PokerStars hand history folder: find and save your hands

Switch saving on

Saving is not on by default. In the desktop client (menu names as in the PokerStars help “Hand histories” (retrieved 2026-10-24)):

1. Lobby → Settings → Playing History → Hand History.
2. Pick Save My Hand History.
3. Choose English as the language. Poker Studio reads English hand histories; many other tools read only these.
4. For tournaments, do the same under Tournament Summaries. The summary holds buy-in, finishing place and prize, which the hand histories do not contain.
5. Hit Apply Changes.

Hands played before you switched saving on are not saved afterwards.

Where are the files?

Windows

C:\Users\<Windows name>\AppData\Local\PokerStars\HandHistory\<PokerStars name>\

AppData is hidden. Paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\PokerStars\HandHistory into the Explorer address bar.

Depending on your installation the folder can be elsewhere: the PokerStars help names C:\Program Files\PokerStars\HandHistory\ as the default. To see which folder applies to you, open Settings → Playing History → Hand History in PokerStars and look under "Where To Save"; you can change it there too.

macOS

~/Library/Application Support/PokerStars/HandHistory/<PokerStars name>/

In Finder: Go → Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G) and paste the path.

Tournament summaries sit next to it in TournSummary.

Regional clients may use another folder name, such as PokerStarsEU or PokerStars.UK; the HandHistory and TournSummary subfolders are the same. The client shows the real path under Settings → Playing History → Hand History.

File names

One file per table and day, for example:

HH20260324 T3986212296 No Limit Hold'em $0.46 + $0.04.txt

HH = hand history, then date, tournament ID (T…), game and buy-in. Cash tables carry the table name and blinds instead of the tournament ID. Tournament summaries start with TS.

Request missing hands

The mobile app does not save hand histories as files. Hands you played on mobile or before switching saving on can be requested from PokerStars; they arrive by email as text:

• Desktop: Tools → History and Stats → Get Hand History.
• Mobile app: account icon → History → Hand History.

You can request your last 100 hands, hands from a period, all hands of a tournament or a single hand. Play money and freeroll hands are not archived. Source: PokerStars help “Hand histories” (retrieved 2026-10-24).

Load your hands into Poker Studio

Drag the .txt files, or the whole folder, into the Poker Studio import. Hand histories and tournament summaries are recognised and duplicates skipped. Your hands then appear in the hand list, grouped by session, with replayer and stats.

In short

• Switch saving on, in English, for hands and tournament summaries.
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\PokerStars\HandHistory; macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/PokerStars/HandHistory.
• Request missing hands by email: Tools → History and Stats → Get Hand History.