Module 7 · Lesson 35 of 39 · Free
Reading a hand history
Every hand you play online is saved as text, one line per event. The hand below takes 37 lines, and once you can read them you can count the pot on any street, see each stack in big blinds, and find what the winner really took home: $24 of a $25.25 pot.
The hand
The hand of the history below, at $0.25/$0.50: your K♥ Q♥ from the cutoff against the big blind, a Calling station who called every bet with 9♥ 8♥.
Predict first
One line reads “Hero: raises $0.75 to $1.25”. How much has Hero put in before the flop?
- $0.75
- $1.25
- $2: $0.75 plus $1.25
Show the answer
Answer: $1.25
“Raises $0.75 to $1.25” is one raise: $0.75 more than the $0.50 big blind, for a total of $1.25. The number after “to” is the raiser's total on the street.
Working it out
Follow the pot street by street. Before the flop: the small blind's $0.25, Hero's $1.25 and the big blind's $1.25 (his $0.50 blind plus a call of $0.75): 0.25 + 1.25 + 1.25 = $2.75. The flop adds 2 × 1.50 = $3, the turn 2 × 3.75 = $7.50 and the river 2 × 6 = $12: 2.75 + 3 + 7.50 + 12 = $25.25, the total pot of the summary. The site keeps a rake of $1.25, so Hero collects 25.25 − 1.25 = $24. In big blinds, divide by 0.50: the pot was 50.5 bb, and Hero, who put in 1.25 + 1.50 + 3.75 + 6 = $12.50, won 24 − 12.50 = $11.50, or 23 bb.
Every history has the same parts: the hand and the stakes, the table and the button, the seats with their stacks, the blinds, your hole cards, the betting street by street under each board, the showdown when the hand reaches one, and the summary. When a bet is not called, a line such as “Uncalled bet ($6) returned to Hero” gives it back before the pot is counted. Tools › My hands reads histories like this one from PokerStars, GGPoker, Winamax and 888poker: paste them, and each time you faced a bet it compares the price with your equity. Your hands are read in your browser and never uploaded.
Formula
Pot = the folded small blind + every player's total on each street: 0.25 + 1.25 + 1.25 + 2 × 1.50 + 2 × 3.75 + 2 × 6 = 25.25; collected = pot − rake = 24
Check your understanding
Blinds $0.10/$0.25. One player raises to $0.75, the small blind folds and the big blind calls. How big is the pot on the flop, in big blinds?
Show the answer
Answer: 6.4 bb
The small blind's $0.10 and $0.75 from each of the other two: 0.10 + 0.75 + 0.75 = $1.60, and 1.60 ÷ 0.25 = 6.4 bb.
The big blind posted $0.50. After a raise to $1.50, his line reads “raises $3 to $4.50”. How much does he add with it?
- $4: his $0.50 blind was already in
- $4.50
- $3
Show the answer
Answer: $4: his $0.50 blind was already in
His total becomes $4.50, and $0.50 of it is his blind: 4.50 − 0.50 = $4. The $3 is the step over the $1.50 raise he faced.
A summary reads “Total pot $40 | Rake $2”. How much did the winner collect?
- $40
- $42
- $38
Show the answer
Answer: $38
The site keeps the rake from the pot: 40 − 2 = $38, the amount on the winner's “collected” line.