HandHQ Review
You probably know what a hand history is.
Handhq's offering
Just as a quick reminder, a poker hand history is a small text file containing all the actions that took place during one poker hand. Who bet, folded, raised, at each street, who where the blinds, what was the bet sizes in case of No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker, etc.
If you are a regular online poker player and if you know how to use a poker tracker software such as holdem manager, you understand the advantage that a thorough analysis of hand histories can provide to you. Winning at poker depends on gathering as much information as possible and knowing how to use it.
This is what HandHQ.com can help you with.
With handhq, you can gain insight into your opponents' playing style. The hand history data from handhq can let you know who the strong players are before you ever played against these players.
Instead of sitting down at an online poker table and playing against a group of unknown players, handhq gives you the ability to know everything about how these players played poker in the past, possibly for thousand of hands. You will know who the big winners or losers are, so you will be able to adapt your actions based on this confidential information.
You can use the multiple filtering and sorting options within your tracking software, so that you can determine who the biggest fish are and hunt them down. Once you have decided to use handhq, the detailed stats on new players that will suddenly become available to you are guaranteed to help you make more money playing online poker.
Handhq Website
Handhq is a service that you use to purchase hand history data. There is surprisingly such a large demand for ring games hand history database information that handhq was launched just to create this service.
Most solid regular online poker players have bought poker hand histories at one time or another. Failing to do so, or at least to test it, could mean less money in your wallet.
The website at handhq is extremely simple to navigate, as it is just a question of choosing the poker room, the limit, game type, number of hands, and then paying for immediate download of actual hand histories. Everything is clearly explained.
The database includes full tilt hand history, partypoker hand history, cereus (absolute and ultimate bet hand history), ipoker hand history, ongame hand history and pokerstars hand history files. Game types are Limit Holdem, No-Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha.
The price varies depending on the stake level and number of hands. It is very reasonable. Just to give an example, let us say that you play profitable NL50 at PartyPoker and you decide to give a shot to NL100. So you want to buy some NL100 hand histories from handhq. The most you can buy at once is 5 million hands, and the price is $129.25.
Is this expensive? It is just a little bit over one full stack, but with this size of data, you will have an unbelievable unfair advantage. Because you will know nearly everything about anyone who plays NL100 at PartyPoker. So the regulars will think you are a newbie fish, but you will be able to read them like a book instead of them scaring you.
But say you do not want to spend this kind of money, just spend $19.80 and you get 400,000 hand histories. This is enough already to provide you with deep knowledge of what is going on in the NL100 ring games at PartyPoker.
Using handhq is especially useful if you are moving up one level or if you are new at a poker room. Lacking information on the regulars at those levels or rooms can only cost money if you play in the dark against solid opponents. This is no so if you can access your opponents' hand histories before having played with them and without them knowing how much you know. This could be particularly helpful in heads-up play.
If you do not understand how to use hand history data about your opponents, you must first download a program such as HoldemManager and study the powerful capabilities of these pocker tracker software. Then visit HandHQ once you have grasped the benefit of buying datamined hand histories.
Note that not all sites allow the usage of such observed hand history files. Some players are afraid to buy them as they do not want to risk their account getting closed by the poker room. This is a myth. Poker sites have no way of detecting these files on your computer (unless they break the privacy laws). These TOS rules cannot be enforced and thousands of players have purchased poker hand histories.
Handhq Review Summary
The only way to know what kind of unfair advantage you get from using handhq is to try it. Most players who tried once have come back to buy more at a later time.
Note that when you download hand histories from handhq, they automatically provide you with the most recent hands. This is perfect as you want to know how players have been playing not too long ago (players slowly change over time). But if you wish to buy more than one time, it is recommended to wait at least a month between purchases (at the same limit and room) so that you always get fresh hands with no overlap.
Buying datamined observed hand histories can be one element in you overall online poker strategy. Modern holdem poker is driven by information and mastering powerful software tools, and handhq can be one element in your online poker arsenal.
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