LegoPoker

Converter Almost Ready

GOOD NEWS: The LegoPoker Hand History Converter (v3.0) is almost ready!

We are very excited about this, and we guarantee you will be impressed.

Nothing quite like this has ever been released. Once we are finished, you will never need to go to any other website to convert any hand for any reason. We have you covered in every area.

Summery of new Features

• Converts LIMIT, NL/PL, SNGS and MTTS
• You will be able to store hands on a web page (similar to the popular pokerhand.org website, but with more useful features)
• Customize hands by adding PT stats on players, reads, comments by street, “action cut”, and assign other aliases
• E-Mail mode - pretty straightforward - email one or more hands to several email addresses (converted)
• Upload Files of hands - we understand it can be annoying opening a file, finding a hand, and then copy/pasting it. Cut the middle action, just upload the file and we take care of the rest.
• The new and exciting “Holdem Manager” will allow you to quickly convert hands right from the software! How easier does it get?
• More options than we are even going to name here. (Include chat, number multiple hands, display bets in terms of BB or $, etc)
• Automatically saves your options to your LegoPoker account. If you are logged in, it doesn’t matter what computer you are on, we will remember how you like to convert your hands. Nice and simple.

All of this, and more. But that’s not all. We managed to include all of this while still keeping the LegoPoker converter easy and simple to use. The user is always the #1 priority. Best of all, its 100% FREE!

Need some BETA Testers

We are calling out for a number of people to beta test the new hand history converter before we release it to the public. What we need are players who have an extensive number of hands from one or more of the following websites:

• Full Tilt Poker
• Poker Stars
• Party Poker
• Ultimate Bet

These are four poker sites we will be supporting to start. We will be adding more sites by popularity after these 4 are supported correctly since the vast majority of our user base plays on these sites. Please post a comment on which site you think we should support next!

If you are interested we would like you to please email support@legopoker.com or comment here and we will contact you. Thanks in advance for helping us create the best converter on the internet.

The biggest fear for any online poker player is that someone out there playing against them can see their cards. After all, we are just a network of computers connected together. Isn’t it possible that some of your opponents can do this?

Many players on the twoplustwo forums seem to think so (at least on Absolute Poker), and the evidence is overwhelming.

You can read all about this here: Two Plus Two Forums - Absolute Poker Cliffnotes

Did it actually happen? Is he really a hacker? Did absolute poker allow this “hack”? Is it possible that this is happening elsewhere with smarter players that don’t make it obvious?

All of these questions are valid. And only Absolute Poker executives and these players will ever really know.

New Hand History Converter
We are very excited to launch our new LegoPoker Hand History Converter! We have been working on it for weeks and finally we are just adding the finishing touches to it before we make its first public beta release. This converter will be:

• Much more stable and reliable
• Faster (yes, faster!)
• Ability to convert as many hands as you want
• Ability to UPLOAD poker hand files
• More options
• Limit support
• Full tournament support
• More Converting Modes

We can’t release it for another 5 days as we test it and fine tune it, but for now, we decided that we can show some sneak peak screenshots!

Some Screen Shots

Here is the converter, notice how the options are hidden?

But, you can extend them by clicking on the sections and edit your options here. Notice in this example there is an upload box?

And you can always hide and extend your options at any time by clicking on them.

Here is an example of extending only one option set while hiding the others.

Still a Work in Progress

If you have ANY suggestions or comments on what you see here, you can always contact us.

Keep on checking back because the best converter on the internet is about to get better!

Dedicated Server

LegoPoker has just moved to a brand new server!

That’s right. We just bought a brand spankin’ new server and LegoPoker is now running on it.

The reason Dedicated is in quotes in the title is because we are now on our own fast Dedicated server instead of a slow bogged down Shared server.

We are still working out the kinks of the website transfer but it seems to be going smoothly so far.

Enough already, what’s it mean to me?

I don’t want to get into any details so I will just put it simply:

• Faster converter
• Faster website
• No more time-outs

That’s it in a nutshell. Just thought I’d inform you!

Poker Site Transfers

It’s always been a hassle for me to transfer money from one site to another. Before I knew many online poker players I would have to request a cash out, wait 1-2 days to get that cash out into an e-wallet (I miss you Neteller), and then put that money on to the other site.

When Neteller went down the toilet for Canadians I had to find a new wallet. I went with moneybookers, and although they are quite common among poker site cashiers now, there is still a strict limit on the amounts I can transfer. Furthermore moneybookers is not accepted everywhere. Sometimes I had to withdraw right into my bank account (which adds 3-4 business days in itself) and then EFT or wire the money to the other site.

Basically it was a very inconvenient process.

Player to Player Transfers

The last few months, player transfers have become very common. Player A wants to move $500 from Poker Stars to Full Tilt, and Player B wants to move $500 (or more) from Full Tilt to Poker Stars. The two meet on poker forums or on chat networks, and boom, a transfer is made from both parties and the money is exchanged in less than an hour or two (some sites are instant).

So this was, and is, my preferred method of site transfers now, as it is for many others.

But there is a little concern I have. Every time I do send first (custom says that the asker sends first), I am always a tiny bit nervous something is going to go wrong (even though I always trust the person I send to). Many a players have been scammed in the past and it’s not impossible for it to happen to me.

UB and AP’s Interesting Idea

Now Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker have introduced a new concept. You can now transfer any amount (up to $5000) from your UB account to your AP account and vice versa. You simply hit withdraw and select the option “Absolute Poker Transfer”. They promise that within 48 hours the transfer will go though. I have heard reports from players that they received their transfers in less than 8 hours.

http://www.absolutepoker.com/banking/poker-room-transfer.asp

This may not be as instant as friend-to-friend transfers, but it’s a step towards secure transferring. I’m not sure if any other sites will follow along to make it easier for all of us, but I do hope they do. It’s going to happen anyway, they might as well oversee it.

A few LegoPoker members have pointed out to our programming team that nobody can post comments on the blog!! (Ugh, we are SO incompetent)

It is 1:00 AM right now, so I am sorry - I cannot get it fixed now. But rest assured (I’m sure you wouldn’t anyway) that this issue will be resolved tomorrow.

…Hold your comments

We are currently in heavy development, full time, on the new version of the hand history converter. For the next week, you will not see any major changes on the site. The converter is being reprogrammed for efficiency, extendability, and overall functionality.

This is a mandatory task and once we do complete it, we will have a new version of the converter that we will be able to extend very easily. Some of the things we are working on implementing right now:

• Full Tilt CAP Games
• Adding CHAT to the hand history (optional)
• Specifying if the game is HU, 6m, or a full ring game
• Improving speed and efficiency

Once we complete the rewrite of the converter, you will start to see major things happening with LegoPoker. New site support, new game support, videos, articles, blogs, and more!

If you are currently playing on a poker site that LegoPoker Hand History Converter currently does not support, please send us some sample hand histories: support@legopoker.com - we appreciate it!

As many of you might already know, I (Chris Tickner) have been the only owner and programmer for LegoPoker since its birth in November 2006.

Today, I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Greg Brooks (MYNAMEIZGREG), and we are going to be working together to make LegoPoker the best it can be.

Greg is an established high stakes poker player, who can be found on many poker sites playing nosebleed stakes. He currently plays (and beats) short handed $10/$20 NL Hold’em and $25/$50 NL Hol’dem. He also posts on the 2+2 forums under the screen name “MYNAMEIZGREG”.

Greg also has a poker blog that is going to be moved directly on to the LegoPoker website sometime this week. His blog has a high number of readers and Greg has been updating his blog on a consistent basis since April of last year. If you don’t already read his blog, it can be found here. His blog has been on my reading list since I found it and I am always glad to read his useful posts. PSSST: Right now he is requesting his blog readers to sign-up for beta testing his new poker course!

He will be a great addition to the LegoPoker team, and he will be working hard with me over the next few months to make LegoPoker even better!

LegoPoker is always striving to create the best converter for its users. Lately there haven’t been many updates to it, and we apologize for that. We have decided to work on it full time for the next few weeks (or months) to make up for lost time. What we need are opinions and suggestions from the people who use it most - YOU. Below is a list of some things to look forward to. Please, feel free to leaves comments at the bottom of this post and give us your opinions (HINT: You need to be logged in to LegoPoker to leave comments).

• Mode: Customize. Customize Mode is going to be a new, unique method of converting your hands, on a whole new level never seen before. You will convert the hand like normal, but you will be taken to a second page after you submit the hand. On the following screen there will be a preview of your converted hand. This converted hand will be editable. You will be able to add extra information. Stats (VPIP, PFR, AF, WTSD, etc) for each player can be inserted next to each stack. The section for reads will be editable. Comments on your preflop, flop, turn, and river play will be optional sections to add. What other things would you like to see this editor allow you to do?
• Mode: Save Your Hand. Yet another converter mode for you. This will allow you to save your hand on our website and there will be a way to make the hand public or private. If you elect to make your saved hand public, your hand will be given its own unique page on LegoPoker with a link directly to it. This will allow you to post a hand on LegoPoker and then give the link out to your friends to come to the page and view it, comment on it, and rate it. You can also opt to add reads, stats, and comments within the hand to help give viewers a better understanding of how the hand played out. If you elect to keep it private, only you will have access to view the page with your hand history on it. This will allow you to store some of your hands for personal use. You can always change hands from private to public at any time.
• Option: Include Chat. Many online hand histories have “chat” included, which is actual chat that occurred during an online hand. Chat can be a very useful part of a hand. Sometimes players will say things in the chat during a hand that you can use to your advantage. For example, a fish goes all in and says “please fold”. This could mean a number of things depending on the player, what has been happening, and how it can be interpreted in the context of your hand. All other hand history converters to this date completely ignore chat. We will give you the option to preserve it.
• Game Support: Limit Hold’em. Support for limit hold’em has been put off for far too long. This is our #1 priority and should be finished by sometime next week for all the major sites. We will make an announcement once this is finalized and ready for public use.
• Game Support: Omaha. Like Limit Hold’em, Omaha support has been buggy and unreliable at best for the past few months. Work is now being done to add support for Limit, PL, NL, and tournament Omaha game. Be prepared to use LegoPoker for all of your Omaha hand history converting needs very soon!
• Game Support: Tournamnets. Just like the two games above, we have been receiving requests to add support for multi table and single table tournaments from sites all over the internet. For both Hold’em AND Omaha. This is also in the works and we plan to have it ready as soon as possible.
• Site Support: More. LegoPoker’s vision is to support every website that our users play on, and for every game that particular site provides. We are working now on adding support for ALL major sites, as well as many more medium-sized to small poker sites.
• More Options, and More Control. When you convert a hand, it shouldn’t look the way WE want it to look, it should look the way YOU want it to look. Soon, members will be able to edit their preferences on colors, font sizes, layouts, and more.

As you can see, we have a lot of ground to cover. It will take some time, but we WILL get this done. But there’s more. We need your help for more ideas. Feel free to post anything that comes to mind in the comments section below, OR you can contact us on the contact page.

Thanks for supporting LegoPoker!

1. Poker Stars did it!
   
2. Comparing Poker Stars / Full Tilt / Ultimate Bet heads up cash games
3. Rake comparisons

Poker Stars Finally Did It

Yesterday, Poker Stars added some new tables to the poker room: Heads Up Texas Hold’em Cash Games.

Surprisingly, Poker Stars did not offer heads up tables at all aside from the heads up tournaments and sit n’ gos.

It appears they offer No-Limit and Limit Holde’m games. There are no heads up tables for other games such as Omaha or Stud. You can find a table by filtering for 1-1 games at the bottom of the lobby.

Stakes: There are heads up tables spread from $0.25/$0.50 NL all the way up to $5/$10 NL, and $0.50/$1 limit up to $10/$20 limit. Full Tilt only offers $0.50/$1 NL and higher. Ultimate Bet spreads heads up cash games as low as $0.25/$0.50 blinds in no-limit but limit is only available to millionaires ($50/$100 limit and higher).

Volume: At the time of writing the Poker Stars volume seems to be pretty good, and approximately equal to Full Tilt’s at around 70-80 tables running. And how many heads up games does Ultimate Bet have? A grand total of 15, and most of them are empty.

The tables look exactly how you would expect - the exact same as the tournament HU tables.

Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, and others have had heads up cash games available for a long time now. It’s interesting that Poker Stars hasn’t followed their lead until now but I do suspect they have their reasons.

Rake Comparisons

The rake at Pokerstars specifies that a maximum of $0.50 will be raked from any heads up hand at a rate of 5 cents per $1 in the pot.

“Heads-Up: rake will be collected on “1-on-1″ tables at a rate of $0.05 rake per $1.00 in the pot, up to a maximum of $0.50 rake per hand.”

Full Tilt Poker’s Rake Page and Ultimate Bet’s Rake Page both report the exact same rake structure for heads up games, so Poker Stars seems to be on par.

One interesting fact about rake structures on these three sites is that on PokerStars and Ultimate Bet, the maximum rake for a 2 player game that is not on a 1-1 table is $1. This means that if you are sitting at a 6max table and it becomes heads up, you still pay the normal cash game rake - so be aware about that (you are literally burning money playing heads up on normal tables (non 1-1)).

Full Tilt on the other hand does not base its rake structure on what table you are sitting at at all. It is all based on the number of players at the table. So playing on a 6 seat table with 2 players takes the same rake as playing on a table with only 2 seats. I think this is the most logical approach and am happy that Full Tilt handles it in such a way.