A while ago I posted in here saying I was about to jump over from SnG's to ring games. For one reason or another I never got round to it, but I plan to start now-ish. My sharkscope hud 6 month freebie has come to an end, so it seems now is the perfect time.

So, as I intend to take this seriously and grind my way up from $10, I have been reading the stickies (all very good btw) and I figure I need some software. I want to run a hud with stats on players, be able to analyse my game and my own stats & datamine like there is no tomorrow.

So as a newbie, what would be a good site to start playing on baring in mind the hud & datamining needs, (I have heard pokerstars doesn't allow datamining) and what is a good selection of software to enable the above? Or should I not worry about datamining and just concentrate on playing good poker and building up my own stats?

Also, has anyone ever bought in stats on players in bulk from data mining sites? Is that worth doing to get me some inital stats on players?

Thanks