Poker Hand XML

[LooselyBased]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm quite busy this week but next week I will put more effort into the schema etc of this. If someone else wants to take the lead and create one that'd be cool too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm working on a new schema. I noticed that the most recent one doesn't match the most recent examples. Would you mind posting your current version?

[pothead]

One thing that would be nice is to have the possibility to include would be to be able to specify the winning hand more accurately.
I don't think there is any hand histories that give you more info then the name of the winning hand, but for a replayer it could be nice to not have to figure out client-side what cards to show as the winning hand.

In Tickner's example winning hands was shown like this:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
&lt;hands&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="Tickner"&gt;Four of a Kind, Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="sbrugby"&gt;Full House, Queens Full of Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="durrr"&gt;Full House, Kings Full of Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;/hands&gt;
</pre><hr />

Maybe one could have an optional attribute in case one writes a parser that can calculate the winning hand including kickers...something like this:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
&lt;hands&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="Tickner" cards="Ah Ac Ad As Kh"&gt;Four of a Kind, Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="sbrugby" cards="Qh Qc Qd Ah Ac"&gt;Full House, Queens Full of Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;hand playerid="durrr" cards="Kh Kc Kd Ah Ac"&gt;Full House, Kings Full of Aces&lt;/hand&gt;
&lt;/hands&gt;
</pre><hr />
It would of course make sense for a web based replayer to do that kind of calculations on the server once and store the info with the XML data rather than calculating it each time on the client.

Also I'm considering to calculate win equity and maybe one could include that in the action element:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
&lt;action type="raise" id="player" amount="800" allin="true" win="49.9" tie="0.7" /&gt;</pre><hr />

Although I can see that it would be quite common data to require for a replayer I don't know if that kind of stuff is too specialized to include in the schema?

[illunious]

Curious if there is a specific reason for not including the raw (unconverted) hand history in the XML? It seems to me like imperative data for a number of reasons.
<ul type="square"> [*] To elegantly fix compatibility-breaking poker site software updates (HH format changes)[*] To re-parse for future PokerHandXML versions[*] It would also allow for storage of any hand regardless of site or game, and once a converter is available, data from those hands could be extracted.[*] It would allow converter coders to cross-check their generated XML against others[*] Users could see HH's if they have concerns about the accuracy of the conversion or want to see additional info not available through the PokerHandXML format.[*] HH's could be easily exported back into their native format from the XML database in the event that a certain poker application someone uses doesn't support PokerHandXML[/list]
Also.. shouldn't &lt;pokerhandxml&gt; and/or &lt;pokerhand&gt; have a version attribute? This might just not of been done yet since it's still in development, but I haven't seen it mentioned.

[illunious]

Also, Game and Network names will need to be standardized, which I might be able to help with. I think this is the only comprehensive list out there as far as internet poker goes. Feel free to use/modify these lists as needed for PokerHandXML.

Games w/Abbreviation

5 Card Draw (5D)
5 Card Draw A-7 (5DA7)
5 Card Stud (5S)
7 Card Stud (7S)
7 Card Stud H/L (7SHL)
Badugi (BA)
Big 2 (BIG2)
Cap No Limit Hold'Em (CAPNLHE)
Cap No Limit Omaha H/L (CAPNLOMHL)
Cap Pot Limit Omaha (CAPPLOM)
Cap Pot Limit Omaha H/L (CAPPLOMHL)
Chinese Poker (CP)
Dealers Choice (DC)
Guts (GUTS)
H.A. (HA)
H.O. (HO)
H.O.R.S.E. (HORSE)
H.O.S.E. (HOSE)
Half-Pot Limit 7 Card Stud (HP7S)
Half-Pot Limit 7 Card Stud H/L (HP7SHL)
Half-Pot Limit Badugi (HPBA)
Half-Pot Limit Omaha (HPOM)
Half-Pot Limit Omaha H/L (HPOMHL)
Half-Pot Limit Soko (HPSK)
Hold 'Em (HE)
No Limit 3 Card Poker (NL3CP)
No Limit 32 Card (NL32D)
No Limit 5 Card Draw (NL5D)
No Limit 5 Stud (NL5S)
No Limit 7 Card Stud H/L (NL7SHL)
No Limit 7 Stud (NL7S)
No Limit Amerikana (NLAMER)
No Limit Hold 'Em (NLHE)
No Limit Omaha (NLOM)
No Limit Omaha H/L (NLOMHL)
No Limit Telesina (NLTELE)
No Limit Triple Draw (NLTRIPD)
Omaha (OM)
Omaha H/L (OMHL)
Pineapple (PI)
Pineapple H/L (PIHL8)
Pot Limit 32 Card (PL32D)
Pot Limit 5 Card Draw (PL5D)
Pot Limit 5 Stud (PL5S)
Pot Limit 7 Stud (PL7S)
Pot Limit 7 Stud H/L (PL7SHL)
Pot Limit Amerikana (PLAMER)
Pot Limit Badugi (PLBA)
Pot Limit H.A. (PLHA)
Pot Limit H.O. (PLHO)
Pot Limit Hold 'Em (PLHE)
Pot Limit Omaha (PLOM)
Pot Limit Omaha H/L (PLOMHL)
Pot Limit Razz (PLRAZZ)
Pot Limit Soko (PLSK)
Pot Limit Telesina (PLTELE)
Pot Limit Triple Draw (PLTRIPD)
Razz (RAZZ)
Royal Hold 'Em (ROYHE)
Spread Limit Hold 'Em (SLHE)
Triple Draw (TRIPD)


Networks (inactive included) I am aware of:
24hPoker
AbsolutePoker
ActionPoker
BetfairPoker
Bodog
BugsysClub
CakeNetwork
Cryptologic
DigitalGaming
DQENetwork
DynamicGaming
Everest
FullHouseEntertainment
FullTilt
IPNPoker
iPoker
Ladbrokes
livepoker.com
MansionPoker
MergeGaming
Microgaming
OnGame
PacificPoker
ParadisePoker
PartyPoker
pharaohspokerpalace
PitbullPoker
PKR
pok3d
PokerNexus
PokerStars
Poker4Ever
SimbaPoker
SkillNetwork
SkyPoker
SvenskaSpel
Tain
Tribeca
Tridx
TropicalPoker
TruePoker
UltimateBet
WPEX
WPTOnline

[pothead]

I think it's imperative that all the info available in the hand histories is included in the XML.

If that's the case I don't think there is many compelling reasons for bloating the files with the original HH.

<ul type="square"> [*]I'm not sure how including the original HH would help with compatibility breaking updates....if the parses don't manage to extract the data, in what way would it help an application that should use the data if the HH is included?
I guess the developer of the app could try to be quicker to write a functioning parser than the developer that writes the parser, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having an XML standard in the first place.
[*]If all the data originally available in the HH is there it would be easier to re-parse the XML
[*]If you want to store a hand that currently no parser supports, why not store it it's original format?
No application that expects PokerHandXML as input will be able to do anything with the data anyway, just as it will not be readable by an application expecting the raw HH.
[*]To compare output of converters or to check their accuracy just try them out with the history files.
[*]Parsing the XML into a regular HH format is not difficult if people would find a need for that.[/list]
As for the version information I think it's a good idea to include a DOCTYPE linking to a schema when one is finalized.