Bluffware Touts Hand History Analysis Tool

Bluffware.com is a new website that self-proclaims to be the "next level" of free hand analysis for online poker.  The site offers players the ability to register for free and upload hand history files so that they may be shared and commented on.  The site even has features that tie into popular social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to help players post their hand history files easily and receive quick exposure.

Registering for Bluffware is a very easy experience that can be done in a matter of seconds.  Once you have verified the e-mail account with which you registered, you are taken inside the Bluffware website.  From there, you can browse other people's hands or do a search for a specific hand. The top right navigation of the site has a special drop-down menu called "My Hands," which contains four selections: Sessions, Sit and Gos, Tournaments, and Cash.  It's here that the website’s database auto-segments your uploaded hand histories into one of these four categories so you can find the specific hand type you are looking for much more efficiently.

To upload a hand, you have two options: an entire hand history text file or one single hand.  To upload the former, simply hit the "Browse" button and select the file.  Once you hit "Upload History," the entire file and every hand inside it will be imported into your database on the site.  You'll be able to access and share the hands with anyone you'd like.

If a user wishes, they can paste a single hand.  There are two options that can be enabled: to make the hand public and to make the players anonymous.  Once you are done, hit the “Import” button and almost instantly, you are taken to the converted hand in the Bluffware Replayer.  The Replayer is created in Flash and has a scrub bar for rewinding or fast forwarding, play controls, a Twitter button, and a button to enable full screen mode.  Above the Flash hand history replayer is information about the hand that explains when it was played, what network it was on, and how many times the hand has been viewed.  There are also links to Twitter and Facebook.  Finally, there are links provided to a direct URL of the hand as well as Flash embed code.

The Replayer is definitely raw in spots, as actions from players happen so quickly that it's hard to tell when they check or bet.  Overall, the graphics and animation of the Replayer are decent, but not better than anything reproduced on other sites.  At this time, the Replayer seems hurried and lacks the necessary "stops" needed in order to differentiate actions among players and streets.

Notable Bugs:

1. The hand history files for some sites don't always reflect the actual outcome.  For example, a hand from the CEREUS Network improperly reflected the winner of the hand in the summary.

2. When a hand is imported, the information incorrectly reflects when the hand was played.  I played a hand today and uploaded it and the site reported that the hand was played "about a year ago."