now...too early...

EDIT: Okay, I fired up PT to take a look at the ring hands. Hallelujah! PT actually lists your NET win for each hand! That makes it easier. So basically what you'd need to do is read in the NetWin for each hand on a given day. Green add it to Win counter, red add it to loss counter. At end of hands create a row in excel with date, win, loss, and maybe for good measure, number of hands played. There ya go! Quick and dirty pseudo-code!

[Talking Poker]

I understand how to do it manually - but no way am I considering each HAND a session. Ah, I see - you are then saying to add up all the nets for a Day and then determine where it goes.

That would work, but that's way too much manaual work, again. There needs to be a way to automate that (ideally, within PT), so with the press of a button, you can have your tax-friendly results.

If no one knows a way to do this, I'll contact the PT guys myself and see what they say.

[Robbie Robb]

definitely talk to them. it should be very easy to code into PT itself. Otherwise, the ONLY other way I can think of to automate it is some Excel VB magic that mines the access database automatically and puts each day in a separate row in an Excel spreadsheet.

[Talking Poker]

I just dug through the PT forums (tired of waiting for pshabi to do this for me), and found some interesting threads I will link to directly.

MOST of the threads are people requesting this exact feature, so:
A) it's not there yet
and
B) They are aware that people want it (Assuming they read their own forums).

Seems there is going to be a big difference in the numbers, depending on how a "session" is defined. Damn the IRS for their goofy outdated laws.

Some threads worth looking at...

1. This guy grossed 3k.... you know, 123k win and 120k loss:


That blew his gross income through the roof, moving him up quite in bit in the tax brackets. I still don't think this can be right, and need to look into it more.

2. A useful looking SQL query:


3. A perl script posts on 2+2 with some more discussion:


4. And of course, as per the IRS:


5. More discussion, including interpretation of the IRS's pain in the ass requirements:


What a freaking mess. The thing that gets me is I'll bet 90%+ of online players don't report ANYTHING.... and meanwhile, the guys who do try to be honest not only get screwed financially, but also have to deal with all this crap and potentially more headaches from the IRS.

[badblood44]

Have you sought any advice from a professional tax preparer? Quite honestly, I went to one years ago, and paid $150 for his help. He showed me things that have saved me more than that fee several times over.

This may be one of those instances.

I'm not suggesting you be totally dishonest, but why screw yourself over?

[Talking Poker]

I talked to my accountant about this a few times last year, and wasn't really happy with what he had to say (not so much his recommendations, but more so his lack of knowledge in the area). So I found a new accountant. She's vvery willing to figure out what's best and gave me some pretty solid advice. She thinks PT on top of the records I have now would make for excellent backup.

My own personal records are gold as far as all tourneys are concerned - MTT, SNG, and even HU. Now it's just a question of getting PT to do what I want it to do to take care of the cash games.

[SirFWALGMan]

If anyone needs some help making a query to do the math I have been in IT for over 13 years and have some skillz in Access (which is the DB they used to use), and Postgress. Also I could import the data into my own Access DB for reporting only.. I know all the data is there to slice up anyway you want. Just ask and we can work something out.

[MAYHEM45]

Actually PT uses PostgresSQL (or has the option to convert your Access) databases for its hand storage now. That said, I would look up some info on basic queries. Coding one to look for this data should do the trick.

EDIT: I love posting while someone else is typing up a much more useful post at the same time.

NH TP.

[Talking Poker]

ty. Now if only I could figure out how to use everything I linked to in order to get the numbers I need for my taxes.