This is what you must be able to do in order to solve many problems regarding the software installation.
Windows users : open the Windows general control panel. Open the "java" section. Clic on the "general" tab. Look at the bottom of this tab, in the "temporary internet files" part. Clic on the "Settings..." button. Check that the first box ( "keep temporary files..." ) is selected. Otherwise, the software will try to re-install itself every time you try to run it. Plus, that might crash the whole install. Close this dialog, and clic now on the "view..." button. The Java Web Start applications control dialog is now displayed.

When the replayer crashes and you get it work, this might be one efficient way to clean up the mess. One important point : this uninstall will only clean up the librairies ( the code ), not your settings, converted files, scanners, etc... . So, to do that, first open the the JWS apps control dialog ( see question '0' above).
Then, select the replayer in the list, and clic on the "red cross" button to uninstall. For reinstall, simply clic on the download link of the website.

At this point I cannot help you. This is just too vague. You need to clic on the "details" button. You should see a general "Error" message, plus a few tabs below, including an "Exception" tab. Then try to look in this FAQ's section whether to problem is not a "classic" one. I you're sure the messages you got don't match any of the ones detailed in this FAQ, then send me an email at popopop.poker@gmail.com . Please don't forget to either copy/paste what you see in the "Exception" tab or a screenshot of it. I can't do anything without it.

This is the most common error. It generally appears right after an update of the replayer. I cannot do much about it, because I rely 100% on the Java Web Start deployment system, and this problem is 100% their fault. Basically, it happens when something goes a bit wrong when a new update is downloaded. The update crashes, and the current desktop shortcut points to a librairy that no longer exists. Java guys say they are working on the pb, but there's no way to know when it will be fixed.

A few advices to avoid the problem :

• Don't hesitate to update your java virtual machine when the java auto-updater notifies you of a new version. With some luck, the new version might contains the fix we're waiting for.
• Never do anything that might bother a progressing update. Don't try to abort it, don't close the app, don't launch 526 Divx downloads at the same time, and keep your hamster from eating your ethernet wire.

• Open the JWS apps control dialog ( see quest. '0' above). Find Universal Replayer in the list (If it's not in the list, you have another problem. See question n°3 ). Right clic on it then "uninstall shortcuts". Then do it again to re-install shortcuts. That should fix the broken link between the shortcut and the updated librairy. If this doesn't work, see next workaround.
• Open the JWS apps control dialog ( see quest. '0' above). Select Universal Replayer, then clic on the "red cross" button. That shoudl uninstall the software properly. Then, go to the download page of this website, and perform a new install. Note that this clean up won't delete any of you "converted files", or preference. Only code librairies will be replaced.

This basically means that the replayer is not installed on your hard drive. The most common reason for this is that your Windows denies Java temporary internet files.

• Follow what's explained in quest 0. ( button "settings..." ), and make sure you accept those files to be copied on your hard drive. For the worried among you I can do nothing more than giving you my word that my replayer is 100% spyware-/maleware-/adware-FREE. v
• Third party application may also cause this problem. CCleaner, for exemple, helps you clean and/or block caching from different sources. You'll need to accept caching coming from "SUN/Java", or the replayer won't install properly ( you'll certainly have to re-install it every time you want to run it ).

It's been almost a year that I udpated my code to a point requiring version 1.6 ( or "6", it's the same ) of the Java virtual machine. At that time, Apple said they were going to supply the required update for their distrib of the JVM. They haven't yet released it. MacOSX users ( even with Leopard ) are stuck with version 1.5 of the JVM. That's why the replayer won't work.
The good news is, things are moving, at last. A "preview" release of Java 1.6 is available. Here is quick how-to a user sent me after he successfully installed the replayer on his MacOS 10.5.X

• Step 1: Go to the ADC (Apple Developer Connection) website and register. The registration is free, and will give you access to development tools for the existing versions of OS X. If you are not a developer, there is no need to worry, just make up a company name and some reasons that you are "developing". Once registered, navigate to the 'downloads' section on the site, and click on "Java" in the right-hand sidebar.
• Step 2: Download Java SE 6. Click on the link for the Java SE 6 developer preview (This will require OS X 10.5)
• Step 3: Install Java SE 6. There's nothing to worry about here, since this will place a parallel installation of Java on your system, and your existing applications that use SE 5 will not be affected.
• Step 4: Install Universal Replayer

Open the JWS apps control dialog ( see quest. '0' above). Find Universal Replayer in the list (If it's not in the list, you have another problem. See quest. 3). Right clic on it then "install shortcuts". done.

That's a good question. Unlike classic Windows application, the replayer's is deployed using Java Web Start. It means that the librairies required to run it are store in the Java Internet Cache. This cache can be found very easily : follow the instructions given in quest. 0, and clic on the "settings" button. Just below the checkbox, you should see the path used for the Java internet cache. If you look a bit closer to this cache, you'll realise it looks like a real mess. For runtime optimization reasons, each java librairy ( ie : a "*.jar" file ) stored in the cache, is sliced in small chuncks, each chunk finding its place into the cache filesystem. I won't go into details here, but the filesystem organization is more or less a hashtable, for those of you familiar with that word. This weird system is the reason why you need to manage shortcuts ( see quest. 5 ) using the JWS control dialog, because the entry point of the program is in one specific chunk of the table. There's no "exe" file.

When you first installed the replayer, you were asked to select a "Main Storage Folder". This the main folder for Popopop files. If you can't remember what folder you chose, open the "scan/scanned folders" menu in the replayer. On top of the dialog, you'll see this folder's location. If you take a closer look at what's in this folder :
In the "IMPORTED" subfolder, you should see the converted files obtained after a manual import of a HH ( using drag & drop for example ).
In the "SCANNED" subfolder, you should see all the files converted using a scanner on a HH folder ( see "quick start" page for more details ).
In the "SKIN" subfolder, you'll find the different skins available in the replayer. Those skins can easily be tunned.

If the replayer was not able to convert a single hand, it's likely that it's not a replayer bug, but some kind of mis-use of it. Here are the classic reasons why you get this message :

• The poker room selected doesn't match your file. The replayer "should" detect automatically the origin of your file, but that a simple thing to check.
• The language problem : Many poker rooms have lately modified their software, allowing users to select the language they want to use. My replayer only understands ENGLISH. Just open you HH file with a text editor : is the history is obviously not written in english, the replayer won't be able to convert it. Just change the language configuraiton of your poker software, and that should work much better.
• The pokerroom is not supported : well, this more or less the same reason stated just above : if you can't find your room or network in the list, don't bother : that won't work.

Send me an email (popopop.poker@gmail.com) . Don't forget to attache the HH files that's causing the problem. And please add a short text where you explain the pb.

You can certainly help me. My primary objective is to justify the first word of the software's name. So I'm definetly willing to add more compatibilities, but I need a little help. I need you to send me a first package containing various Hand History samples. The perfect package would contain :
> 4 to 5 Hold'em cash game HH.
> 4 to 5 Hold'em sit & go HH.
> a couple MTT Hold'em HH. Select the longest ones.
> The same HH package for each other variant supported by the room. Remember the replayer is available for Hold'em, Omaha ( Hi & H/L ), Stud ( Hi & H/L), Razz.

This is very simple ( therefore very inaccurate ) calculation reflecting your average luck considering only the hole cards you were dealt, and the amount of opponent you had when they were dealt.

If we consider a single hand, you luck factor is the difference between :
> The winning percentage you have, preflop, against the X opponent you're facing, with the hole cards you were dealt. This value is extract from a statistics table.
> The theorical winning chance you have to win the hand BEFORE any card is dealt. This one is pretty simple : you have 50% against 1 opp, 33% against 2, 25% against 3, etc...

The luck factor is the average of theses numbers on the overall session. A positive number means your "luck" considering hole cards was above the average luck. The opposite for a negative number.
When the session gets longer, the luck factor will tend to flatten. But basically, if it's > 1 ( or < -1 ) and the session contains something link 50 hands, your "luck" was very good.
Same thing for a 100+ session if you get a luck factor above 0.5 ( or below -0.5 ).

Right now, not really. A tracker generaly involve loads of statistical datas computed from a HH database. Today, my replayer doesn't provide such stats. But you can expect things to change in a few months. I'm definetly willing to provide a statistical panel, and also some way to compute ad-hoc sessions based on requests.

However, you may see the term "tracker" on the current replayer. This is related to scanned folders. When you plug a scan on a folder containing ( and updated with ) HH, automatic conversion is on. You can turn on this automatic conversion into a "live" conversion, meaning you ask the replayer to check the scanned folder at a giving ferquency, as you're playing.
The replayer is therefore able to update the replay of a session as you're playing this session. This what is call "live tracking" in the replayer.

The first step is to send me an email (popopop.poker@gmail.com) with your request. I'll tell you how difficult that will be, and if I intend to it a close/not-so-close future.
Please remember that the replayer is a freeware, that I'm the only person working on it, debugging it, and trying to maintain over 15 different HH formats, that I have obviously a real food-and-roof-providing full time job beside the replayer, that I have a family, a very young child, and, last but not least, that I like playing poker.

So, please, understand that I'll try to do what you ask, but that I cannot tell you when it'll will be available. However, if you'd like to run some kind of business with me, and you're ready to pay for it, that's different. I may accept to shorten my sleep/free/family time if I know I'll be able to offer something to myself/my family in exchange. Hope you understand.