Poker HUDs and the Dangers of Addiction is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

A poker HUD is a poker player’s greatest weapon in the online poker world. It provides instant, up-to-date stats that help you make the best decision possible in every situation – or so it would seem. The problem with poker HUDs is that they can just as easily turn into a crutch and stunt your growth as a poker player.

As great as poker HUDs are, it’s important to make it a point not to become too reliant on them. It is all too easy to get into a rhythm of opening up eight tables, turning on your HUD and then zoning out while you play a tight, ABC game and clear your next poker bonus. That’s actually not a bad way to make money. But in the long term, this can stunt your growth and lead you to developing expensive habits.

Learn to Play First

Before you turn on your HUD, make sure you know how to play solid poker. I’m not just talking about knowing how to fold 72o from under the button. I mean, you should know how to deal with light 3-bettors, how to extract the most from fish, how to beat the rocks and so on. Sure, you can turn a profit without being a particularly adept player, but that just puts a cap on your future earnings.

The same thing goes for all you experienced players as well. Every once in a while, it’s not a bad idea to get a little practice without your HUD. Join a shorthanded or heads-up game and polish your skills. It may not pay immediate dividends, but it will help you immensely in the long run. Plus, knowing how to play without a HUD always helps in live poker situations.

Simply using a HUD won’t make you a bad player, by the way. I’m sure that if we picked any random, winning HUD-user and dropped him in the middle of a live game, he would fend for himself just fine. The thing is, you want to make sure you don’t let your HUD make all your decisions for you. It might sound old-fashioned, but there’s still a case to be made for making reads that aren’t based on math.

Consider HUDs a Tool

I don’t want it to sound like I’m bashing HUDs here. I think they are a must-have tool for every serious poker player. The only problem with HUDs is that it’s too easy to use them to think for you. I know that I’ve fallen into routines where I make decisions based entirely on the stats – not on the flow of the game, betting patterns or the opponent’s recent history.

The best way to think about HUDs is to consider them a tool. Use HUDs to provide you with extra information that you otherwise wouldn’t have. When you make a decision, make a conscious effort to consult every source of information you have. Not only will you make more well-rounded decisions, but you will also become better at thinking your way through difficult hands.

This article were written by my friend Wes. If you liked the article, and would like to see more of his writing on the blog, please leave a comment below.

Test is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

The target demographic finds this text interesting and compelling!

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION – CLICK ME!

THIS IS A SECOND CALL TO ACTION!!!!!!!

Thank You! is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Hi there…

Thanks a lot for subscribing to my newsletter.

It may be a little while before you hear anything from me, since I only send out an email when I have something important that I want to share.

Cheers,
Jake

Poker Table Ratings Review is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Review of Poker Table Ratings’ hand history selling service.

Most people know PokerTableRatings.com from their tracking of cash game winnings on the major poker networks accompanied by pretty graphs showing the players tendencies and wins/losses. Although that stuff is interesting, it is not what this review is about

In order to keep their player database up to date, PTR gathers a mindbogglingly large amount of hand histories each day. They sell these hands, so people like you and me can get extra information on your opponents by importing them into our Pokertracker or Holdem Manager database.

I haven’t been using PTR for very long, but so far I’m a happy customer. I got access to my hand histories shortly after purchasing them, but the download took a little longer than what I’m used to. They also gave me a free 2 week trial of a hand history subscription service, which is a very nice bonus (more about that to come later).

Buy Hand histories (Poker Table Ratings)

Supported Poker Rooms

PTR cover the 4 biggest poker networks as well as the Cereus network and Bodog. At the moment they are the only site that sell hand histories from Bodog, so if that is where you are playing, you should definitely try their service..

• Full Tilt Poker
• PokerStars
• Party Poker
• Ipoker
• Cereus (Absolute Poker/UltimateBet
• Bodog

Game Coverage

PTR cover NL and FL Hold’Em on all the sites they support. In addition they have quite a lot of Omaha hands from Fullt Tilt Poker, Cereus and PokerStars, both FL and PL.

In addition they track the CAP NL Hold’Em and CAP PLO games on Full Tilt Poker separately.

If you want to see how old the hands you are buying are, all you have to do is to go through the order process and stop at step 3, right before you add the hands to your cart and are asked for your payment details. This lets you see exactly when the hands you are buying were gathered.

Poker Table Ratings let you see the age of the hands before you buy.

Since PTR has to keep the player statistics on their site up to date they collect more hand histories than their competitors. While this is a nice feature, it don’t have that big of an impact for most people, since the difference between getting 1.000.000 hands that were gathered the past week compared to during the past 2 weeks isn’t significant when using the hands for HUD stats.

There are, however, groups of people, who will benefit immensely from all the extra hands. Most noticeably those who buy more than 2.000.000 hands at a time, and those who want hands from NL10$ or lower, since the other hand history sites tend to have bad coverage at those stakes.

Subscription Option

While PTR don’t sell a subscription where fresh hand histories are sent to your daily each day, it is available as an “upgrade” after you have bought a batch of hand histories from them.

When I signed up, I got a 2 week free trial, but I think that may have been a limited time offer, so you may want to ask support if it is still available if the absence of the free trial would be a deal-breaker for your. I haven’t had time to

Delivery of Hand Histories

When you buy hand histories from PTR you will be sent an email with a link to where you can download them. This usually happens within an hour, but if you are buying several million hands at a busy time of the day, you may have to wait a little while longer.

Your old purchases will be available for download on their website under My PTR, which is very handy if you accidentally delete your local copy.

Payment Options

PTR has a pretty good selection of payment options, which I have listed below.

• PayPal
• VISA
• Mastercard
• American Express

I used my VISA card to buy from them, and everything were straightforward and without any issues, and while I can’t speak for the other payment options, the whole process were very polished, so I would be very surprised if you had any issues with your payment.

If you can’t use any of their payment options, you could deposit to your PayPal account and use that to pay. If that isn’t an option you may want to have a look at Hand HQ, who has a couple of different payment options.

Support

I haven’t tested PTR‘s support yet – I will be sending a couple of anonymous emails to them with weird questions one of the coming weeks to see how fast they respond.

Overall Impression

Poker Table Ratings runs a pretty tight ship, and from what I have seen so far, they are a very good option (maybe even the best) if you are looking to buy a lot of hand histories at one time.

Their daily hand feed subscription is attractive, but at the moment Poker Hand Scout’s subscription is slightly better for many stakes and much cheaper.

I will definitely come back to PTR to buy hands, not only because of their coverage but also the fast delivery.

See Poker Table Ratings’ hand history selection.

Get Crazy Amounts of Hand Histories from PokerHandScout.com is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I’v just had a look at PokerHandScout.com and noticed a little trick that let you get an insane amount of hand histories for almost no money.

Truth be told, you aren’t really “tricking” them, since you are just taking advantage of the way they have set their prices, so don’t feel bad for them when you run off with 5.500.000 hand histories for 20$

Before I get into how you can get the hands , I need to explain a bit about how the site works.

Buy Hand histories (Poker Hand Scout)

How it Works

PokerHandScout.com sell hand histories in 2 different ways:

• Bulk – This is the “normal” way of buying poker hands. You choose how many hands you want and send them some money, and after a few hours you get all the hands.
• Retail – This is basically a 4 week subscription, where you will get access to all the hands they gather at the stakes you choose.

This is all explained on the website, but what they don’t tell you is that you will be getting many more hand histories by choosing the retail option.

When you are ordering, they actually show you how many hand histories they have gathered during the past month, so it is easy enough for you to do the math.

Example

Lets take a look at the coverage they have at NL100$ 6-max at PokerStars – I got this overview by going through the order process and stopping right before the checkout (where you pay them money).

Poker Hand Scout coverage of PokerStars NL100$ 6-max.

As you can see they gather roughly 70.000 hand histories each day.

This means that if you buy retail (4 week subscription) you will be getting 2.000.000 hand histories!

Right now the retail price for PokerStars NL100$ is 20$, which is the cheapest you will ever see anybody see anybody selling 2 million hands for, and they will probably start charging more soon, so be sure to check their current prices.

The craziness doesn’t stop here tough. You can include HU and full ring hands in your retail package at no extra charge, so at PokerStars NL100$ you would actually be getting 5.5 million hands!

In addition you would be getting the hands daily, which gives you the advantage of always having fresh hands and up to date stats on your opponents.

I know this may sounds crazy, but if you spend 2 minutes on their site you can see that I’m not lying.

Hand-Histories.com: Hand History Site for Europeans is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

While I were away on a short hiatus a couple of new hand history sellers have popped up, one of the more interesting ones is Hand-Histories.com.

When I first heard about Hand-Histories.com the first thing that came to mind was “Why the heck do we need another hand history site?”.

Buy Hand histories (Hand-Histories.com)

What Makes Hand-Histories.com Different?

Hand-Histories.com sets itself apart from the pack of hand history databases by taking payment in euro instead of dollars.

This is extremely good news for those of us who live in Europe, since we no longer has to pay outrageous exchange fees each time we want to buy a couple of hand histories.

This alone makes Hand-Histories.com the number 1 choice for hands histories for anyone living in Europe.

I hope to write a more in depth review soon, but just wanted to give you all a little heads up about the exiting news.

Until then, go check out the euro price signs

Buy Entraction (B2B) Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

List of sites that sell hand histories from the Entraction network (formerly known as B2B).

Entraction is a small poker network, and it has only recently become possible to buy hand histories from there. Many people also call the network for the 24H Poker network, since the company that own the network has their own site called 24H Poker.

The network were formerly known as B2B, but changed their name to Entraction in late 2007. Even though it is almost 2 years ago, many players still call the network B2B, which can be a bit confusing if you have just moved to the site.

Where to Buy Entraction Hands

At the moment there are only one site selling hands from the Entraction network: Hand HQ. Fortunately they are selling them at the same price as hand histories from other networks, despite the fact that they could probably charge a lot more until some of their competitors develop software to datamine on the site.

Buy Entraction Hand Histories

If you want to know more about Hand HQ, I have written a bit about my experiences with them below.

Hand HQ

I’m not sure for how long I have been using Hand HQ, but after looking over my PayPal history I can see that it must be more than 10 months ago, probably much longer.

When I have bought hand histories from they they have always delivered them very fast. I timed it when writing an article about their service and it took them 50 minutes from payment to delivery, which is quite impressive considering the logistics involved.

I haven’t spent much time with their support, since I have never had a problem with their service. I have, however, asked them a couple of questions about the hand histories they are selling, and have always gotten an answer back within 24 hours (usually much faster).

Buy hand histories from Hand HQ

Datamining vs. Data Mining is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Explanation of why some people call it “datamining” while others prefer “data mining”.

Arguing over how to spell data mining datamining is nitpicking at its finest. But I seem to end up discussing it time and time again, so in this article I will once and for all why I spell it the way I do (without the space) –

Data Mining

If you look up “data mining” in the dictionary, you will find something like this:

Data mining
“The technique of identifying patterns and relationships within large databases through the use of advanced statistical methods.”
Dictionary.com

This is much closer to what you do when using Pokertracker or Holdem Manager to browse a database containing the hand histories you have gathered. Calling the process of collecting the hand histories for data mining isn’t really fitting – regardless of how you spell it.

Datamining

I personally prefer using the term “datamining”. I treat it as a different word and different meaning than “data mining”.

So what is datamining you ask?
Well, it is the process of collecting hand histories from poker games that you aren’t participating in yourself

The word may originally have come from a misspelling/misunderstanding of “data mining”, but so has many of the other words that we use today.

The whole discussion can be summed up like this:
When you are datamining, you are not “mining” the data(set)to extract pattern, you are mining online poker tables to extract data, which you can later use for data mining.

Advanced Datamining on Absolute Poker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Video showing how to use the table opener in Absolute Idleminer to have your computer datamine automatically.

It can be difficult for new dataminers to get started with some of the more advanced datamining techniques. Relatively few people datamine to begin with, and very few set take the time to automatize it.

In this video I show how to set up your computer, so it will automatically datamine Absolute Poker (Cereus network) using the handgrabber from Idleminer.

If you haven’t used that handgrabber before, I recommend that you download the handgrabber want my introduction video first. Otherwise some parts of the video may not get the full benefit of the video.

In the video I show how to set up Absolute Idleminer to use its built-in table opener in combination with filters, so it will datamine exactly the kind of tables you want, without you having to stay to open/close them. I also show how you can set up your computer so it will start datamining whenever your screensaver goes on, effectively eliminating the need for you to spend time on datamining manually.

Advanced Datamining on Absolute Poker

Download Absolute Idleminer
(the program I use in the video)

Absolute Poker Datamining Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I have added a short video to the page about datamining Absolute Poker.

I have created a short video showing how to get started datamining on Absolute Poker on the Cereus network.The handgrabber I use is fairly advanced and offer a lot of extra features, so it can be hard to get started, especially if you have never datamined before.

In the video I show how to use the handgrabber, and later import the hand histories I have gathered into Holdem Manager, which I hope will make it easier for you to get started.

If you are new to datamining it may be a good idea to download the handgrabber before you watch the video, so you can follow along while watching.

Download Absolute Idleminer
(the program I use in the video)

Datamining Confusion: Absolute Poker and Cereus

There has been a bit of confusion about the handgrabber and what it does. The root of this is that it were originally created for Absolute Poker before they merged with Ultimate Bet to form the “Cereus network”.

While most handgrabbers will work with any site on a poker network, the handgrabber for Absolute Poker only works there and not on Ultimate Bet, even though it is on the same network.

This can cause a bit of confusion, since handgrabbers are often named after the network, so you will see a lot of people (including me) referring to Absolute Idleminer as a “Cereus handgrabber”.

The reason is that it technically is a handgrabber for the Cereus network – It just doesn’t support more than 1 skin.

Advanced Datamining on Party Poker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Video demonstration of the advanced features of Idleminer’s Party handgrabber.

This is a follow up to the Party Poker datamining video, where I showed the basics of datamining on Party Poker. In this video I show how to use some of the more advanced features of Idleminer’s Party Poker handgrabber to set up your computer to automatically datamine when you are not using it.

While it can take a little bit of time to set things up and make sure that everything works, you will be happy afterwards. You will be datamining more efficiently, and spend less time overall, since you won’t have to worry about making sure that you are datamining “enough” tables.

When setting up the handgrabber to datamine automatically, be sure to spend some time fine tuning the filters so they are as similar tot the games you play as possible. If you usually don’t play at tables with less than 4 players, just exclude them in the filters – You will be better off having the handgrabber avoid those tables and open full ones instead.

Download the Party Poker handgrabber
(used in the video)

I do not recommend that you set up your computer to automatically log in with an account that has money in it.

Party Poker Datamining Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I have added a short video to the page about Party Poker datamining.

The video will show you how to get started datamining on Party Poker using the handgrabber from Idleminer. If you would like to know more about Idleminer and their Party Poker handgrabber you can my thoughts on them in the Party Poker datamining guide.

In addition to datamining, the video also show how to import hand histories you collect into Holdem Manager, so you can use them to get stats on your opponents while playing. Please note that the hand histories also works with other pokertracking programs like Pokertracker 3 – I choose to use Holdem Manager in the video because that is what I use when I play myself.

Before watching the video you may want to download Idleminer Party (the handgrabber I use in the video). That way you can follow along on your own computer while watching the video.

Download Party Poker Idleminer
(the handgrabber I use in the video)

Hand HQ Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

The Hand HQ review has been updated with a video showing how to buy hand histories and import them into Holdem Manager.

I have created a short video guide showing how to buy hand histories from Hand HQ. If you have never bought hand histories before, it should give you a really good idea of how the order process works and how to get your new hand histories from the web and into your Holdem Manager og Pokertracker database.

During the videos I buy 800.000 hand histories from NL50$ HU on PokerStars and import them into Holdem Manager. I also show you how you can check when the hand histories you are buying were datamined and discuss the benefits of signing up for a (free) account at Hand HQ.

If you have never used Hand HQ before, I recommend that you open the Hand HQ website (opens in a new window) and browse it while watching the videos below.

Go to Hand HQ

Buying Hand Histories from Hand HQ – Part 1

Buying Hand Histories from Hand HQ – Part 2

Go to Hand HQ

Everest Datamining Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I have added a short video to the Everest Poker datamining guide.

Last month Idleminer released Everest Hand Grabber which made it possible to datamine on Everest Poker.

The video is fairly short and only cover the basics, but if you haven’t datamined on Everest Poker before I think it is worth to watch. It will help you avoid some common pitfalls like not being able to datamine because you launched the programs in the wrong order.

You can watch the video below. If you find it difficult to make out the details, there are a bigger version on YouTube.

Download Everest Poker Hand Grabber
(this is the handgrabber I use in the video)

iPoker Datamining Video Guide is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

The guide to datamining iPoker has been updated with a video.

Even though iPoker Hand Grabber is pretty easy to use, it can be a bit confusing if you haven’t used it before. Therefore I have created a short video showing how to get started datamining on iPoker.

If you have a hard time seeing the details on the video below, there are a larger version on YouTube.

Download iPoker Hand Grabber
(this is the program I use in the video)

You can see more videos like this one in the Poker Datamining YouTube channel

Bodog Datamining Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I have added a short video to the Bodog datamining guide.

The video show you how to collect hand histories on Bodog Poker and import them into Holdem Manager.

If you aren’t interested in datamining and only want to collect hand histories from the games you participate in you will still need Bodog Hand Grabber, since Bodog doesn’t automatically save hand histories that can be imported into Holdem Manager or another pokertracker.

If you want to save your own hand histories, you should set up Bodog Hand Grabber as described in the video, and then “datamine” the tables while you are playing on them.

You can watch the video below.

Download Bodog Hand Grabber
(this is the program I use in the video)

How to Datamine on Bodog Poker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Introduction do datamining on Bodog Poker. Please note that you use the same technique for saving your own hand histories.

Bodog doesn’t save hand histories to you hard drive when you play. This means that even if you just want hand histories from your own play, you will have to datamine. While this may seen annoying at first, it also means that there are a lot of players who are datamining on Bodog, so the tools have been thoroughly tested and are very easy to use.

If you want to start datamining on Bodog, I recommend that you use “Bodog Hand Grabber” from Idleminer. It is easy to use, and has a free trial so you can make sure that it works on your computer before you buy it.

Bodog Hand Grabber

It can be debated whether or not you are datamining if you only save hand histories from games you participate in, but since you use the exact same technique to collect them regardless of whether or not you participate in the games, I will be referring to both kinds of hand history collection as “datamining”.

Bodog Datamining Video Tutorial

The video below will show you how to use Bodog Hand Grabber to datamine on Bodog and import the hand histories in Holdem Manager.

Towards the ending of the video you will see that Holdem Manager is importing more hand histories than I datamined in the video. This is because I went though the datamining process right before recording the video, to make sure that I could remember how it worked, and I didn’t realize that I had forgotten to delete the “old” hand histories before I had almost finished recording the video.

Bodog Hand Grabber (mentioned in the video)

Datamining on Bodog Poker

In order to datamine on Bodog, you will need a handgrabber. I recommend Bodog Hand Grabber from Idleminer, since it is very easy to use.

In addition Idleminer has been making handgrabbers for a long time, and has always made sure that their handgrabbers still work when a poker room update their software. Some years ago the developers of a Bodog handgrabber called Dogwatch disappeared when Bodog made an update that caused the Dogwatch handgrabber to stop working. I don’t mean to “scare” you into choosing my favorite handgrabber, but I think it is something worth considering.

When you first install Bodog Hand Grabber it will automatically start a free trial. This means that the handgrabber will work exactly as if you had purchased it, until you have datamined 1000 hands, after which it will stop working until you buy it.

After the Install all you need to do is start the handgrabber and make sure that it is “on” (see screenshot below).

Bodog Hand Grabber – As long as it is “on” it will save hand histories from any open Bodog table.

Then the handgrabber will save hand histories from any Bodog table that you open, both tables you play at and those where you only observe the action. It works both when you have the tables visible and when they are minimized, as long as you doesn’t close them down.

If you are an experienced dataminer, you may be used to having a table opener that automatically open and close tables to make sure that you are always datamining the highest possible amount of active tables. Unfortunately Bodog Hand Grabber doesn’t have a table opener built in (there are no other Bodog handgrabber with a built in table opener). There are currently no publicly available table opener for Bodog either, so you will either have to open/close the tables manually or buy hand histories.

If you would like to get started datamining on Bodog, I recommend that you download Bodog Hand Grabber and use my video tutorial to see how to use it.

Poker Software is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

List of (non-datamining) poker software that I think you should know about.

Below are a list of poker software that I use, or have used and think you may enjoy. The list mainly focus on advanced software that will help you improve your game, but if I find a remarkably useful, but simple, tool, I’ll probably list that too.

PokerStove

PokerStove is a poker odds calculator, which can calculate your chance of winning a hand down to the last digit. It is much better than online odds calculators, since it can base its calculations on a range of hands, instead of just a single hand.

Visit PokerStove

Hold’em Ranger

Hold’em Ranger is a poker odds calculator that is slightly more difficult to learn to use than PokerStove, but allow you to do more advanced calculations. The most noticeable difference between the two is that Hold’em Ranger let you input a weighted range, and are slightly easier to type in hand ranges for.

Visit Hold’em Ranger

Pokertracker

For several years Pokertracker were the pokertracking software. Today they have a lot of competition from Holdem Manager, and it is hard to say which program are best.

Visit Pokertracker

Ultimate Poker Search

Ultimate Poker Search is a handy little site that will show you poker sites that fit certain criteria fx. offering 5 Card Stud and accepting Moneybookers deposits. Read what I think about Ultimate Poker Search.

Visit Ultimate Poker Search

Can You Beat NL50$ HU? Part 1 is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

A look at why the rake is so high at micro and small stakes HU, and introduction to how I will find out if NL50$ HU can be beaten.

From time to time there are discussions on whether or not it is possible to be a winner at micro and small stakes HU. Even though the players are horrible you still have to beat the rake, which are very high at the lowest stakes.

The reason for the whole “is micro stakes HU beatable” discussion is that HU is generally speaking the most expensive kind of cash games you can play.

Why Is HU Expensive?

You usually play 50% or more of the hands dealt to you, compared to around 24% in 6-max and 18% in full ring. This means that you will be participating in a hand where rake is taken more often.

So compared hand for hand, you will be paying a lot more in rake when you play HU, simply because you play more hands. In addition HU players are much more aggressive than fx. 6-max players, so you will often get all in with marginal hands, which means that even more rake is taken.

Why Is Small Stakes Games Expensive?

in No Limit there rake are usually 5%, with a maximum cap of 1-3$ depending on the stakes. At micro and small stakes the usual rake cap is 1$.

1$ may not sound like a lot, but when you compare it to the fact that NL1000$ usually has a rake cap of 3$, it should be clear that there are a significant difference.

Rake cap compared to blind size
Rake cap at NL1000$ = 1/3 big blind
Rake cap at NL50$ = 2 big blinds

Pot size required to reach rake cap
NL1000$ = 6 big blinds
NL50$ = 40 big blinds

This means that the full 5% rake will be taken from many more pots at NL50$ than at NL1000$, so relatively speaking, you will be paying much more in rake at NL50$ than at NL1000$.

So, You Much Do You Pay In rake at NL50$ HU?

Well, I don’t know…

I have installed iPoker Hand Grabber and will be datamining NL50$ HU for the next couple of days in order to find out.

If you want to do a similar experiment yourself, you can read my guide to datamining iPoker – Otherwise stay tuned for the result.

I will post an update some time next week, and hope to have a big enough sample size to conclusively show whether or not it is possible to beat NL50$ HU early next month.

Pacific Poker Datamining Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

The Pacific Poker Datamining Guide has been updated with a video.

You can also watch the Pacific Poker datamining video at PokerDatamining.NET’s Youtube channel.

The video is a basic guide to getting started datamining on Pacific Poker with the Pacific Hand Grabber, and will hopefully help you save a bit of time when you begin datamining yourself.

You can watch the video below.

Download Pacific Poker Hand Grabber
(the program I talk about in the video)

SpadeIT is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

SpadeIT create table selection software such as SpadeEye, which makes it easier to find tables with fish.

SpadeIT has created many of the best table selection tools that are available today. Their best known piece of software is SpadeEye, which is a table selection tool for Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus network.

Eyepoker – One of SpadeIT’s products.

Visit SpadeIT

SpadeIT Software

All SpadeIT tools focus on table selection, and basically do the same thing on different poker sites. There are small variations, most noticeably that some of the programs include “table openers” that can be a great help when datamining.

Below are a list of all SpadeIT tools, below the name of each program are the names of the poker sites/networks it works on.

• SpadeEye
  Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Cereus
• SpadeEye Omaha
  Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Cereus
• Telescope
  PokerStars
• EyePoker
  Ipoker
• PrimaEye
  Prima Poker/Microgaming
• EverestEye
  Everest Poker
• EyeOnGame
  Ongame

Background

SpadeIT began creating poker software in September 2006, which is quite a long time ago when you are talking poker – Back then Party Poker still accepted US players, and Pokertracker 2 didn’t have any serious competition (unless you count PokerOffice).

On the surface SpadeIT’s programs hasn’t changed much since then, however, they have made a lot of small improvements. Many of them has been necessary to keep the programs working after a poker room has update their software, but they have also done a lot behind the scenes to make the programs faster and easier to use.

These small improvements usually go by unnoticed – You don’t see people posting on forums that they “really appreciate the ability to join a table by double clicking its name in SpadeEye”, while people are quick to ask for a lynching of the creators if a program eat up resources so their computers gets slowed down.

My Thought on SpadeIT

I don’t remember when I first started using software from SpadeIT’s, but it must have been in the spring 2007. Since then I have been using programs from SpadeIT almost every session I have played, which must be around 1400 (a conservative estimate of playing 50 hours/month).

I don’t think I have ever had a problem with their software, except the ones caused by updates made by the poker sites – These problems are unavoidable, and happen for all kinds of poker software, so I can’t fault SpadeIT for them. It would be like complaining to your tailor when your tuxedo doesn’t fit after you put on 15 pounds. The tailor can’t predict if you will gain/lose weight, and will need to take new measurements before he can refit it, or sew you a new one.

Their support are fast to respond to emails, and also have MSN, ICQ and AIM listed on their contacts page, if you should need live support (please don’t abuse it).

Overall I’m extremely satisfied with SpadeIT and their products, and highly recommend they you try out their software, if you want to improve your table selection.

You can download a 8 day free trial from their website.
(just download the program you want to try, and the trial will start automatically)

Ongame Datamining Video Tutorial is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

I have updated the Ongame datamining page with a video demonstrating how to use the handgrabber.

The video is a straight forward guide to datamining Ongame, where I show you exactly how to get started after you have installed the handgrabber.

If you are new to datamining I highly recommend that you watch the video, since it will get you started really fast and help you avoid some common mistakes fx. opening the poker room client before you open the handgrabber. These things can take a long time to figure out when you are first getting started, since it is often far from obvious what may be causing problems.

Download a free trial of Ongame Hand Grabber
(the program I talk about in the video)

Full Tilt Hand Grabber Video is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

The Full Tilt Poker datamining guide has been updated with a video.

I have created a short video demonstration of how to datamine Full Tilt Poker. Hopefully it will make it easier for new dataminers to get started, and avoid some of the trouble that usually comes with datamining a new site.

This is my first attempt at creating videos, and I hope to be able to make a better commentary on future videos.

Download a free trial of Full Tilt Hand Grabber
(This is the program I talk about in the video)

Ultimate Poker Search is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Ultimate Poker Search is a free website that help you find poker sites that fulfill certain criteria fx. offering Omaha or accepting PayPal deposits.

I usually only write about advanced poker software like handgrabbers and Pokerazor. Ultimate Poker Search isn’t a advanced poker tool, but I still think . It offer an extremely easiest way of sorting poker rooms according to their features.

While this isn’t something that you will be using each week or even each month like Pokertracker or an odds calculator, I still think it is a very useful tool for when you unexpectedly need to find something specific.

Ultimate Poker Search makes it easy for you to find a site that accept credit card deposits and offer both badugi and 2-7 triple draw (hint: PokerStars) when you are hung over next Saturday…

How I Use It

I will be using Ultimate Poker Search whenever a friend ask me for advice on where to play. People are often looking for things that I don’t know much about, like a site that will let them play 5 Card Stud on a Mac.

With Ultimate Poker Search you can just put in the features you are looking for, and you will be shown a list of the poker sites that fulfill them.

Visit Ultimate Poker Search

HHDealer Monthly Subscription is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Introduction to HHDealer‘s monthly subscription.

While HHDealer is an excellent hand history provider in their own right, what really set them apart is their monthly subscriptions.

I have used the monthly subscriptions for quite some time not, and have gotten more hand histories pr. dollar paid, and have been able to use it in a much better way, since I get the hands right after they were collected.

Get a monthly subscription to HHDealer

How The Monthly Subscription Works

Each day HHDealer are datamining hand histories from PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, iPoker and Party Poker.

For 15$-70$ (the price depends on the stakes you select) they will send you all hand histories they collect from those games at the poker room of your choice fx. NL200$ on Party Poker and send them to you by email each day.

Number of hand histories datamined on Party Poker NL200$ during a week.

The Monthly Subscription Compared To Bulk Purchases

Continuing with the example above, you will get 2 mio. hand histories each month. If you were to buy those in bulk it would cost 120$.

At the time of writing the cost of a subscription, which will give you the same amount of hand histories spread out over a month, is 20$, with a 50% discount if you buy hands from several different stakes – You basically get the same thing at 1/6th of the price.

What Is The Catch?

While this certainly is a steal for some players (myself included), you should take a look at HHDealer’s coverage before you sign up. The amount of hands they datamine varies greatly depending on the stakes and the site – They can’t datamine more hands that are played on the site, if there aren’t many tables running where you play, you are probably better off with the bulk purchase.

Read more about the monthly subscription.

HHLoader Review is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Introduction to HHDealer‘s special hand history downloading software, HHLoader.

Download HHLoader

HHLoader is a free program from HHDealer. It works with their monthly subscription where you receive new datamined hand histories by email each day.

It is an alternative to getting the hand histories by email, which can be a bit cumbersome if there are a lot of them. HHLoader can download the hand histories for you, and place them in a folder you specify, where your pokertracker can import them.

Read more about the HHDealer subscription (required to use HHLoader).

Benefits of HHLoader

I really like HHLoader, since it saves me a couple of minutes each day by making it much easier to get my daily hand histories from HHDealer downloaded and imported into Holdem Manager.

Before I began using HHLoader it were a chore to go through the emails and download the hand histories each day. It meant that I didn’t always get it done, which in turn caused me to miss out on some of the benefits of always having fresh hand histories, and ultimately not winning as much money as I could have.

Below are a brief outline of how I use HHLoader with Holdem Manager. The process is basically the same with Pokertracker, you just have to configure the auto import folders differently.

How To Use HHLoader

After you have downloaded HHLoader, you will need to set it up so it will work with your HHDealer subscription.

To do this you go to the Preferences tab (see the screenshot below) and type in the email address you use when ordering hand histories from HHDealer.

You also need to select a folder where you want the hand histories to be downloaded to and tick the “Unzip After Download” box.

HHLoader’s preferences tab.

When you are done with the configuration, you can go to the General tab and press “1) Search For New Hands”. This will make HHLoader check if you have any new hand histories available for download.

If there are, they will show up in the middle panel, and you can click “2) Begin Download” to download and unpack them in the folder you chose earlier.

HHLoader downloading and unpacking hand histories.

When HHLoader are done downloading the hands, you will need to import them into Holdem Manager (or Pokertracker). I prefer to do this by having the folder that HHLoader save the hand histories in. I use C:\Poker\Hand histories\HHDealer, but you can use whatever folder you want to.

Download HHLoader

Adding a Holdem Manager Auto Import Folder

You set an auto import folder in Holdem Manager by selecting Options>Configure Auto Import Folders in the top menu, which will make the panel shown below appear.

Adding a Holdem Manager auto import folder.

To add an auto import folder, all you have to do is to click “Add” in the lower right corner, and type in the location you want to import from.

iPoker Hand History is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Introduction to Ipoker’s hand history format.

iPoker is the worlds 3rd largest network of poker room only preceded by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and is the largest network that does not allow US players.

The network has roughly 50 skins, including both Titan Poker, Bet365, SunPoker and TAIN, which is basically just a collection of poker sites, who joined the network together – For you as as a player there are very little difference between a TAIN skin and all the other iPoker skins.

If you are looking for more information about iPoker hand histories, I have also written articles about iPoker datamining and how to Buy iPoker hands.

Hand History Folder

The iPoker hand history folder is by default located at
C:\Program Files\Name of skin\History

Inside the hand history folder each player who log in and play from the computer have a separate folder where all their hand histories are saved with filenames like this one: 010609031344265091.xml .

Hand Histories

The hand history files each include all hands that you have played on a table in one session.

Contrary to many other poker rooms the hand histories from iPoker are almost impossible to read. The reason for this is that they are written in XML. While this is annoying if you try to read them yourself, is makes it much easier for programs such as Pokertracker or Holdem Manager to read them.

If you want to convert them to a format that are easier to read, you will either need to import them into Pokertracker or a similar program, or use a hand converter.

iPoker Hand Converters

If you want to post an iPoker hand history at a forum, you will need to use a hand history converter in order to make it easier to read.

I personally use the one from Talking Poker, but there are others that work just as well.

iPoker Hand History Example

Below are an example of an iPoker hand history.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″ ?>
<session sessioncode=”1018201371″>
<general>
<mode>real</mode>
<gametype>Holdem NL 2/4</gametype>
<tablename>Isisford (No DP)</tablename>
<duration>00:14</duration>
<gamecount>1</gamecount>
<startdate>16-Jul-2008 20:32:17</startdate>
<currency>USD</currency>
<nickname>HERO</nickname>
<bets>$0</bets>
<wins>$0</wins>
<chipsin>400</chipsin>
<chipsout>400</chipsout>
<ipoints>0</ipoints>
</general>
<game gamecode=”1075007594″>
<general>
<startdate>16-Jul-2008 22:23:02</startdate>
<players>
<player seat=”1″ name=”Villain 1″ chips=”$408.40″ dealer=”1″ win=”$0″ bet=”$0″ />
<player seat=”3″ name=”Villain 2″ chips=”$385.90″ dealer=”0″ win=”$0″ bet=”$2″ />
<player seat=”5″ name=”Villain 3″ chips=”$617.10″ dealer=”0″ win=”$6″ bet=”$4″ />
<player seat=”6″ name=”Villain 4″ chips=”$63.60″ dealer=”0″ win=”$0″ bet=”$0″ />
<player seat=”8″ name=”Villain 5″ chips=”$419″ dealer=”0″ win=”$0″ bet=”$0″ />
<player seat=”10″ name=”HERO” chips=”$400″ dealer=”0″ win=”$0″ bet=”$0″ />
</players>
</general>
<round no=”0″>
<action no=”1″ player=”Villain 2″ type=”1″ sum=”$2″ />
<action no=”2″ player=”Villain 3″ type=”2″ sum=”$4″ />
<action no=”3″ player=”HERO” type=”8″ sum=”$0″ />
</round>
<round no=”1″>
<cards type=”Pocket” player=”Villain 1″>X X</cards>
<action no=”6″ player=”Villain 1″ type=”0″ sum=”$0″ />
<cards type=”Pocket” player=”Villain 2″>X X</cards>
<action no=”7″ player=”Villain 2″ type=”0″ sum=”$0″ />
<cards type=”Pocket” player=”Villain 3″>X X</cards>
<cards type=”Pocket” player=”Villain 4″>X X</cards>
<action no=”4″ player=”Villain 4″ type=”0″ sum=”$0″ />
<cards type=”Pocket” player=”Villain 5″>X X</cards>
<action no=”5″ player=”Villain 5″ type=”0″ sum=”$0″ />
</round>
</game>
</session>

Buy Bodog Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to buying hand histories from Bodog Poker.

Previously it wasn’t possible to buy Bodog hand histories, however, Hand HQ has just added Bodog to their site.

Since Hand HQ is currently the only site that sell hand histories, you really don’t have any choice for buying Bodog hand histories. Fortunately, Hand HQ is (in my opinion) one of the absolute best sites to buy hand histories from. It is easy to place an order on their website, and they usually deliver my hand histories within 2 hours.

Buy Bodog hand histories from Hand HQ

Hand HQ

I have used Hand HQ for over a year, and compared to other sites that sell hand histories they stand out by being very fast to deliver the hand histories you buy. I don’t think that I have ever had to wait more than 2 hours to get my hand histories. Please note that I always paid using PayPal, and some of the other payment methods may require more time to process.

While I have never had any problems with their service, I have asked their support questions on a couple of occasions, and they have always send me a well written answer within 24 hours.

Visit Hand HQ

Buy Ongame Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to buying hand histories from the Ongame network.

I prefer to buy hand histories rather than datamining myself. The main reason for this is that you can get more hand histories than you would ever be able to datamine yourself, and the prices are fairly low when you factor in the cost of having your computer turned on to datamine all the time. In addition it can be tiresome to monitor your datamining.

There are currently only 1 site where you can buy Ongame hand histories, Hand HQ. Fortunately they are one of my favorite sites to buy hand histories from.

Buy Ongame hand histories from Hand HQ

Hand HQ

I have been buying hand histories from Hand HQ for more than a year, and over time they have become one of my all time favorite places to buy from. They are very fast to deliver the hand histories, and I’m fairly certain that I have never had to wait more than 2 hours from paying till getting the hand histories delivered (I use PayPal, other payment metodes may take longer).

I have only spoken with their support a couple of times, but they have always answered my questions within 24 hours.

Read the full review of Hand HQ

Buy Ongame hand histories from Hand HQ

Buy Cereus Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to buying Cereus (Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet) hand histories.

More and more people chose to buy hand histories instead of datamining themselves. There are several reasons for this, most important are that you can buy many more hand histories that you would ever be able to datamine yourself, and often at fairly low prizes (depending on the stakes you play).

At the moment there are only 1 site that sell Cereus hand histories, Hand HQ. I have used them for a long time, and have always gotten my hand histories delivered almost instantly after paying them.

Buy Cereus hand histories from Hand HQ

I have written a short introduction to Hand HQ below. Read the full review of Hand HQ.

Hand HQ

During the last 6 months I have bought hand histories from Hand HQ several times, and have also asked their support questions a couple of times.

Whenever I have placed an order with them, I have always gotten the hand histories within 2 hours of paying. Please note this is only based on my own personal experience, and you may end up having to wait a bit longer if you order at a time where they happen to be very busy.

The times I have sent emails to their support I have gotten a well written email back within 24 hours.

You can buy hand histories from Hand HQ without creating an account on their website, however, I highly recommend that you do so, since it will allow you to access hand histories from previous orders right on their website. This is very handy if you should ever need to reinstall Holdem Manager/Pokertracker or start playing from a different computer, since you won’t have to worry about taking a backup of other hand histories than your own – You can just download the datamined ones again.

Buy Cereus hand histories from Hand HQ

How to Datamine Ongame is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to datamining on the Ongame network.

In order to datamine on Ongame, you will need a handgrabber. The only one that currently works is “Ongame Hand Grabber” from Idleminer.

The handgrabber doesn’t have a lot of extra features, however, it does what it is supposed to (datamine) and does it well. This is in part due to the lack of extra features, since it makes it extremely easy to use, even for those who have never datamined before.

Ongame Hand Grabber

If you don’t want to datamine yourself, you can buy Ongame hand histories. It gives you the same benefits as datamining, and will give you a lot of hand histories in a very short amount of time.

Video Demonstration

I have made a short video where I show how to set up the handgrabber and get started datamining.

Ongame Hand Grabber (mentioned in the video)

Ongame Hand Histories

Update: After the P5 update of Ongame’s software they are now saving hand histories as text files, like all other poker rooms.

Before I describe the datamining process, I want to give a short description of how the Ongame hand histories work. The reason is that they are very different from the hand histories that most other pokerrooms use, which can cause quite a lot of confusion.

Ongame doesn’t use text based hand histories but instead save every hand you play in a big database. This means that it is near impossible for you to find a hand history on your own, since they are all located in a single file (the database), which tends to become very big and is also difficult to read without a special program.

This isn’t a problem per se, since both Pokertracker and Holdem Manager are able to read the Ongame database and extract your hand histories, however, it can be extremely confusing for those who are used to working with text based hand histories.

Please note that Ongame Hand Grabber can both save “normal” text hand histories, and save the hand histories to the Ongame database, which allow the pokertrackers to import them.

Datamining The Ongame Network

Ongame Hand Grabber is very easy to use. All you have to do in order to datamine, is to start the program and press the “Launch Site” button, after which the program will save hand histories from any table you observe (or play at yourself).

Screenshot of Ongame Hand Grabber.

Experienced dataminers may miss the inclusion of a table opener, which would allow the handgrabber to datamine at full efficiency when you are not sitting at the computer by automatically closing tables if the players leave and open new ones.

Fortunately SpadeIT has included an Ongame table opener in their table selection tool for Ongame, EyeOnGame, which you can read more about below.

Ongame Hand Grabber

Ongame Table Selection

SpadeIT has created a table selection tool for Ongame called EyeOnGame, which will make it much easier for you to find tables with bad players. It works by looking up the stats for every single player sitting at a cash game in Pokertracker/Holdem Manager, and then show you at which tables known bad players are currently sitting.

While this is of course useful for all players, the effects are amplified if you datamine or buy hand histories, simply because you have so many hand histories. I almost always have hand histories from more than 80% of the players at the stakes that I play at (I regularly reach 95%). For me this roughly translates into knowing the quality of 4 out of 5 tables without even opening them.

Since the majority of your winnings comes from bad players, using EyeOnGame will allow you to increase your winrate from one day to the next, by helping you find the opponents that you will win the most from.

Download EyeOnGame
You automatically get an 8 day free trial when you download EyeOnGame.

How to Datamine Pacific Poker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to datamining on Pacific Poker (888 network). Please note that you use the same method for getting your own hand histories.

Pacific Poker doesn’t save any hand histories that you can use with Pokertracker/Holdem Manager. This means that whether you want to datamine or just get your own hand histories, you will need a handgrabber. The rest of the article focus on datamining, but you get your own hand histories in the same way, so you can just substitute “datamining” with “save your own hand histories”.

There are currently only 1 handgrabber for Pacific Poker (888 network). It is called “Pacific Poker Hand Grabber” and you can buy it from Idleminer (just click the link below).

Pacific Poker Hand Grabber

Video Tutorial

I have created a small video to help you get started datamining Pacific Poker, you can watch it below.

Pacific Poker Hand Grabber (mentioned in the video)

Pacific Poker Datamining

The handgrabber is very easy to use. All you have to do in order to begin datamining is to press “Launch Site”, and it will save hand histories from any table you open – Both those you play at yourself, and those you just observe.

Screenshot of Pacific Poker Hand Grabber.

Unfortunately the ease of use of the handgrabber comes at a price, there are very few features. Experienced dataminers will sorely miss a table opener, that could automatically open/close tables and that way make sure that you are always datamining the highest possible number of active tables.

While the lack of features isn’t a deal breaker, it is certainly something that I would like to see added. On the other hand the handgrabber does what it is supposed to very well and with no hassle, and when you factor in that there are no other handgrabber for Pacific Poker, it is easy to conclude that Pacific Poker Hand Grabber is your best option for datamining on Pacific Poker.

Pacific Poker Hand Grabber

How to Datamine on Absolute Poker (Cereus) is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to datamining on the Cereus network. If you don’t want to datamine yourself, you can buy datamined hand histories.

The first step to get started datamining on the Cereus network (Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet) is to get a handgrabber. Handgrabbers are basically small programs that can save hand histories from observed games. Each handgrabber only support a single network or poker site.

Idleminer has created a Cereus handgrabber called “Absolute Poker Idleminer”. The handgrabber were created before Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet formed the Cereus network, and Idleminer has kept the name, even though it technically is a Cereus handgrabber.

Cereus Hand Grabber

Many people choose to buy hand histories instead of datamining themselves. Read where you can buy Cereus hand histories.

Absolute Poker (Cereus) Datamining Video

I have made 2 short videos showing how to datamine on Absolute Poker using Absolute Idleminer. The first one focus on the basics of setting the handgrabber and making sure that it is working, as well as importing the hand histories it gathers into Holdem Manager.

The second video show how you can set up the handgrabber to automatically datamine when you are away from your computer.

Introduction to Datamining on Absolute Poker

Advanced Datamining on Absolute Poker

Cereus Idleminer (mentioned in the video)

Datamining on the Cereus Network

Absolute Poker Idleminer is fairly simple to use. All you have to do to get started datamining, is to start the program and select “Options>Manual Operation Mode” from the top menu and it will save hand histories from any table you open.

Screenshot of the Cereus handgrabber (Absolute Poker Hand Grabber).

If you are an experienced dataminer you will probably want to take advantage of the possibility to have the handgrabber open and close tables automatically, using its built in table opener. You can configure it to only open tables from the stakes you specify, and even exclude tables with too few or too many players.

This feature is especially useful for mid- high stakes players as well as those who’s play a lot of heads up, since there tables often break. If you fx play NL600$ HU and NL1000$ 6-max you can set a filter, so Absolute Poker Idleminer will open as many active heads up tables as possible and then fill up with NL1000$ 6-max tables.

Cereus / Absolute Poker Hand Grabber

Cereus Table Selection

While datamined hands certainly help you when you sit at the table, the benefits is almost bigger when you use them for table selection.

SpadeIT has created a table selection tool for the Cereus network called SpadeEye, which enable you to use your datamined hand histories for table selecting.

SpadeEye basically scan the lobby of the poker site, and that way get a list of every single player that are currently playing. It then look up those players in Holdem Manager/Pokertracker and that way identify bad players and show you at which tables they are sitting.

If you datamine a lot or buy hand histories, you can expect to get data on at least 80% or the players, which will roughly translate to you knowing the quality of 4 out every 5 tables on the site without even opening them. That kind of knowledge can easily add 1 bb/hour to your winrate, simply because you get better tables faster.

Download SpadeEye
You automatically get a free 8 day free trial when you download SpadeEye.

Buy iPoker Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to buying hand histories from the iPoker network. Read more about buying hand histories.

It is becoming increasingly popular to buy hand histories instead of datamining, especially among small- and midstakes players. The primary reason for this is that hand histories has become much cheaper, and more hand histories are available, so you can get more hand histories for 30$ than you would if you datamined 24/7 for an entire month.

I currently recommend that you buy iPoker hand histories from 2 sites: HHDealer and Hand HQ. They both have a good coverage of iPoker, and are both fast to deliver your hand histories as well as reliable. You can read a short description of each site below.

Buy iPoker hand histories

Hand HQ

Hand HQ excel by being very fast to deliver your hand histories after your purchase – When I buy from them (using PayPal), I usually have my hand histories withing 1 hour.

They are ideal if you are new to buying hand histories, or just want to get your order placed and hand histories delivered as fast as possible, since their order system is extremely easy to use. I personally use them whenever I want to buy a batch of hand histories to use right away fx. if I want to leave my computer to import them overnight.

Read an in depth review of Hand HQ.

Buy iPoker Hand Histories from Hand HQ

HHDealer

HHDealer is best suited for experienced dataminers or other people who plan on buying new hand histories each week or month. The reason is that they offer a subscription, where you can get fresh hand histories sent to your email each day (or you can use their free program HHLoader to download them.

While they also offer bulk purchases like Hand HQ, I think that their subscription is a much better deal, since you get fresh data on your opponents each day. In addition you also tend to get more hand histories with the subscription than from bulk purchases.

Read an in depth review of HHDealer

Buy iPoker Hand Histories from HHDealer

How to Datamine iPoker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Introduction to iPoker datamining and buying hand histories from the iPoker network.

If you want to start datamining iPoker you will need a handgrabber, which is a program that can save hand histories from observed games (datamine). Idleminer has recently released a new iPoker handgrabber called “iPoker Hand Grabber”.

The handgrabber is very simple to use and will get you started datamining very fast. Please note that you get a free 1000 hand trial after you have downloaded it.

iPoker Hand Grabber

If you don’t want to datamine yourself, you can also buy iPoker hand histories.

iPoker Datamining Video Guide

I have created a short video that show how to get started datamining using iPoker Hand Grabber.

If you are new to datamining, you can download a free trial of iPoker Hand Grabber and set it up while watching the video in full size on YouTube.

iPoker Hand Grabber (mentioned in the video)

Datamining on iPoker

iPoker Hand Grabber makes datamining on iPoker easy, all you have to do is to start the program and press “Launch Site”, after which it will save hand histories from any table you open.

Please note that iPoker Hand Grabber does not set the player’s stack size to 10.000.000$ (there has been some confusion about this). While having huge stack sizes in your datamined hand histories isn’t a problem for most players, it can be annoying, especially if you like to use stack sized filters in Holdem Manager/Pokertracker.

Screenshot of iPoker Hand Grabber – You begin datamining by pressing “Launch Site”

While iPoker Hand Grabber’s few features does make it extremely easy to use, experienced dataminers may miss the option to have it automatically open and close tables, so you can leave your computer to datamine without having to come back every 3-4 hour and open new tables because the ones you were datamining isn’t active anymore.

This functionality is called a “table opener” and is included in EyePoker, which is a table selection program for iPoker. You can read more about EyePoker below.

iPoker Hand Grabber

iPoker Table Selection

Whether you are datamining or buying hand histories you can increase the edge it gives you by using those hands to improve your table selection.

By using EyePoker you can easily identify tables with known fish from your Pokertracker or Holdem Manager. The program works by scanning the lobby on the iPoker skin you play at to find the name of all the players that are online. It then looks up those players using Pokertracker/Holdem Manager and give you a list of tables where bad players are sitting.

This makes table selection very easy, and unless you play a game where there are less than 20 active tables, you will almost always find at least 4-6 very good tables with no or 1 player waiting list.

Download EyePoker
You automatically get an 8 day free trial when you download EyePoker

Please note that SpadeIT, who sell EyePoker, are also the creator of SpadeEye and several other programs that basically does the same thing as EyePoker but on different pokersites.

Buy Full Tilt Poker Hand Histories is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

Guide to buying hand histories from Full Tilt Poker with reviews of the most popular hand history providers.

Many players don’t want to datamine themselves, and choose to buy hand histories instead. While this does cost you a bit of money, it will give you many more hand histories than you can datamine yourself, and can even give you reliable stats on some of the other players winrates.

If you want to buy hand histories from Full Tilt Poker there are currently 2 sites that I recommend: HHDealer and Hand HQ.

They both offer fast delivery and good support, and cover the same games on Full Tilt Poker, so it can be difficult to choose between them. I have written a short introduction to each site below.

Buy hand histories now

Hand HQ

If you are new to buying hand histories or are just looking to buy a single batch of hands I recommend that you use Hand HQ. They have a very easy to use order formular and support a variety of different payment options, so the are a little bit easier to buy from than HHDealer.

Read the full review of Hand HQ

Buy hand histories from Hand HQ

HHDealer

If you are an experienced dataminer or plan to keep buying hand histories each week or month HHDealer has a subscription option where you get all the new hand histories they have datamined each day. This will give you better stats, since you will always have the newest hand histories, and it also tends to be a bit cheaper than buying a lot of hand histories at once.

Read the full review of HHdealer

Buy hand histories from HHDealer

How to Datamine Full Tilt Poker is a post from: www.pokerdatamining.net. Copyright 2009 - No duplication without written permission.

PokerDatamining.net does not monitor whether or not Full Tilt Poker allow datamining. Please read their T&C before you datamine or buy hand histories.

In order to datamine on Full Tilt Poker you will need a handgrabber. There are currently only one, “Full Tilt Idleminer”, which has been created by Idleminer (the company’s name is part of the name of many of their programs).

Download Full Tilt Idleminer (handgrabber)

If you don’t want to datamine yourself, but want the same benefits, you may consider to buy the hand histories instead.

Video Demonstration

I have made a short video where I show you how to datamine with the Full Tilt Hand Grabber. The commentary isn’t as good as I would have liked it to be, but I hope you get something out of it anyway.

Download a free trial of Full Tilt Hand Grabber
(This is the program I talk about in the video)

Datamining Full Tilt Poker

Datamining with Full Tilt Idleminer is fairly easy, it does have a couple of extra features compared to the “Hand Grabber” programs that Idleminer creates, however, the extra features are well worth having to use a slightly more complicated handgrabber.

Note: There are no “Full Tilt Hand Grabber”, Idleminer either makes a “Hand Grabber” or an “Idleminer” for a poker site, since the Idleminer is basically an upgraded version of hand Grabber.

Screenshot of Full Tilt Idleminer

If you just want to datamine the tables that you open yourself, all you have to do is to start Full Tilt Idleminer, and select “Options>Manual Operation Mode” from the top menu and open the tables that you want to datamine. However, this is not the most effective way of datamining, since the players will inevitably leave the table at some point, and you will be datamining empty tables.

To ensure efficient datamining you should use Full Tilt Idleminer’s built in table opener. The table opener can automatically open tables to datamine, according to your preferences. If you fx. only want NL600$ Hold’Em tables with more than 4 players, or as many active 25$/50$ HU tables as possible and then fill up to the maximum with NL1k$ 6-max tables.

Download Full Tilt Idleminer

Full Tilt Poker Table Selection

If you datamine or buy hand histories at Full Tilt Poker I strongly recommend that you use SpadeEye, which is a tool that will use your Holdem Manager and/or Pokertracker database to show you at which tables known fish are playing.

When you use datamined hand histories you will usually have data on 80+% or the players at the stakes you play, and SpadeEye enable you to use that data to see the tables where all the fish you know are sitting.

Download SpadeEye
You automatically get an 8 day free trial when you download SpadeEye