A Request For Hand Histories

[kook04 0]

Hello all. I'm doing some research for school (Masters program at the Rochester Institute of Technology) and I'm hoping that some of you will be willing to help me. I'm working on a study pertaining to online poker software with particular attention being paid to the reliability of the (pseudo) random number generator algorithms being used. Essentially, I'm doing an empirical study of the random distribution of cards over a large data set. This is where you guys come in. In order to get any meaningful data, I will need a large sample size. I'm talking about hundreds of thousands of hands or more. Obviously I can't play that much myself As part of my study I will be developing software that will analyze these hand histories and generate data related to the randomness of the card distribution. Please note: I am NOT attempting to write poker playing software or anything of that nature. I am simply analyzing a (hopefully very) large number of hand histories.All information will be kept anonymous, you have my word on that. I am not interested in any individual's results or playing style.If anyone is willing to and can help, please send me any hand histories you can to the email address below. All sites are accepted. Thank you.kook04@gmail.com

[kook04 0]

One thing I should clarify that I didn't put in the original post: I am looking for No-Limit Hold 'Em hand histories only. It doesn't matter if it's tournament or cash game though.Thanks.

[Sheiky 0]

You might be the same person, but someone on 2+2 has already done this pretty recently.

[kook04 0]

Really? Nope, that wasn't me. I'll have to go over there and see if I can find that thread. If anyone is still willing to help out, that would be great.Thanks

[kook04 0]

Wow, no one is interested in helping? If anyone has any specific concerns about doing this, I'd be happy to address them here. I don't know if I've gotten zero response because people don't want to give out their hand histories, or if it's because no one knows me and isn't interested in helping a total stranger.

[qyayqi 11]

i'd suggest doing datamining on ftp, leave a bunch of tables open for poker tracker to collect. this will also put all the data into an sql db for you to query.an alternative and more ideal (but time-intesive) option is to hire 8 people to sit with you at a table for hours & play every hand to showdown & have everyone show their hands at the end, winning or losing. this would be a more complete data set, having all hands & all boards for each shuffle. random hand histories will suffer from incompleteness-- that is, you may only see partial boards & a couple hands from each shuffle.best of luck.

[kook04 0]

Thanks for the suggestions. Datamining FTP won't work because I do not have PokerTracker. Also, having the data in a sql database isn't desirable because I am writing custom software that will parse the (text) hand history files and analyze them.As far as incompleteness. That isn't a concern. I am not looking for trends or hand results or anything of that nature. All I am doing is analyzing every card that gets exposed (i.e., board cards and any cards that get shown down). Cards that are not shown will not impact the results of this analysis.Thanks again..

[sagedecarte 0]

Thanks for the suggestions. Datamining FTP won't work because I do not have PokerTracker. Also, having the data in a sql database isn't desirable because I am writing custom software that will parse the (text) hand history files and analyze them.As far as incompleteness. That isn't a concern. I am not looking for trends or hand results or anything of that nature. All I am doing is analyzing every card that gets exposed (i.e., board cards and any cards that get shown down). Cards that are not shown will not impact the results of this analysis.Thanks again..

pokertracker 3 beta is available for free for the time being

[finztotheleft 0]

Sorry, I don't play no limit

[MyPlayIsRAB 0]

i think most people are skeptical to give out hand histories because it would greatly reveal how they play

[No_Neck 0]

all my hand histories are in pokertracker database form, I don't know if I still have the txt ones...

[Poker Addict 0]

Thanks for the suggestions. Datamining FTP won't work because I do not have PokerTracker. Also, having the data in a sql database isn't desirable because I am writing custom software that will parse the (text) hand history files and analyze them.As far as incompleteness. That isn't a concern. I am not looking for trends or hand results or anything of that nature. All I am doing is analyzing every card that gets exposed (i.e., board cards and any cards that get shown down). Cards that are not shown will not impact the results of this analysis.Thanks again..

worth the $50 imo. If this paper is important. My hand history wont work cuz anyone that has seen me luckbox, my hands are definitely not random.

[kook04 0]

Just to clarify: I'm not opposed to spending money on PokerTracker if necessary. However, I don't think that solves my problem because:1) I need hand histories from as many sites as possible.2) I need the data in text file format.Thanks,Kennedy

[kook04 0]

Hey all...I'm bumping this post up because I'm still working on this project, and I'm still in need of as many hand histories as I can get. For anyone who might consider helping me, or who is skeptical, here are some bullet points that might clear up some questions:

• I need hand histories in text file format.
• I'm looking for NLHE hand histories exclusively.
• Real money games only.
• Tournaments and cash games are both useful to me.

One other thing: are there any sites that will generate hand history files (text format) to you local hard drive if you install the software and open it up, but do not actually play (or have money in the account for that matter)? That would be very useful for me.

[Merby 3]

Hey all...I'm bumping this post up because I'm still working on this project, and I'm still in need of as many hand histories as I can get. For anyone who might consider helping me, or who is skeptical, here are some bullet points that might clear up some questions:

• I need hand histories in text file format.
• I'm looking for NLHE hand histories exclusively.
• Real money games only.
• Tournaments and cash games are both useful to me.

One other thing: are there any sites that will generate hand history files (text format) to you local hard drive if you install the software and open it up, but do not actually play (or have money in the account for that matter)? That would be very useful for me.

When you are datamining Tilt, the hand histories are saved to your hard drive. I have PT2, and I have it set up to save the HH to a specific folder in my computer. I imagine PT3, HEM, and eventually PEV will work in a similar manner.I strongly recommend that you take this approach (get a poker tracking program and datamine tilt) because that is the best bet to get a lot of HHs with little difficulty.

[rdtedm 0]

If you are only worried about a ton of hands to test the RNG, then why don't you accept play money hands too?

[Ko8e34 0]

Also what's the difference between NL and limit?

[Merby 3]

Also what's the difference between NL and limit?

Not much... aside from the min-betting donks who flock to the limit games.

[rdtedm 0]

I'm sorry, but I don't think youre going to get a lot of people who want to send you their hand histories of real money. It makes zero sense that you wouldnt accept play money hands or limit hands since they all use the same RNG.That being said, if anyone wants to send me thousands of text hand histories, I could do some research too.

[kook04 0]

It makes zero sense that you wouldnt accept play money hands or limit hands since they all use the same RNG.

1) I actually will accept limit hold 'em hands. I meant to say hold 'em, not NL only. My mistake.2) I don't want play money hands because (some) conspiracy theorists are convinced that real money software could be somehow "tainted". I figured it would be best to only base my statistics on real money hands.Important Note:For those that replied that they wouldn't send hand histories because it would expose how they play: I am not asking for hand histories from hands you have played necessarily. If you data mine and have a bunch of hold 'em hands that you didn't play in, I will gladly accept those.

[psujohn 0]

You don't need any software.Download FTP.Set it to record hand histories.Open a bunch of tables.You'll get the HH files that way.Be aware that if you analyze all the cards that get showndown you're going to have inaccurate results. I'd bet money that your analysis will show that aces come up more often than deuces. That's because people are more likely to play and showdown aces. You should look only at the board cards.

[kook04 0]

You don't need any software.Download FTP.Set it to record hand histories.Open a bunch of tables.You'll get the HH files that way.

This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Thank you so much. Are there any other sites that allow this?

Be aware that if you analyze all the cards that get showndown you're going to have inaccurate results. I'd bet money that your analysis will show that aces come up more often than deuces. That's because people are more likely to play and showdown aces. You should look only at the board cards.

I've accounted for this factor, and the statistics will reflect this fact.