Learn the basics

A range is the set of hands you play in a given situation. Instead of thinking hand by hand at the table, you prepare in advance: “in the CO, when nobody has opened, I open these hands”.

A specific situation is called a spot: your position, what happened before you, and the stack depth (100 big blinds by default).

The 169 possible starting hands are laid out in a table:

• on the diagonal: pocket pairs (AA top left, 22 bottom right);
• above it: suited hands (“s”, two cards of the same suit, e.g. AKs);
• below it: offsuit hands (“o”, different suits, e.g. AKo).

Each color stands for an action (raise, call or fold): the legend under the grid shows which. Example: the CO opening range (23.7% of hands).

A hand like “AK” covers several precise card combinations, called combos:

• a pair (AA): 6 combos;
• a suited hand (AKs): 4 combos, one per suit;
• an offsuit hand (AKo): 12 combos.

There are 1,326 combos in total. That's why an offsuit hand “weighs” three times more than a suited one in the percentage of hands played shown by the editor.

In the order players act before the flop:

1. UTG (Under the Gun): first to act, the toughest position;
2. HJ (Hijack, sometimes called MP);
3. CO (Cutoff);
4. BTN (Button): the best position, it acts last after the flop;
5. SB (Small blind) and BB (Big blind): they have already put chips in, but will play out of position.

Rule of thumb: the earlier you act, the more players are left behind you, and the tighter your range should be.

Open (or RFI, “Raise First In”)

Nobody has raised before you. You open (raise) or fold.

BB defense

You are in the big blind and a player has opened. Since you have already put in 1bb, you get a good price to call: you can 3-bet, call or fold.

3-bet

A player has opened before you. The “3-bet” is a re-raise of their open. You can also call or fold.

4-bet

You opened and a player 3-bet you. You can raise again (4-bet), call or fold.

And all the others

Squeeze (an open and a call before you), facing a 4-bet, open or limp, iso-raise against a limp, short-stack push/fold, calling an all-in… and a custom spot for any situation: you describe it in one sentence and name the actions yourself. At 6-max, full ring (9 players) or heads-up.

The app uses spaced repetition, like Anki: a hand you know well comes back less and less often (1 day, then 6, then 15…), a missed hand comes back quickly. You spend your time on what you don't know yet.

Cards are created automatically for borderline hands: the ones at the edge of your range (e.g. the last pair played and the first one folded). No need to review AA or 72o: everyone knows them.

After a correct answer, say whether it was Hard, Good or Easy: this adjusts the next interval. A wrong answer is automatically marked “Again”.

The most effective approach: a short session every day, rather than a long one now and then.