How to Record a Poker Hand in Plain English
No notation, no shorthand, no syntax to memorize. Describe the hand the way you'd tell it to a friend, and that's the whole process.
Notation Is a Barrier, Not a Requirement
A hand history notation like UTG raises to 3bb, BTN calls, flop Kh7s2d intimidates a lot of casual and live players who never learned that shorthand, and understandably so. That syntax was built for parsing software to read quickly, not for a person to write comfortably. It looks like a skill you're missing, when really it's a format you were never required to learn in the first place. You can record a hand just as well, arguably better, without touching it.
Download on the App Store"9♠8♠ BTN vs CO, flop 9♦8♣7♥"
What 'Plain English' Actually Means Here
Talk about the hand, don't format it
Instead of writing UTG 2.5x, BB call, F: Kh7s2d, B: 1/2 pot, C, you just say or type: I raised under the gun, the big blind called, the flop came king-seven-deuce with two spades, I bet half pot and got called. Same information, ordinary sentence. Nothing is lost by dropping the shorthand, and a lot gets easier for anyone reading it back later, including you.
Pot $610
What to Include So the AI Gets It Right
Four things matter more than exact wording
The wording is flexible, but four things need to be in there somewhere: the positions involved, stack depth if it's relevant to the decision, the cards you know, and the action on each street in the order it happened. Mention those four things in whatever words feel natural, and FlopIt's AI has enough to build an accurate, replayable hand. Leave one out and the AI can usually still work with what's there, but including all four up front means less back-and-forth fixing details afterward.
solver_sally
Snap call, villain never has it here
tiltlord
I'd fold and regret it forever 😅
COMMUNITY VOTE
+87
132 players voted Call
An Example, Start to Finish
From a sentence to a full replay
Try something like: I raised with ace-king from the button, the small blind called, flop came queen-nine-three, I bet and got called, turn was a seven, we both checked, river was a deuce, they bet big and I called. That's it, that's the whole input. FlopIt's AI turns that into a visual hand you can step through street by street, seats filled in, cards on the board, bets sized where you mentioned them. If you'd rather have exact control over every detail, the manual step-by-step builder is still there as an alternative.
"9♠8♠ BTN vs CO, flop 9♦8♣7♥"
You Don't Need to Know the Terms Exactly
Approximate is fine, and you can always fix it after
If you're not sure whether what happened counts as a 3-bet or a c-bet, don't stop to look it up. Describe the action in plain words instead, he raised again after I bet, and let the AI figure out what to call it structurally. You can also review the hand once it's built and correct anything that looks off before you post it, so getting a term wrong while describing it costs you nothing.
Download on the App StorePot $610
Recording a Hand in Plain English, Answered
Do I need to know poker notation to record a hand on FlopIt?
No. That's the entire point. Describe the hand in ordinary sentences, positions, cards, and action, and the AI structures it. Notation like '3-bet' or 'UTG+1' can help, but it was never required.
What if I don't remember the exact bet sizes?
Describe it as closely as you remember, 'about half pot' or 'a big overbet' works fine. You can also adjust any detail manually before you post if something looks off.
Is plain English enough for complicated multiway hands?
Yes. Just describe who did what, in order, street by street. Longer hands need a longer sentence or two, not special formatting.
What's the difference between this and just typing a hand history?
A hand history uses a fixed format built for software to parse. Plain English is just how you'd actually talk about the hand, FlopIt's AI does the translating, not you.
Describe It Your Way
Skip the notation. Write the hand the way you'd say it out loud, and let FlopIt build a replayable version in seconds.