How do Poker Odds Calculators read cards, bets and player actions?
I am considering writing a real time poker odds calculator. I’ve got everything figured out, except for how to read the table action. I don’t believe they’re reading the pixels directly. I suspect they’re intercepting the text in the status box, but I’m not sure…
What mechanism are real time Poker Odds Calculators uisng to read cards, bets and player actions? Can you direct me to samples/examples of source code?
Question asked by: alex_hobby
Answer
Poker odds calculators typically read table information from online poker clients through a process called “screen scraping” or by accessing the hand history files generated by the poker client.
- Screen scraping: This method involves reading pixels or text from the screen to extract the necessary information, such as player actions, bets, and cards. This approach can be more complex and less reliable due to potential changes in the poker client’s interface, which might require constant updating of the scraping algorithm. Some tools use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to identify and extract text from the poker client.
- Hand history files: Many online poker clients generate hand history files, which store information about each hand played. These files are usually saved in a specific folder on the user’s computer. Poker odds calculators can access these files and parse the data to obtain necessary information about the game. This method is more reliable than screen scraping, but it may not provide real-time information, as some poker clients update the hand history files only after a hand is completed.
While we cannot provide specific examples of source code, there are many resources and tutorials available online that can guide you through the process of building a poker odds calculator. Additionally, you can explore open-source projects on platforms like GitHub to see examples of how others have implemented similar tools.
Keep in mind that some poker sites may have restrictions or prohibitions on using third-party software, including odds calculators, while playing on their platform. Be sure to review the terms of service for the poker site you plan to use the calculator on and ensure that your tool complies with their rules.
I am a developer and IMHO all actions are going in and out of your PC (when you run the client). So it’s a simple matter of parsing the XML files that are stored locally on you pc. I had a look a while ago out of interest and they are publicly available.