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A hand history is a record of the action in an online poker hand. These records are generated by poker sites, and used internally to track player behavior and provide a verifiable log to resolve player disputes. If the poker site and client permit it, plain text versions of hand histories may be made available to players, which facilitates personal record-keeping and the sharing of interesting or problematic hands. A typical hand history will contain the following information:
- The game type and limit for the table (for example, limit Texas hold 'em $3/$6).
- The names and seating positions of all players at the table.
- The size of player stacks at the beginning of hand.
- Any hole cards known to the requestor.
- Any cards dealt face up on the table.
- The betting actions of each player in each betting round.
While the internal version of the hand history will display all hole cards, the version made available to a player will show only those of the player himself and any hole cards revealed at showdown or voluntarily shown by a player. Some commercial software products make use of hand histories to assemble a record of a player's winnings and losses, and track their playing habits as well as those of their opponents.