Conversion of hand history from unsupported site

Question

I am playing on a site that is not supported by Holdem Manager 2 and would like to import the hand histories to HM2 manually so I will be able to have the stats about the players. I am thinking about writing a small program which will convert the hand histories that I will have from this site to one of supported formats by HM2.

This is an example of one hand that the site provides:

Hand #42934-208 - 2015-03-21 10:50:18

Game: NL Hold'em (100 - 3000) - Blinds 2/4

Site: PokerXX

Table: holdem 2-4

Seat 1: G63 (471)

Seat 2: 1177 (521)

Seat 3: bonbon (249.50)

Seat 4: pokemon2 (208.50)

Seat 5: purim (191.50)

Seat 6: nat (60.50)

Seat 7: sa7 (682.48)

Seat 8: 123r (895.73)

pokemon2 has the dealer button

purim posts small blind 2

nat posts big blind 4

1177 posts big blind 4

** Hole Cards ** [8 players]

Dealt to 1177 [2s 2c]

sa7 folds

123r calls 4

G63 raises to 24

1177 calls 20

bonbon folds

pokemon2 folds

purim folds

nat calls 20

123r calls 20

** Flop ** [6c 9h 4d]

nat bets 36.50 (All-in)

123r folds

G63 calls 36.50

1177 folds

** Turn ** [Ts]

** River ** [Kh]

** Pot Show Down ** [6c 9h 4d Ts Kh]

G63 shows [Ks As] (a Pair of Kings +AT9)

nat shows [9d Ad] (a Pair of Nines +AKT)

G63 wins Pot (162.50) with a Pair

Rake (8.50) Pot (171) Players (G63: 60.50, 1177: 24, bonbon: 0, pokemon2: 0, purim: 2, nat: 60.50, sa7: 0, 123r: 24)

This format is not supported by HM2.

My question: What do you guys think is the closest HM2 supported format of hand histories that I should try to convert this format to? What should I take into account before trying to program such a parser?

I looked on PokerStars HH format and it adds too many unnecessary details that the program will have to calculate, fact I don't like.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I was on Bovada (not anymore, its totally rigged), and using an online hand converter to convert my hands to pokerstars, which seems to be the standard people are using for conversion. However, some of the hands didn't parse properly and errored in HM2, (about 30% of them). I didn't have time to spend figuring out why, I'd rather just code my own converter. So I have been working on writing that as a web application in PHP/jQuery using mySQL database on a basic $10/mo host. I'm thinking I might give access to the public for a small fee, like 1cent for 10 hands or something like that. I started using pokerstars as the format I'm converting to and it's really not too tough, although I think it may have been the wrong way to go. I am probably going to scrap that and start using something else.

So to answer your question, first off, I've tried the pokerstars format and you are correct, it's kind of a pain and probably not the best option. Second, you should probably do what I'm doing right now. Going to all the different sites and networks supported by HM2 and setting up accounts, playing freerolls or micros (some of them give you a free $5 or $10 to mess with when you start), and getting the hand history files and just looking at the way they are formatted and trying to decide which one will be easiest to convert from Bovada and other sites that are currently not supported.

If you want, we could compare notes on this (probably just by posting them here then everyone interested in this subject could also benefit). I have been busy with work the last couple weeks so have not had a lot of time, but let me know your thoughts, how far any research has gotten you, and maybe we can pool our resources to come to a solution faster. I dunno. :)

I'll post more here later when I have some data compiled on the different sites. Do you mind posting which site it is that you are working with trying to convert. It doesn't look like one I've seen yet.