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Pointers and Reference looks similar but there are some difference between both of them.

POINTER

1) Its not necessary to initialize the pointer at the time of declaration. Like

int a = 10;

int *P = &a; //It is not necessary

Another way is :

int a = 10;

int *P;
P = &a;

2) You can create the array of Pointer.

3) You can assign NULL to the pointer like

int *P = NULL; //Valid

4) You can use pointer to pointer.

REFERENCE

1) Its necessary to initialize the Reference at the time of declaration. Like

int &a = 10;

int &a; //Error here but not in case of Pointer.

2) You can not create the Array of reference.

3) You can not assign NULL to the reference like

int &a = NULL; //Error

4) You can not use reference to reference.