PokerTracker

Under the folder where I store my Poker Tracker processed hand histories, there is a subfolder entitled Error and it contains almost 7000 .log files, each of which is a hand history.

I looked at some of these files and the hand histories look OK to me at first glance. There is no text describing any errors.

Browsing through some files further, I see many of the adjacent files in the list are from the same table, and by the time stamps, I see they are sequential hands. It looks like a whole session of hands from one table went into there.

I checked the Auto-Import Window for every site I've played at. They all have the folder to Move Processed Files to to be the same folder which is the parent of this error folder. I'm not sure how any hands have wound up in this error subfolder. I'm not sure how the error subfolder got there. I do have a vague memory of maybe creating it to contain some error messages I had a couple of years ago. I don't or didn't intentially direct any processed hand histories to go there.

What are these files and what, if anything, is the error?

The only site that has a separate error folder under the processed folder is Cryptologic. So any hands that give errors go to this folder. Do these file names have "_s.log" at the end of them (i.e. 123456789_s.log)? If so, these "_s" files are summaries of the main hand history files that Crypto creates for some reason and they aren't needed because the regular .log file (i.e. 123456789.log) would have been used to import the hand.

Hi Pat,

I didn't mention it in my OP, but I can confirm at least some of these files are definately from Cryptologic because the hands are denominated in Great British Pounds. Cypto sites are the only ones I ever played in for GBPs.

However, not a single file has an "s" or any letter in the name. They are all [10 digit numbers].log" I am in the USA so any Cryptologic hands are at least 2 years old in accord with the USA player ban.

I want to take all my hand histories off my hard drive, zip them, and store them as a backup on a CD. So I just wanted to make sure all the files are orderly for the backup, and thus my question of what is this "Error" folder is about and what I should do with it and the hands in it.

Open the File > Import Hand Histories/Tournament Summaries window.
Click the Select Files To Import button.
On the next window, select ".log" from the "Files of type" field.
Now navigate to this error folder and select some of the .log files to be imported. What happens?

Does PT import them?
Does it tell you they already exist?
Does it give errors?

Hi Pat,

"Import Finished With Errors"

24 files were read
0 hands were imported
0 hands were not imported because they already exist in the database
0
0
0 rest of lines. All 0.

Then "Error Messages" window opens. There are a variety of errors. For these 24 hands it says 17 or 334 error messages displayed.

I used Open File w/ Error to take a look at the first several hands. I was able to see what looks like a variety of problems that exist in the HHs. I will show the Error Message, the relavant part of the HH, and a comment for the first four hands I looked at as examples...

Ex 1. Game#1985281233 - of_GetHandPreFlop() - unexpected action found - winnie11: raises

Game #1985281233: Hold'em FL ($3/$6) - 2006/05/30 - 01:38:04 (UK)

Table "Camellia" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 1: honeycat ($96 in chips)
Seat 2: winnie11 ($53 in chips)
Seat 3: SMORT40 ($346.91 in chips)
Seat 4: siul2 ($376.30 in chips)
Seat 6: tanja ($273.25 in chips)
siul2: posts small blind $1.50
tanja: posts big blind $3
----- HOLE CARDS -----
honeycat: folds
winnie11: raises $6
SMORT40: folds
siul2: raises $7.50
honeycat: folds
winnie11: raises
SMORT40: folds
siul2: raises
tanja: posts small blind

==Siul2's raise looks like wrong size. He had adequate stack. tanja just posting small blind after raises looks odd. *** But the really weird thing is I'm not sitting at this table!***==

Ex 2. Unexpected end of hand for game #1839504053.

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to (ME) [Ts Kd]
Problem: folds
Ratje26: folds
HWM1: folds
You left the table before the end of the hand

== This one looks like I just left the table. Must have gotten disconnected or something.==

Ex 3. Unable to get the game date(3) for game # 1839480693

Game #1839480693: Hold'em FL (£1/£2) - (Incomplete)
Table "Botan"
----- HOLE CARDS -----
kuilu: calls £1
(ME) sits back
cjs_99: calls £0.50
shabinho: checks

==Looks like date is missing. Also, I "sit back." I don't know what "sit back" means--never heard that term before.

Ex 4. Game#1839480663 - of_GetHandPreRiver() - unexpected action found - shabinho: posts big blind £1

shabinho: posts small blind £0.50
Magda2208: posts big blind £1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to (ME) [Ts Jc]
(ME): folds
kuilu: raises £2
lemmon: folds
lemmon sits out
cjs_99: folds
shabinho: folds
Magda2208: calls £1
----- FLOP ----- [6d 3s Qh]
Magda2208: checks
kuilu: checks
----- TURN ----- [6d 3s Qh][Th]
shabinho: posts big blind £1
Magda2208 sits out
(ME) sits out
cjs_99: posts small blind £0.50

= shabino posted big blind on turn. Also note cjs posts small blind on turn and I sit out although I already folded preflop.

FURTHER COMMENT:
From the first four hands I looked at, it looks like each of these hands has a problem in the hand history of something missing or something that doesn't make sense. One of the hands I'm not even at the table. For these first four hands, I have no money invested.

Looking further
Hand 5, 6: I'm not at the table.
H7: I sit out preflop
H8: Incomplete. No date or preflop info. Shows FLOP before HOLE CARDS. I am shown "sit back" under HOLE CARDS.
H9: I leave table before the end of hand. This hand has two error messages. All prior hands only showed one error per hand.
H10: I leave table before end of hand. (I folded preflop.)
H11: Same as above
H12: No date. No preflop data. I "sits back" on flop.

H13: Message: Error getting the player betting (flop) information for Game #1348571924 for game #1348571924.
==Part of hand history title repeated and "HOLE CARDS" repeated after "TURN."==

This is the first hand I found that I put any money in. I was looking to see if there were any of those. With 7000 hands in this folder I suppose there must be quite a few. I am hoping at least any hands that I have money invested are recorded in PT, or that I can fix them so they get recorded.

Game #1348571924: Hold'em FL (£1/£2) - 2006/01/10 - 09:49:15 (ET)
Table "Randolph" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 1: kidkyle (£57.25 in chips)
Seat 2: mossy (£108 in chips)
Seat 3: ME (£97.59 in chips)
Seat 4: Cobra88 (£51.31 in chips)
Seat 5: lennie1 (£55 in chips)
Seat 6: Tittentei (£105.68 in chips)
Cobra88: posts small blind £0.50
lennie1: posts big blind £1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to ME [4h 4d]
Tittentei: folds
kidkyle: raises £2
mossy: folds
ME: calls £2
Cobra88: folds
lennie1: raises £2
kidkyle: calls £1
ME: calls £1
----- FLOP ----- [Kc As 2d]
lennie1: bets £1
mossy: folds
ME: sits out
ME: folds
Cobra88: folds £0.50
lennie1: bets £1
Tittentei: folds
Game #1348571924: Hold'em FL (£1/£2) - (Incomplete)
Table "Randolph"
----- TURN ----- [Kc As 2d][Js]
----- HOLE CARDS -----
ME sits back
kidkyle: raises £4
lennie1: calls £2
----- RIVER ----- [Kc As 2d Js][Ts]
etc. rest looks ok except Summary says I folded on flop.

OK, so in a nutshell there seem to really be some issues with these hand formats?

Yes. The hand histories I looked at are clearly screwed up in one way or another.

I don't know if these hands got imported to the regular database. Can you advise of that?

It is fairly important to me to get any hands in which I invested money into the regular database for the obvious reasons. The hands I don't have money invested in would be useful for stats, but are otherwise not very important.

If these hands need to be fixed in order to get imported, and any money I put in accounted for; I would be interested in trying to fix the hands where I put money in and just deleting the rest. There are 7000 hands in this folder!

Hi Pat,

I studied the files a little more. I took one that had money in it and I fixed it and was able to import it. I checked the exact table it came from and it wasn't in the database before.

I suppose none of the error files are imported into the database. Would that be correct?

I wouldn't think so, no. It sounds like most of them are from hands you weren't involved in, sitting out. However those where you left the table before the hand was over, if you had money in the pot, would be difficult to repair because you don't know the outcome of the hand.