20 Jun 2025 Intermediate This material is for medium-skilled players downswing EV exploit GTO MDA Contents: Real-world test of Hand2Note 4 on two devices - comparison with Hand2Note 3 1.1. Test results - Hand2Note 4 is many times faster Speed of the new “Reports” tab in Hand2Note 4 2.1. Custom filters in Hand2Note 4 Rebuilding the database without reports or stats It’s no secret that after its release, Hand2Note 3 was lightning-fast compared to its competitors and truly delighted us with its performance. It built hand histories quickly, working with reports felt instant, smooth, and pleasant, and interacting with the tracker during gameplay was pure pleasure. But time flies, and what felt fast a few years ago is no longer so by modern standards. To try to speed up Hand2Note 3, many users — tired of waiting 5–20 hours for a database to build for analysis — kept buying more powerful PC components. However, the increase in tracker speed was barely noticeable (on the order of +5–10–20% at best), despite the colossal expense. So what was the problem? It turned out Hand2Note version 3.0 could not (and still cannot) fully utilize modern high performance 12–24 core processors, and it also couldn’t gobble up more than ~20 GB of RAM. In short, the inability to significantly speed up the software was due to the software itself, not the hardware. The new version, Hand2Note 4, fixes this problem. Now there’s a direct correlation between the tracker’s speed and your PC’s power: the more powerful and productive your machine’s hardware, the faster Hand2Note 4 will run. In this post, I’ll demonstrate that with real tests and examples. Real-world test of Hand2Note 4 on two devices — comparison with Hand2Note 3 Speed is one of the main advantages of Hand2Note 4.1 - and I dare say, it’s fantastic! If you’re still on the fence about upgrading your primary tool to save time — to avoid waiting minutes for a popup to load or for the application to start just to enjoy all of Hand2Note’s features — the time has come. It’s hard to describe just how many times faster the new version truly is - it’s downright amazing. And today we’ll see it in action. Let’s arrange a 2×2 duel between a modern fighter (a top-end laptop for $3,000 from 2024) and an old-school contender (a gaming/work laptop for $1,000 from 2021) using two versions of the tracker: Hand2Note 3 vs. Hand2Note 4. The punching bag for our test will be the following popup configuration, which we’ll load on both laptops in both tracker versions: Database: 6.3 million hands (cash games, 2–9max NL500) Stats: 13,000+ stats tracked Bet sizing options: 63 different bet sizes in an extended popup on stat Board textures: 138 board textures in an extended popup on stat In the red corner of the ring, wielding 24 championship rings (cores), we have the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2024) – CPU Intel i9-14900HX 2.2 GHz (24 cores, up to 5.8 GHz), 64 GB RAM @ 5600 MHz, and an SSD rated at 7,300 MB/s. H2N3 performance on ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2024): Average hand processing speed: ~960 hands/sec Peak hand processing speed: ~1,150 hands/sec Peak CPU utilization: ~72% Average CPU utilization: ~30% Max RAM used: ~37 GB Average RAM used: ~12–20 GB Peak SSD utilization: ~80% Average SSD utilization: ~3% Database size on disk: ~52.5 GB Time to build database: 1h 50m (+ 3m to import hands) H2N4 performance on ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2024): Average hand processing speed: ~10,500 hands/sec Peak hand processing speed: ~11,150 hands/sec Peak CPU utilization: 100% Average CPU utilization: ~90% Max RAM used: ~60 GB Average RAM used: ~59 GB Average SSD utilization: ~8% (spiking to 60% during DB maintenance) Database size on disk: ~55 GB Time to build database: 10m (+ 3m to import hands + 2m for maintenance) Now, in the blue corner, hoping to surprise us and not fall flat on its face, is the ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2021), with an Intel i5-11300H @ 3.1 GHz (4 cores, up to 4.4 GHz), 16 GB RAM @ 3200 MHz, and an SSD at 2,700 MB/s. H2N3 performance on ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2021): Average hand processing speed: ~630 hands/sec Peak hand processing speed: ~900 hands/sec Peak CPU utilization: 100% Average CPU utilization: ~75% Max RAM used: ~16 GB Average RAM used: ~12 GB Peak SSD utilization: ~85% Average SSD utilization: ~15% Database size on disk: ~52 GB Time to build database: 2h 47m (+ 5m to import hands) H2N4 performance on ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2021): Average hand processing speed: ~2,120 hands/sec Peak hand processing speed: ~2,500 hands/sec Peak CPU utilization: 100% Average CPU utilization: 100% Max RAM used: ~16 GB Average RAM used: ~14 GB Peak SSD utilization: 100% Average SSD utilization: ~8% (spiking to 80% during DB maintenance) Database size on disk: ~55 GB Time to build database: 49m (+ 7m to import hands + 8m for maintenance) For consistency, before each test the computer was rebooted, a new database was created and hands were imported. All other programs (except an antivirus) were closed, and no “boosts” or overclocking were used — everything ran in stock conditions. Test results — Hand2Note 4 is many times faster H2N3 Build Time H2N4 Build Time Speed Increase Laptop 2024 1h 53m 15m ~7.5× faster Laptop 2021 2h 52m 1h 4m ~2.7× faster Speed Increase ~1.5× faster ~4.2× faster The unequivocal triumph of Hand2Note 4.1, powered by cutting-edge technology. It is evident that Hand2Note 3.0 exhibited variations in performance when tested on different machines, although not to the same extent as the updated version. Also, keep in mind that Hand2Note 4 is not only faster but also far more resource-hungry. If you play in many poker rooms with a huge database, your old PC will struggle to stay afloat; in fact, judging by user feedback, crashes and freezes are not uncommon on lower-end machines. Important: If you use your computer for other tasks in parallel (especially something like a web browser) while Hand2Note is building the database, the speed can drop catastrophically – particularly on weak or mid-range PCs. If you plan to rebuild your database, try to pick a time when you don’t need to use the computer at all. Yes, each new update improves stability, but nobody can say for sure what minimum PC specs are enough for completely stable performance in all conditions. It would be interesting to see the results from a desktop PC with comparable modern hardware. If anyone has the opportunity, run this experiment and share your results in the comments - I’d love to see them and compare notes! Speed of the new “Reports” tab in Hand2Note 4 In Hand2Note 3, the Reports tab was used by most players just to admire their pretty graphs (or to cry over not-so-pretty ones). In reality, that tab contained a bunch of rows and columns for things like stakes, number of hands, EV winnings, actual winnings, EV bb, real bb, rake, and so on. The question remained: were those stats in that form actually convenient to use? For example, here’s what some of the filter options looked like in Hand2Note 3: So what did these settings actually give us? Honestly, nothing special — basically just a view of those basic stats we listed (stakes, number of hands, EV profit, actual profit, EV bb, real bb, rake) aggregated for the selected filters. Now, let me lift the curtain a bit and show you a small glimpse of what the “Reports” tab in Hand2Note 4 offers: It all looks very interesting and promising. Now let’s directly compare the analysis capabilities of Hand2Note 4 vs Hand2Note 3 with a concrete example. We’ll use one of the most popular spots: BTN as Raiser IP, SRP - CBet on the Flop (in H2N3 we couldn’t even create a filter for “vs BB”) Visual of the Analysis in Hand2Note 3 Visual of the Analysis in Hand2Note 4 In the first moments, it might look like we’re seeing something entirely different, but it’s actually the same scenario with much more detail. In addition to the standard data H2N3 showed, Hand2Note 4 gives you an enormous array of data instantly. What new information can we see in Hand2Note 4.1: Number of hands where the opportunity to play a CBet arose Frequency of this line relative to all hands for that player C-Bet frequency in % Opponent’s actions vs CBet Action Profit in bbs & bb/hand Hero’s action frequencies vs a check-raise from the BB Hero’s action frequencies on subsequent streets Action Profit of the alternative action - Check WWSF / WTSD / W$SD Additionally, Hand2Note 4 lets you create any stat as a filter – essentially defining your own custom scenario to unlock all these data points – which massively increases the power of analysis. It’s like having an extended popup on a stat, only hundreds of times cooler. Custom filters in Hand2Note 4 Hand2Note 4 includes a standard stat editor for creating custom stats. If you know how to use it, it will help you immensely and save you a lot of time, because manually hopping through different tabs and configuring lines would take ages. Impressive, isn’t it? And this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg! Now let’s look at the iceberg itself — how with just one button and two clicks we can unlock 10, no, 100 times more information. Here’s the magic button: Let's take a look at what these options reveal if we click on a few of them. C-Bet size: Preflop hand strength: Flop texture: Flop action: If all that amazed you, hold on — the most impressive part is still ahead. Let's try to click on the most popular filter, the flop bet size: That’s right — you’re not imagining it. Beyond everything shown above, you can keep digging further. You’re not limited to just one level of filtering, you can filter practically endlessly. Now, for those hands where Hero made a 27–40% pot flop bet, let’s see how things went against a raise: As I mentioned earlier, with a single click you can reveal 10× or 100× more data — and for some lines, even 1,000× more — than the standard stats would show. It’s astonishing, I just can’t find any other words. The new “Reports” tab is truly like the first iPhone moment for poker analysis software. You could spend forever exploring how cool it is and debating how much players need this level of detail, but the possibilities genuinely feel limitless. Rebuilding the database without reports or stats In closing, I want to mention a small but very welcome new update. When you import or rebuild your database, you have the option to choose exactly what you want: Save original hand histories Build the “Reports” tab Build “Stats” Build only Hero’s statistics Yes, that’s right: if you only use the reports tab, you can choose not to build the stats. If you only use popups, you can skip building the reports. And if you only want to review your own hands (especially relevant for sites like GG), you can opt to build only yourself. One more feature: Hand2Note now estimates how much disk space the database will take. Yes, sometimes it has an overactive imagination (it greatly overestimates), but at least you get a sense in advance of whether you have enough space or if it’s time to clear out your drive. For players who work with massive databases and mined hand histories, being able to shrink the database size by several-fold is an unbelievable pleasure. It’s a game-changer in terms of convenience and efficiency.
