A hand history is a record of the action in an online poker

Online poker

Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...

 hand. These records are generated by poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 sites, and used internally to track player behavior and provide a verifiable log to resolve player disputes. If the poker site and client permit it, plain text versions of hand histories may be made available to players, which facilitates personal record-keeping and the sharing of interesting or problematic hands. A typical hand history will contain the following information:

The game type and limit for the table (for example, limit Texas hold 'em

Texas hold 'em

Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

 $3/$6).

The names and seating positions of all players at the table.

The size of player stacks at the beginning of hand.

Any hole cards known to the requestor.

Any cards dealt face up on the table.

The betting actions of each player in each betting round.

While the internal version of the hand history will display all hole cards, the version made available to a player will show only those of the player himself and any hole cards revealed at showdown or voluntarily shown by a player. Some commercial software products make use of hand histories to assemble a record of a player's winnings and losses, and track their playing habits as well as those of their opponents.

Sample hand history

PokerStars Game #27738502010: Tournament #160417133, $0.25+$0.00 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (250/500) - 2009/05/02 13:32:38 ET

Table '160417133 3' 9-max Seat #8 is the button

Seat 1: LLC 4Eva (9182 in chips)

Seat 2: 618shooter (25711 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 3: suposd2bRich (21475 in chips)

Seat 4: ElT007 (60940 in chips)

Seat 5: Orlando I (18044 in chips)

Seat 6: ih82bcool2 (8338 in chips)

Seat 7: kovilen007 (8353 in chips)

Seat 8: GerKingTiger (4404 in chips)

Seat 9: Phontaz (23553 in chips)

LLC 4Eva: posts the ante 60

618shooter: posts the ante 60

suposd2bRich: posts the ante 60

ElT007: posts the ante 60

Orlando I: posts the ante 60

ih82bcool2: posts the ante 60

kovilen007: posts the ante 60

GerKingTiger: posts the ante 60

Phontaz: posts the ante 60

Phontaz: posts small blind 250

LLC 4Eva: posts big blind 500

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to ElT007 [Qd Qc]

618shooter: folds

suposd2bRich: folds

ElT007: raises 2000 to 2500

Orlando I: raises 15484 to 17984 and is all-in

ih82bcool2: folds

kovilen007: calls 8293 and is all-in

GerKingTiger: folds

Phontaz: calls 17734

LLC 4Eva: folds

ElT007: raises 15484 to 33468

Phontaz: calls 5509 and is all-in

Uncalled bet (9975) returned to ElT007

*** FLOP *** [2d 2c 3c]

*** TURN *** [2d 2c 3c] [8h]

*** RIVER *** [2d 2c 3c 8h] [4d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Phontaz: shows [9s 9h] (two pair, Nines and Deuces)

ElT007: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)

618shooter has returned

ElT007 collected 11018 from side pot-2

Orlando I: shows [5d 5h] (two pair, Fives and Deuces)

ElT007 collected 29073 from side pot-1

kovilen007: shows [Kh As] (a pair of Deuces)

ElT007 collected 34212 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 74303 Main pot 34212. Side pot-1 29073. Side pot-2 11018. | Rake 0

Board [2d 2c 3c 8h 4d]

Seat 1: LLC 4Eva (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 2: 618shooter folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: suposd2bRich folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: ElT007 showed [Qd Qc] and won (74303) with two pair, Queens and Deuces

Seat 5: Orlando I showed [5d 5h] and lost with two pair, Fives and Deuces

Seat 6: ih82bcool2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: kovilen007 showed [Kh As] and lost with a pair of Deuces

Seat 8: GerKingTiger (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: Phontaz (small blind) showed [9s 9h] and lost with two pair, Nines and Deuces