Every hand you play on PokerStars can be recorded in a hand history: a text file with the cards, every player's actions and the result. Those files are the raw material for analyzing your game: with them you can calculate your real stats, see what you do from each position and review the hands where you lost the most.
1. Turn on hand history saving
In the PokerStars client, look in the settings for the hand history section and check that the option to save your hand history to your computer is turned on. The folder where they're saved is shown right there.
Only the hands you play from then on are saved: if you've just turned it on, play a session before carrying on.
2. Find the folder
The files usually end up in a HandHistory folder, with a subfolder named after your username, inside the client's
data folder:
- Windows: inside
C:\Users\<your user>\AppData\Local\, in the PokerStars folder for your country (for example,PokerStars.UKorPokerStars). TheAppDatafolder is hidden: the quickest way is to press Windows + R, paste%LOCALAPPDATA%\PokerStars\HandHistory(with your country's folder name) and press Enter. - Mac: inside
Library/Application Support/, in the PokerStars folder.
If you can't find it, the exact path is in the hand history section of the client's settings.
Inside you'll see one .txt file per table and day. You can open them with Notepad: each hand starts with
PokerStars Hand # followed by its number, or the equivalent in your client's language. Flopmortem reads English and
Spanish hand histories.
3. Analyze them
Reading the files by hand doesn't make sense beyond a single hand: what's useful is processing them all together. There are paid trackers that do it, and you can also do it for free with Flopmortem:
- Create an account (free).
- In Settings, upload the
.txtfiles from yourHandHistoryfolder. Duplicate hands aren't counted twice, so you can upload the whole folder again whenever you like. - Look at the summary: your stats by position compared with references for 6-max and full ring, with their margin of error, and the list of your leaks, from confirmed ones to trends.
Flopmortem reads PokerStars NL Hold'em cash game hand histories (regular and Zoom tables), at both 6-max and full ring. Also those from Winamax, 888poker, the iPoker network and ACR: inside the app, under "Import hands", you'll find where each site saves its files.
4. What to look at first
With your hands imported, the guide how to find your leaks in cash games explains in what order to check your stats. If you have few hands, read how many hands you need to trust your stats first.
Use it after you play, not during
Many poker sites ban using real-time assistance tools while you play. Analyze your hand histories after each session: it's what the rules allow and, besides, it's when you study best.