How to Use Hand Histories

Online poker has come a long way since its mainstream introduction over a decade ago. Once an industry where a player might have to wait for an hour for real money action, now there are a multitude of online poker sites where you can compete immediately on a nearly limitless number of tables.

In today's online poker world, a player who is willing to put in the time and study different types of poker software and services can gain many advantages. Basically, if a person does not take advantage of these services, he or she could be placed at a disadvantage. One of these services available is the ability to purchase hand histories and incorporate them into your own database. This article will focus on using data mining to improve your win rate at the online poker tables.

Note: Purchasing hand histories may violate the terms and conditions of your favorite online poker site, so do your due diligence first.

If you're in the market to buy hand histories, PokerSoftware recommends visiting PokerTableRatings.com, where you can purchase them in bulk. Buying hand histories immediately provides a player with knowledge of his or her opponents that otherwise would not be available.

For example, if you gain access to 10 million hand histories on PokerStars, it's as if you actually saw those 10 million hands played; you’ll have detailed statistics on every single opponent who was involved in them. You can use the hand histories to determine stats like pre-flop raise, continuation bet, fold to three-bet, aggression factor, and much more.

There are a few important things to keep in mind when purchasing online poker hand histories. First, you want to find a service that will not sell you repeated or incomplete hand histories. Another thing you want to be sure of is that the hand histories you purchase are fully compatible with poker tracking programs. With the click of the mouse, you can import your newly acquired hand histories into those databases and immediately begin increasing your profits.

It's like having a professional read on all of the regulars and you'll see many instances where you have information on a thousand (or more) recent hands that specific opponents have played, which will guide your decisions at the tables and increase your earnings.

There aren't many drawbacks to using online poker hand histories nowadays. There are online poker players who do not believe this service should be available for ethical reasons, but the fact that hand histories are publicly available means that those who are purchasing them could have an enormous advantage over players who aren't. There are simply too many statistics and too much information on your opponents that you could be missing.

Besides PokerTableRatings.com, other data mining sites include IdleMiner and HH Dealer.