Flight Recorder Manual: Export Hand Histories (2026)

Crash investigators do not wait until after impact to install the black box. Recording starts before wheels leave the runway. Poker is the same: if hand histories are not being written to disk—or downloaded from the platform's archive—the session is already lost. You cannot reconstruct board textures, sizing tells, or tilt decisions from memory.

Most players discover this after a heater: they want to review fifty winning hands, open the client, and find nothing saved. GGPoker's PokerCraft keeps roughly 90 days; PokerStars auto-saves locally but only if the toggle is on; mobile apps on most major sites do not export at all. GTO Wizard, DeepFold, and official room help pages agree on the workflow: enable → extract → archive → import—a chain of custody, not a one-click miracle.

This is a flight recorder manual: pre-flight checklist, extraction procedures by platform, three-tier archive protocol, import hygiene, and what to do when the tape is blank.

Pre-Flight: Enable Recording Before You Sit

Platform	Auto-save?	Where to enable	Mobile export?
PokerStars	Yes (desktop)	Settings → Playing History → Hand History → Save My Hand History	No
GGPoker / Natural8	No local auto-save	Use PokerCraft after sessions	No
PartyPoker	Yes (desktop)	Client settings → hand history folder	Limited
888poker	Yes (desktop)	Game settings → save to disk	No
WPN (ACR)	Yes (desktop)	Hand history options in client	No
Winamax	Email request	Account → request history	No

Pre-flight rule: Confirm recording before the first hand. PokerStars default path (Windows): C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\PokerStars\HandHistory\[ScreenName]\. Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/PokerStars/HandHistory/[ScreenName]/. Long sessions rotate into multiple .txt files—roughly one file per ~50 hands.

PokerStars also allows email requests via Tools → History and Stats → Get Hand History (last 100 hands, date range, or full tournament). Play-money and freeroll hands are typically not archived on most sites.

Extraction Procedures (Platform by Platform)

PokerStars — Continuous Local Recorder

1. Lobby → Settings → Playing History → Hand History
2. Check Save My Hand History → note Where To Save → Apply
3. After session: navigate to folder; each file is plain .txt, one session or chunk

No email step required for ongoing play. For old hands beyond local retention, use the email request tool. Official docs cite up to 7 years server-side storage—but do not rely on that for daily study; pull locally.

GGPoker — PokerCraft Archive (Desktop Only)

GGPoker does not write hand histories to a local folder like PokerStars. You must use PokerCraft:

1. Desktop client → avatar (top-left) → PokerCraft
2. Hand History tab → filter by date / game type / stakes
3. Select sessions → Download → .txt files to Downloads

Retention warning: PokerCraft keeps histories roughly 90 days (Eurêka Poker and GGPoker community docs align on this window). DeepFold notes some views allow up to 10 recent sessions within 6 months depending on interface—export weekly at minimum. Mobile app cannot download.

Alternative path: Settings → Data → Request Hand History → zip arrives by email (useful for bulk backfill).

PartyPoker / 888 / WPN — Auto-Save Cousins

Workflow mirrors PokerStars: enable save in client settings, locate .txt folder on disk after session. Paths vary by install—search [SiteName] HandHistory under AppData or Application Support.

Winamax & Regulated EU Skins

Winamax often requires email request through account history rather than continuous auto-save. Check the client's "History" or account portal; export format is still .txt inside zip for most approved tools.

Three-Tier Archive Protocol (Chain of Custody)

Investigators seal evidence in layers. Your hand histories deserve the same:

Tier	Location	Purpose	Refresh cadence
Tier 1 — Hot	Local SSD folder, dated subfolders (2026-07/)	Same-week review	After every session
Tier 2 — Warm	Cloud sync (encrypted drive, not public links)	Laptop failure protection	Weekly batch upload
Tier 3 — Cold	External HDD or yearly archive zip	Long-term leak tracking, tax records	Monthly or quarterly

Naming convention: YYYY-MM-DD_STAKES_SITE.txt beats hh(47).txt. When PokerStars splits one session into four files, zip them under one session folder immediately—reconstruction later is painful.

Do not import tournament summaries into hand replayers expecting full action—they lack street-by-street detail. PokerCraft tournament summary exports ≠ Hand History .txt.

Import Hygiene (Reading the Tape)

Before analysis tools ingest files:

1. Verify format — Plain text, UTF-8, site header intact (PokerStars hand ID line, GGPoker timestamp format)
2. Deduplicate — Re-importing the same session doubles sample size and corrupts stats
3. Tag by context — Cash vs MTT vs PKO in folder name; mixing formats skews VPIP/PFR baselines
4. Priority queue — Losing sessions first (DeepFold and study coaches agree: errors concentrate in red sessions)

Trackers (PT4, HM3, Hand2Note) and browser replayers accept standard .txt from major rooms. Some club apps (PokerBros, X-Poker) export replay links only—different pipeline entirely; do not assume one converter fixes all.

For spot-check review without a tracker, paste a single hand into any free replayer or upload one .txt session to a hand-analysis tool. The chain of custody ends when the file is read-only archived and a working copy is imported.

When the Recorder Was Off (Recovery Options)

Situation	Recovery path
Forgot PS auto-save	Email request last 100 hands or date range
GGPoker >90 days ago	Gone from PokerCraft—prevention only
Mobile-only grinder	Switch critical sessions to desktop for recording
Corrupted .txt	Re-download from PokerCraft or PS email; never edit raw files

PokerStars server retention (up to ~7 years per official help) is a backup of last resort, not your study pipeline. Request early if you need old volume.

Three Pre-Crash Mistakes

1. Reviewing without archiving — You fix one leak in the replayer, then overwrite the file next import. Write one sentence per flagged hand in a separate log.

2. Monthly bulk download on GGPoker — Hands older than ~90 days vanish. Weekly PokerCraft pulls take five minutes.

3. Mixing play-money with real — Most trackers filter them; polluted samples waste hours. Separate folders.

Field Notes

Hand histories are flight recorders, not souvenirs. Enable PokerStars auto-save before you sit; schedule weekly PokerCraft downloads on GGPoker; run Tier 1→2→3 backups; import with dedup and session tags. Mobile grinders: accept that serious review requires desktop extraction—or you are flying without a box.

The session already happened. The only question is whether the tape exists when you land.

---

Sources consulted: PokerStars official hand history help, GTO Wizard export guide, DeepFold GGPoker/Natural8 download guide, Eurêka Poker PokerCraft retention notes.