A database review starts with an archive of hand histories. It is usually the slowest step, not because it is hard, but because nobody remembers where the files are or which button exports them. Below is a short guide by room and tracker, and a checklist for before you send.
What the review accepts
- Plain-text hand history files exactly as the room writes them or the tracker exports them. A folder, separate files or a zip, including a zip inside a zip.
- Any encoding. No need to rename or clean the files. The room is detected hand by hand, so a mixed export from several rooms works too.
- All hands, not only yours. The pool review needs your opponents: if the tracker asks "Hero only or all hands", pick all.
- The more, the better. Spots are counted from a few tens of thousands of hands; the price of findings becomes reliable from hundreds of thousands. If there are too few hands, the report says where the sample is short instead of inventing a number.
You do not need to tell us your nickname, it is detected from the hands. Opponents' and top regs' nicknames never appear in the report.
The easiest way: your tracker
If you play with a tracker, the whole database is already in it and exports with one command.
Hand2Note. Open Reports, pick your player or alias and the period, then right-click the results → "Export all hands" and choose a folder. The tracker also keeps the original files in an archive: by default C:\MyHandsArchive_H2N, the path is shown in the auto-import settings. That folder can be zipped as is.
Holdem Manager 3. Tools → Export Hands. In the export window choose a folder, the period (blank means the whole database), "all hands", cash, the stakes you need, and press Start Export. Cash and tournaments export separately. Another way: in any report select the hands (Ctrl+A), right-click → Export.
PokerTracker 4. Database → Export Hands, then pick the database, the period and a folder. PT4 has a detailed guide on the developer's site.
The export produces a folder of text files. Zip it into one file and send it. Size is not a problem: hundreds of megabytes are normal.
Rooms without a tracker
PokerStars. The client saves the history itself if the option is on: Settings → Playing History → Hand History, tick "Save My Hand History" and set a folder. By default on Windows it is C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Local\PokerStars\HandHistory\<nick>, on Mac ~/Library/Application Support/PokerStars/HandHistory/<nick>. The AppData folder is hidden; the easiest way is to paste the path into the Explorer address bar. Only hands played after the option is enabled are saved, so switch it on today even if the review is planned for later.
GGPoker. The history is not written to disk; PokerCraft provides it. In the client open PokerCraft, choose the game type (Hold'em), the period and stakes, press Show, tick the sessions and press Download. Important: PokerCraft only gives hands from the last 90 days. If you play on GG regularly, download the history once a month and keep it in one folder, or the older hands are lost.
Winamax. The files are in Documents\Winamax Poker\accounts\<account>\history. Zip the whole folder.
WPN (ACR, BlackChip and other skins). Enable hand history saving in the client settings; the folder it writes to is shown there. As with PokerStars, only hands after enabling are saved.
iPoker, 888poker, partypoker. These clients either do not save the history or save it in an awkward form. If you play there, you almost certainly run a tracker with auto-import, and you should export from it, see the section above.
Before you send
- One archive. The folder inside can be as deep as you like, but send one file: fewer chances to forget something.
- Period and stakes. Tell us the period and the stakes you played. Not required, but it helps to check that everything was read.
- Do not cut anything by hand. Hands that cannot be parsed exactly, such as run it twice or truncated hands, are rejected by the review itself and shown in the rejection counter. No need to clean in advance, and a cut-out piece of the database may remove the very spot where the money goes.
- Do not merge different accounts into one database if you want a review of one player. Two nicknames in one export are reviewed as two different heroes.
If something does not add up at any step, message us on Telegram with the room and tracker names and we will point you to the right place. The archive goes to the same chat.