HH Smithy Review
This is my second review of HH Smithy in the last 6 months. The first time I reviewed them they were still in beta, dealing with changing their domain and upgrading features - so their software was a little buggy. Even ignoring this, however, I felt that HH Smithy had a ways to go before I could recommend them as a go-to supplier of hand histories.
Fast forward a few months and I'm happy to report that HH Smithy has improved tenfold. They support more sites, cover more games and added bulk hand histories. For the exact details, be sure to watch/read my review below.
Video Walkthrough of HH Smithy
Supported Sites
HH Smithy has a solid lineup, supporting sites that are getting the most traffic nowadays post Black Friday. Speaking of which, Full Tilt Poker is obviously gone from the lineup, as well as Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.
The sites that HH Smithy does support include:
- PokerStars - The French and Italian sites are covered too.
- OnGame - The Italian site is covered too.
- Merge - This includes sites like Carbon, Lock and Aced.
- Party Poker
- iPoker - This includes sites such as Titan, bet365 and Mansion Poker.
Once again, definitely not a bad lineup. HH Smithy takes feedback (well) too, so if there is a room that you want to see covered, be sure to contact them and let them know.
Game Coverage
HH Smithy's game coverage has improved some since the last time I reviewed them. They cover pot limit omaha and fixed limit hold'em much more than they did before. So you can get hands for these games, as well as no limit hold'em, for heads up, six max and full ring games.
The one thing that I'm still missing is SNG and MTT hand histories. HH Smithy has mentioned on their site that they are considering offering them in the future -- maybe 2012. I hope so, since I'm sure there are players who'd buy them. If I still played SNGs as much as I did post Black Friday, I would.
In regards to the number of hands, or freshness of hands, I found that HH Smithy is competitive with other sites. It's difficult to say much more than that since every game type and stake is so different. HH Smithy mines nearly 1 million hands daily though, so that should give you some idea.
Delivery of Hand Histories
There are a couple of options for how to get your hand histories from HH Smithy.
The first option is to use the download page on HH Smithy. This option worked well for me. I only had to wait about 5 minutes (they quote 5-10) for my hands to be available. Download times will vary, of course.
The other option is to use HH Smithy's downloader. This is a neat option that takes care of downloading, unzipping and syncing to your heads up display for you. I think this is a great way to go if you're receiving hand histories regularly. You can set it up to download your hands at certain times, or you can 'force' download them whenever you want. Definitely check it out.
Package Options
There are two different ways to buy your hand histories -- subscription or bulk. This is an improvement over the last review, as HH Smithy didn't offer a bulk hand history option before. They've also improved their pricing model and how it's structured. I really like it.
Hand History Subscriptions
For the subscriptions, you have 5 different options -- micro, small, mid and high stakes and an unlimited plan. Each of these options have a price, what limits that price covers, how many sites you can get hand histories for and what it will cost if you want to add sites and games types. Prices vary from $16 to $100 and you can subscribe at 1, 3 and 12 month intervals. The prices will be cheaper the longer you buy in advance.
Bulk Hand Histories
I'm glad that HH Smithy added the bulk hand history option. It's what I would see myself using if I still played online (I'm in the USA), and it's what I used to test their services. I found the process real simple -- just choose your site, game type, stakes and the number of hands you want, and then you can add more hands or checkout.
I did notice that the prices for some of the hand history bulk packages were higher compared to other sites. The package I bought was twice that of Poker Table Ratings. That said, HH Smithy has a price match promise that if you find the same hand history package for less somewhere else, they'll match it, plus give you 25% off. Seeing this I contacted HH Smithy and they honored it -- quickly, too.
I should mention that not all of their prices are high. In a couple of instances PTR had packages there were nearly 25% more. So keep this in mind and shop around before buying.
Note: I suggest comparison shopping before you buy your hands from HH Smithy. It's much easier for them to give you a discount on your hands (if you find a better deal) than it is for them to give you a partial refund.
Payment Options
The following payment options are available at HH Smithy:
- Amazon Payments
- PayPal
- Google Checkout
I used PayPal when I bought my bulk hand history package. As always, the transaction was quick and painless.
Support
The support at HH Smithy is excellent. When I first reviewed their site I had issues with their software (due to them being in beta). They answered my emails quickly, all within less than 4-5 hours.
The 2nd time was no different. Not only were they fast (every response I got was in less than 2 hours from my email), but they were friendly too.
Overall Impression
What I experienced today was a night and day difference from my first review a few months ago. That's a good thing. Not only did HH Smithy listen to their customers, but they acted on the feedback. And as a result, they offer a killer service, much better than what it was before. Based on what I've seen, I have no problem recommending them as a go-to source for your hand history needs.