How to Import Live Hands into Hand2Note (Step-by-Step)
If you already have your live hands exported in PokerStars text format, importing them into Hand2Note is quick: open the import menu, select the file, and within seconds the hands are available in your database for review.
This guide walks through the full import workflow, from locating your exported file to confirming that the hands appear correctly in Hand2Note. If you are working through the broader workflow of getting live hands into analysis software, this is the Hand2Note-specific piece of that puzzle.
What You Need Before You Start
Before importing, make sure you have these pieces in place:
Hand2Note installed and running. Install Hand2Note on the computer where you plan to import and review your hands, then sign in before starting. If you need current plan or pricing details, check hand2note.com.
Your hand history file. You need a PokerStars-format .txt file containing the hands you want to analyze. If you are using LiveHands, the export generates this file directly — one tap produces a .txt file ready for import. If you captured hands through another method, see the format requirements in our export and import guide to make sure your file is in the correct structure.
File accessible on your computer. Your exported .txt file needs to be on the same machine where Hand2Note is installed — transferred from your phone via email, cloud storage, AirDrop, or direct file transfer.
Step-by-Step: Importing Your Hands
The import process in Hand2Note is quick and direct. Here is the full workflow:
Step 1: Open the Import Dialog
In the version of Hand2Note shown in this guide, navigate to Database → Import From Files in the top menu. This opens a standard file browser where you can locate your hand history files.
Step 2: Select Your Hand History File
Browse to the folder where you saved your exported .txt file, select it, and confirm the import. If the file is in standard PokerStars hand-history format, Hand2Note should recognize it without any extra conversion.
If you have multiple export files, you can select and import them together in one pass.
Step 3: Wait for the Build to Complete
Hand2Note parses the file and builds the hands into its database. You will see a notification in the bottom-right corner of the application when the process finishes — something like "14 hands has been built," depending on how many hands your file contains.
For a typical live session export, the import usually finishes in a few seconds. Larger files may take slightly longer, but the process is fast.
Step 4: Browse Your Imported Hands
Once the import finishes, you can review the hands from Hand2Note's main interface. In the version shown here, the Hands tab displays imported hands with details such as:
- Hand tags — Hand2Note can automatically classify hands with categories such as top pair, overpair, draw, and similar spot descriptors
- Preflop action — your preflop decisions and sequences
- Board cards and street-by-street action — flop, turn, and river with the action at each street
- Result — what you won or lost on each hand
In this version, you can also view your imported data through the Tournament Results tab (for aggregate tournament stats), the Positions Full Ring tab (for positional breakdowns), and other analytical views.
That is the full import process. In most cases, it takes well under a minute.
What You Can Do After Import
Once the hands are imported, you can review them the same way you would review online hand histories. Good places to start include:
Review individual hands. Use the hand replayer to step through specific hands, reviewing the action street by street. This is where your tagged hands — the ones you flagged during play because you were unsure about a decision — get the attention they deserve.
Check positional stats. Hand2Note provides common poker statistics such as VPIP, PFR, 3-bet frequency, and related report metrics. As your imported hand database grows across multiple sessions, these numbers start revealing patterns in your live game.
Track opponent tendencies. If you play regularly in the same rooms or against overlapping player pools, importing hands from multiple sessions can help you spot recurring tendencies over time — especially once your sample starts to build.
Compare with your online data. If you also play online and already have an online hand database in Hand2Note, importing your live hands into the same environment lets you see how your live and online play compare side by side.
For a deeper look at how to use Hand2Note's analysis features to study your live hands, see our Hand2Note analysis workflow guide.
Troubleshooting
The import process is straightforward, but a few things can go wrong:
"No hands imported" or file not recognized. Confirm that your file is a plain text .txt file in PokerStars format. Hand2Note expects the standard PokerStars hand history structure — header lines starting with "PokerStars Hand #," seat assignments, and street-by-street action records. If your file uses a different format, it will not parse.
Hands import but data looks wrong. Check the button position in your hand history. All positional labels in Hand2Note depend on the dealer seat being correctly specified. If positions appear shifted, the button assignment in the source file is likely off by one seat.
Unexpected behavior after re-importing. If an import behaves unexpectedly, check whether the file has already been imported and review Hand2Note's import status messages before re-importing. Importing the same file twice may produce warnings or unexpected results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I import the same file into Hand2Note and PokerTracker 4 or Holdem Manager 3?
Yes. The same PokerStars-format .txt file works across all three platforms. Each tool offers a different analytical lens, so using more than one can give you complementary insights. PT4 and HM3 excel at aggregate statistical analysis, while Hand2Note leans more heavily into range-based reports and player-pool analysis.
How many hands do I need before Hand2Note's analysis is useful?
Even a small number of hands is useful for hand-by-hand review. For stats-based analysis, reliability improves as your sample grows. Broad patterns may begin to show up once you have a meaningful base of hands, but the smaller the sample, the more cautious you should be about drawing conclusions.
Does Hand2Note work on Mac?
Yes — Hand2Note currently offers Mac downloads alongside Windows. If you run into any platform-specific issues, check hand2note.com for the latest system requirements. PokerTracker 4 is also a cross-platform option that runs on both Windows and Mac and accepts the same import files. See our PokerTracker 4 import guide for the PT4-specific workflow.
If you want a faster way to get live poker hands into Hand2Note, LiveHands captures the action at the table and exports PokerStars-format files that are ready to import into Hand2Note and other major analysis tools. Try it free for 7 days.