UB Hand Histories - the Easy(?) Way

[Gentle Giant]

What I am about to describe is based on my own experiences. It should not be construed as advice endorsed by anyone at PokerTracker. Follow this procedure at your own risk.

Following the Oct/Nov 2007 update at UB, hand histories could at last be written to disk by the gaming software. Unfortunately, they are written in locked files which cannot accommodate live update in PT. They will only update manually at the end of a session. Attempts to use any live update procedure will result in PT error messages.

The disk written hand histories have also proved less than reliable. If an interruption in the connection occurs, the file may finalise and not restart when the connection is re-established, resulting in incomplete stats.

The old system of using the additonal programme Ultimate History still works. The advantage is that it can update live. The disadvantage is that it can be memory hungry and cause low virtual memory messages, and that you will have more open windows than a double glazing factory.

To use the old system:

1. In the Options/Table menu on the UB main page TURN OFF "Save my Hands"
2. Make sure that you do not have PT autorate you live - that can really slow things down horribly.
3. Fire up Ultimate History and the relevant PT auto import window. A 2-3 minute import interval works best for me.
4. As soon as you sit at a UB table, open the Hand History window. I usually reduce them in size and either minimise them, or tuck them away in the bottom corner of the screen.
5. Play as normal.

The only real difference is in the format of the saved hand history file name, when it has been moved by PT after closing the auto import window. The UB written hand history files, since the update, end in a long hyphenated number. Files written by Ultimate History end with the table name. I don't suppose many people mooch about in that part of their filing sytem, and so would never notice, but I thought I would mention it.

The choice is yours: when the UB written files work they do the job, albeit not live. Using Ultimate History is a little more pfaffing about and uses more memory, but is more complete, less inclined to produce anomalies and appears to be more reliable.

These words were brought to you courtesy of the unpaid labours (hint, hint - I wouldn't mind a copy of PT Stud ;) ) of the...

Gentle Giant