Hand history rake analyzer: how much rake you really paid

What the analyzer shows

The hand history file your room exports has, hand by hand, the size of the pot and the rake the room took from it. The analyzer reads every file you drop and builds a rake receipt: how many hands you played, over which period, the rake of the pots you contested, your share of that rake (contributed method, the same one rooms use for rakeback) and what that is per month and per 100 hands, in big blinds. Tournaments count separately, by entry fee.

Right below the receipt comes the part that matters: how much of that rake would come back to you at each room with rakeback through our link, only among the rooms that accept players from your country. When the analyzer recognizes your stake, it also estimates, from each room’s official rake table, how much you would pay there with the same volume and what would be left after rakeback. It is the most honest answer there is to “is it worth switching rooms?”: made with your hands, not with an example.

Where to find the hand history at each room

• PokerStars: in Settings → Playing History → Hand History, tick “Save My Hand History” and note the folder. On Windows it is usually AppData\Local\PokerStars\HandHistory\(your nick); on Mac, Library/Application Support/PokerStars/HandHistory. You can also request hands by email from the client (“Request Hand History”).
• GGPoker: GGPoker does not save files on your computer. Open PokerCraft inside the client, choose the period and use the hand download button; the .txt file you get is what the analyzer reads.
• ACR and the WPN network: in Settings, turn on saving the hand history (Hand History). The files are in the program folder, inside handHistory\(your nick).
• Ignition, Bovada and Bodog: in the client, open the account menu and request the hand history (Hand History) for the period; you get a .zip with .txt files. Unzip it and drop the .txt files here. These files do not carry the other players’ names, and that does not affect the count.
• 888poker: in the client settings, turn on saving the hand history; the client shows the folder. 888 does not write the rake in the hand, so the analyzer calculates it from the difference between what went into the pot and what came out.
• Betsson, Betsafe, RedStar, NetBet and Champion (iPoker network): the client keeps the hands in .xml files when hand history saving is turned on in the options. Drop the .xml files here.
• Winamax and partypoker: turn on the hand history in the client options; the analyzer reads both formats.

Can’t find the folder? Search your computer for recent .txt files with the room’s name. If you use PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager, they also export the history as text.

How the numbers are calculated

1. Pot rake: the value written in the hand (Rake $0.60). When the room does not write it, the analyzer adds up what each player put into the pot, removes what was returned unpaid (an uncalled bet) and subtracts what the winners took. Those hands are marked as estimated.
2. Your share: the rake of the hand times the fraction of the pot you contributed. This is the contributed method, the standard rooms use for rakeback. In a hand where you folded without putting in chips, your share is zero.
3. Per month: your share divided by the days between the first and the last hand, times 30. With only a few days of history, the monthly number is just a pace; the more hands you drop, the firmer it gets.
4. Tournaments: each tournament counts once, by the fee written in the buy-in ($10+$1: the fee is $1).
5. What would come back at each room: your share per month times the room’s rakeback percentage. The rake estimate for your volume uses each room’s official table, as in the rakeback calculator.

Privacy: the file never leaves your browser

A hand history has your nick and your plays. That is why the analyzer runs entirely in your browser: the files are read by the page’s JavaScript and nothing is sent to our server or to third parties. When you close the page, it is gone. The only data the share button carries in the link is the summary in numbers (rake per month, hands, stake and days), with no nick and no hands.

What to do with the number

Rake is the fixed cost of anyone who plays volume. If your share is $300 per month, that is $3,600 a year leaving your bankroll before any result. 35% rakeback returns $105 of that every month, and the list above shows the exact amount at each room that accepts your country. To run the numbers with another value, use the rakeback calculator; to understand what rake does to your bankroll and your win rate, see the bankroll calculator and the rakeback guide. If you pay a lot of rake per month, talk to us on Telegram: we try to get a VIP deal directly with the room.