GGPoker Hand History: PokerCraft Downloads, Limits and the Rules
GGPoker writes nothing to your computer. Everything runs through PokerCraft, and anything you played more than 90 days ago can no longer be exported by anyone, including you.
There are no files on your computer
GGPoker saves nothing locally. No folder, no setting, and nothing written while you play. Everything comes out of PokerCraft, the analysis tool built into the client.
If a guide tells you to switch on "Save Hand History" in GG's settings and gives you a folder path, close it. No such setting exists, and at least one well-ranked page invents both.
Finding PokerCraft
In GGPoker's own words:
On Desktop: PokerCraft is located on the top menu (left of Player Messages, Network Status, Language menu and the settings cog. On Mobile: From the Home Screen tap on the player icon (bottom right) and PokerCraft is located directly under the Balance History.
Top menu, not the bottom. Several tracker vendors' documentation still says the bottom toolbar, which was true of an older client.
There's no web version. You have to be logged into the GGPoker software.
Downloading
- Pick the game type.
- Set a date range.
- Set the stakes or buy-in range.
- Click Show.
- Select the sessions.
- Click Download History.
For tournaments, Download Game Summaries is a second, separate file holding your finishing position, prize and bounties. You need both.
Two things that go wrong here constantly. You have to click Show before anything is selectable, and downloads open in a pop-up, so a pop-up blocker kills them silently. Rush and Cash also defaults its date range to the last hour, which makes it look like you have no hands.
Two hard limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Hands per download | 9,999 |
| How far back you can export | 90 days |
| How far back you can view | Everything, 90 days at a time |
The 90-day cliff is the one that matters. GG's wording is that once hands exceed the 90-day mark they can no longer be exported. There's no appeal: support doesn't provide histories by email or any manual method.
So a GGPoker player who doesn't export every month is permanently losing their own record. Nothing else on this page is as important as that sentence.
The 9,999 cap means a busy month needs splitting into several date ranges. There's no download-everything button, and cash and tournaments are separate tabs.
What the file contains
Plain text, in GG's own dialect, with hands prefixed by game type. You may get a single text file or a zip, depending on how many sessions you picked. GG doesn't document which.
The export is anonymised. You become Hero, and everyone else gets a random identifier that stays stable inside a session and changes between sessions.
This is worth understanding, because it isn't what it looks like. Nicknames on GGPoker are real and permanent, and you can see them inside PokerCraft. The anonymising happens on the way out, so the file you download is a record of your own play and nothing else.
The rules, and a contradiction we can't resolve for you
GGPoker's position on trackers is the strictest of any major site, and its own documents don't agree with each other.
The security and ecology policy says:
The sole permitted use for importing hand histories is to track one's own gameplay and results. User is strictly prohibited from using any 3rd party tools to import and/or convert hand histories from the poker tables or PokerCraft.
The same document prohibits granting another party access to your PokerCraft data or sharing your own hand histories. Listed consequences include losing PokerCraft access, game removal, a permanent ban and confiscation of funds. GG's game integrity FAQ names PokerTracker, Hold'em Manager and Hand2Note as prohibited.
Several of GG's own game FAQs say the opposite, describing exports as being for review in third-party software, and encouraging personal offline analysis using PokerCraft's download links.
Those two positions can't both be followed. The generous reading is that GG's concern is software interacting with the tables while you play, and that offline review of your own hands is the thing the FAQs describe. The policy text carries no such qualifier.
Ask GG support in writing before you put your GGPoker files into any third-party tool, including ours. We'd rather send you to ask than have you find out the other way, and the listed penalty is your balance.
What GG gives you instead
Smart HUD is built into the client, free to every player, and you can't turn it off. It shows stats from the current session only, so it behaves like a display that resets every time you sit down.
PokerCraft itself does a reasonable amount: sessions, graphs, an all-in expected value line, hand replays. Two caveats in GG's own words. Rake is excluded from PokerCraft's figures, which GG says should not be used for high-precision financial calculations. And the expected value graph leaves out hands that didn't reach showdown.
Other things worth knowing
- Greyed-out cards in a history were shown voluntarily at the end of a hand rather than at showdown. Parse accordingly.
- PokerCraft history can't be reset or deleted, by you or by support.
- Everyone is seated in the centre of the table. There are no seat positions to choose.
- Nicknames can be changed once a year, in the first week of January, and not otherwise.
For every other site, see the full list. For the room with the opposite approach, seven years of history and a written permission to study it, see PokerStars.
Educational only. No real-money play. 18+. On Google Play now; iPhone coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
Where is PokerCraft in the GGPoker client?
On the top menu, to the left of Player Messages, Network Status, the language menu and the settings cog. On mobile, tap the player icon at the bottom right and it sits directly under Balance History. There's no way in without being logged into the client.
How do I download my GGPoker hand history?
Open PokerCraft, pick the game type, set a date range and the stakes, click Show, select the sessions you want, then click Download History. For tournaments you also need Download Game Summaries, which is a separate file.
How far back can I download GGPoker hands?
Ninety days. You can view further back than that, and tournaments go back years on screen, but once a hand passes 90 days it can't be exported at all. GG support doesn't supply histories by email or any other manual route.
Is there a limit on how many hands I can download at once?
Yes, 9,999 per download. Larger samples have to be split into several date ranges. GG states this in the FAQ for each game type separately, so it applies across Hold'em, PLO, Short Deck and Rush and Cash.
Why are there no opponent names in my GGPoker hand history?
GG anonymises the export. You appear as Hero and everyone else gets a random identifier, stable within a session but not between them. Nicknames are real and permanent inside PokerCraft itself, so the anonymisation happens only on the way out.
Does GGPoker allow HUDs?
No. External displays and trackers are prohibited, and GG names PokerTracker, Hold'em Manager and Hand2Note directly. The client includes its own Smart HUD, free to everyone, showing only stats from the session in progress.
Can I put my GGPoker hands into a tracker?
GGPoker's own documents disagree with each other on this, which is an unusual thing to have to write. Its security policy prohibits using third-party tools to import or convert histories from PokerCraft, while several of its game FAQs describe exporting for review in third-party software. Ask GG support before you rely on either reading.