General database query

[a.k.a.Also]

I play a few microstakes MTT's on Stars, and up til now haven't bothered getting the tournament summary emailed and importing the details.

Having now done so, I realise that I'm adding thousands of player names into my database that I have zero hands on, and likely never will.

My question is, does this add to the bloat in the database to any great extent?

I think I read elsewhere that it is not possible to purge PlayerNames?

Even if this does not significantly add to the database size, it still means that player lists are uneccessarily long.

[morny]

Yeah you cant purge this but it should have very little affect on performance or the database.

Its probably something we could look at though where you could only import players where there is 1+ hands, id imagine it would need some restructuring of the database and it could possibly slow down the import process as it would potentially have to run a query for each player to see if they have >0 hands before adding them.

[a.k.a.Also]

Or perhaps just the ability to remove players with less than say 10 hands?

Just ran some numbers on my fairly small db.

Players with 10 hands or more 9860
Players with <10 hands 3619

This from running the report twice with no min hands set and min 10 obv.
Interestingly the min hands shown against any player returned is 1 not 0.

My total players figure is 109787.
I therefore have close to 100,000 player names with no useful info!

[_Loki_]

I did some maths:
96,308 (0 hands) + 3,619 (1-9 hands) + 9,860 (>9 hands) = 109,787
You are saying you get 96,308 player names who haven't played a hand against you ?
So when you run a report with you as the 'player' those 96,308 hands are not counted ?

I've not bothered with keeping a DB of my 4 or 5 large MTT's so I didn't realise this is what happened. Does this mean when you play a large MTT everyone in the MTT goes into the DB ? I supposed it was only the players at the tables you played at. I'm clearly misunderstanding something here :)

[a.k.a.Also]

I did some maths:
96,308 (0 hands) + 3,619 (1-9 hands) + 9,860 (>9 hands) = 109,787
You are saying you get 96,308 player names who haven't played a hand against you ?
So when you run a report with you as the 'player' those 96,308 hands are not counted ?

I've not bothered with keeping a DB of my 4 or 5 large MTT's so I didn't realise this is what happened. Does this mean when you play a large MTT everyone in the MTT goes into the DB ? I supposed it was only the players at the tables you played at. I'm clearly misunderstanding something here :)

You did some maths, I did some research, shame on me for being lazy eh?

I created a new UTF db and imported the stars hh file from an MTT.
I lasted 47 hands, go me!, and saw 12 players.
I then checked and noted the DB size.

I then imported the Stars tournament summary as a text file.
This file contains the names of all 4240 runners, and player numbers in the side bar shows (4240).
I can still only see the original 12 players in my player report.
The only time you can see these extra players is if you go to change player, player search window and these names show with 0 hands listed.

The db size increased by 0.631Mb in this example.
So to answer my original question, having all these zero hand player names doesn't appear to bloat the db by a great deal.

My next project, when I really don't have anything better to do, would be to perhaps compare the time it takes to run some player average type reports.
I'm thinking that might not be anytime soon, so don't watch this space ;)

[_Loki_]

a) what was the db size of the 47 (crash & burn) hands BEFORE you imported the summary ?
b) what was the size after ?

you are saying which of these...
b) minus a) = 0.631MB or
b) = 0.631MB]

[a.k.a.Also]

a) what was the db size of the 47 (crash & burn) hands BEFORE you imported the summary ?
b) what was the size after ?

you are saying which of these...
b) minus a) = 0.631MB or
b) = 0.631MB]

Pfff - so many questions!
The DB was bigger after I imported the tourney summary.
I just selected the whole data folder so I had
1,571,700,736 with the empty new db created
1,572,773,888 just hand history imported
1,573,404,672 with tourney history imported.

So as not to spoil your obvious enjoyment with cruching numbers I'll leave the maths up to you ;)

[_Loki_]

Hi a.k.a.Also

The EMPTY DB is taking up more space than the data at the moment, but this WILL change as you play more MTT's & of course the longer you stay in a tourney the worst the situation will get... The main thing to do of course is to try & be the first one to bust out at your first table. The fact that you have hands on 12 players in a 4k-player tourney indicates to me that you probably have quite a few newbie leaks in your tourney game. You need to get this 12 figure down to the ideal of number of 8 or 9. You are collecting information on 50% too many players at the moment. There are no books on how to achieve this & sngw is no help on this aspect of play.

Some suggestions on sharpening up

1] Try harder to bust out of the tourney earlier. The best way to do this at PokerStars is to pick a random player at your table & tell him via the chatbox that your IM is broken & so this time when he wants you to dump your chips can he just type 'NOW!!' into the box. With luck you might get disqualified BEFORE even one hand is played.

2] Suited connectors & pairs. There is a severe risk of taking down a pot with these. You are probably better folding these & waiting for 27o & the like. The problem with folding your hands though is you will not be the first to bust out if you are too cautious. You've got to find the right balance between limping & folding.

3] Before you play any more MTT's I suggest you make a spreadsheet of common words in all the mayor languages. I have over 192 languages in mine & 5,000 terms of abuse with a special section devoted to national stereotypes - you know the sort of thing...
The number of reverse gears in Italian tanks. The innate French tendancy to surrender. The unnatural relationship the Welsh & Argentinians have with their sheep.

4] You will notice that HM forum has a free 'google translate' add-one in the front page for exactly this purpose. Just load any words you are unsure about into a forum post & it's plain sailing from there. During a tourney you merely have to mouse-over your fellow players until you find a likely country for abuse

5] Despite all this preparation you often find that the simple bits of chat are the best for developing an interesting relationship with your fellow players & the PS chat moderators. Try typing 'nh lol' every chance you can for example. Also try to spell at least one word wrong in every chat - eg 'ty i thort i gonna loose that one lol' & 'ty !! I just lucy my 39o came thru on the river. lol. i new it wud tho cos my dorters are age 3 & 9. lol'

6] If despite all these measure you find that your DB is getting too large you can compress it. I recommend putting some bricks on top of the PC. Place a kitchen towel under the bricks so that you don't scratch the casing. One brick per 100MB of data should do nicely & increase this proportion by around 1.76 if it's a UTF8 DB because of the increased support for characters

I hope this helps & GL at the tables

[a.k.a.Also]

Haha, you Sir have waaaaay too much time on your hands ;)

I've been looking for a coach, as I struggle sometimes to zero my bankroll after each session, sometimes I resort to moving up a level or two if time is getting tight. I'll try your ideas and let you know if I need any more help.

And do you have a compression solution for a laptop, the brick gets in the way of the keyboard, and I think the data expands when I lift it off to type, and then when i replace it kljgab;jn;abgfyirgyi;BVHFI;ABOUEGHOUG
:p

[_Loki_]

And do you have a compression solution for a laptop, the brick gets in the way of the keyboard, and I think the data expands when I lift it off to type, and then when i replace it kljgab;jn;abgfyirgyi;BVHFI;ABOUEGHOUG
:p

The amateur solution here is to plug in a usb keyboard & load the bricks directly onto the open laptop keyboard, but remember to use GLASS bricks or you can't see your screen. It took me some time to grasp this point, but it does avoid having to set up a system of mirrors

A more professional approach is the USBloki (UniversalSerialBloki) which I will be launching shortly at a window near you