IdleMiner Releases Version 1.13

IdleMiner is a personal software program that allows a user to automatically grab hand history files for data mining.  It is used to gain intelligence on players and their tendencies, which can be achieved by saving the hand history files that IdleMiner creates and importing them into programs like PokerTracker 3 and Holdem Manager.  Currently, editions of IdleMiner available tailored to specific poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, and PartyPoker.  Each program is available separately.

Recently, the developers at IdleMiner have been busy updating their products.  It was first reported here at PokerSoftware.com that the Bodog Hand Grabber from IdleMiner failed to work following an update to the online poker site’s software client. However, a free update was immediately available from IdleMiner.

IdleMiner allows for data mining on a user's computer across several sites, but each one requires a separate license.  The program also comes with a screen saver to automatically mine hands while your computer is idle and actively manages tables to close empty ones and open new ones.  With a simple to use interface and preset configuration options, the program can even automatically start PokerTracker to import hands as they are mined.

Currently, IdleMiner editions run $54.99 per site or you can get it for free on PokerSoftware.com through our Free Software Promotion. Some users import the hands into PokerTracker 3 or Holdem Manager in order gain an edge over opponents that they have a ton of stats on.  Others use it as a means of acquiring data for statistical analysis to see how better players act in the game.

The alternatives to IdleMiner are hand history resellers who do the data mining themselves and then package up bulk groupings of hand histories for a fee.  For example, at HandHQ, a visitor to the site can buy 600,000 hand histories for $0.50-$1 Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em games on Full Tilt Poker.  The cost of this bulk download is $29.70 and covers about nine days’ worth of hand histories.  If a user were to use HandHQ twice, they would spend a total of $59.40, which is $5 more than if they had bought IdleMiner and mined the hands themselves.

When one does the math beyond this simple example, it's easy to see that the long-run cost for IdleMiner comes out a lot lower than other competitors.  Let's take a look at what two months’ and six months’ worth of hand histories would cost.  Note that with the hand history resellers, we found out the price of the last month's worth of files in one delivery (approximately two million hands) or what a monthly service delivery would cost.  All prices are only approximations and reflective of the pricing structure when this article was published.



In the long-run, there's no better solution price-wise than IdleMiner.  With the other sites, you are paying to be an anonymous buyer of a software download rather than an active first-party data miner.  If the few drawbacks of IdleMiner don't matter, then the price savings of the program plus the new updates make it a worthwhile investment for those who have a need for data mined hand histories.