What is a Poker Solver?
Simply put, a Poker Solver is a Poker Software that uses an algorithm to calculate the best strategy possible for a particular range vs range play. With almost any Poker Solvers, you can simulate large numbers of outcomes and find the best call to make in each situation for all players involved. This decision is based on a handful of factors such as range vs range equity, nuts advantage and player position. All of this factors make up play your range in a certain way with might not be something intuitive for a human who never used a solver made strategy to see how they would play. Using a solver opens you to a bigger understanding of the game and to some creative plays you might never thinked of.
There are solvers for post-flop and pre-flop scenarios.
Top Poker Solvers for all levels of playing
PioSolver
PioSolver is one of the most popular softwares available, if not the most popular of all poker solvers. It was the first public solver available, back in 2015.
Main features:
- Runs game theory optimal solutions;
- Range vs range analysis;
- Node Locking (making a player make diferent moves than GTO and see what sould you do vs that)
- Visualisation tools for EV(expected value), equity, betting/checking and folding frequencies …
- Range Explorer (allows you too see how many of each hand type a player has in his range, see image bellow)
- Trainer (play against your sims to simulate a in game scenario)
There are different versions to it – the basic version and the pro version. Prices vary depending on what you choose and it can be considered a fairly costly software with a steep learning curve. However, if you learn it well and use it wisely, it comes with tons of pros too! Including its powerful GTO analysis capabilities and range visualization tools.
GTO+
You may have heard about this one! GTO+ is another popular poker solver that offers advanced features such as GTO analysis, hand ranges, and equity calculations. GTO+ sims allow you to save disk space if you want to store them for future study when compared to PIO. It is also a cheaper option.
Main features:
- Runs GTO solutions;
- Range vs Range analyses ;
- Trainer(play vs the sim);
- User-friendly interface;
- Basic version & full version;
Simple Preflop Holdem
A solid preflop game is key to a good poker strategy!
Ranges have always been made on the basis of pro-players intuition and then copied by the rest of the players. With the evolution of technology and the booming interest in Poker, poker solvers came into the scene. However, they required huge computing resources for pre-flop trees. And here’s where Simple PreFlop Holdem can come in handy – almost everyone with access to a fairly good PC can do their own simulations and adjustments.
Main features:
- GTO preflop range for all NLH games;
- Node Locking;
- User-friendly;
- Affordability;
- Low time required for tree processing.
Simple PreFlop Holdem has got to be on my top poker solvers, with my favourite aspect of it being its tree processing efficiency. There’s no more need to wait weeks for pre-flop simulations!
GTO Wizard
GTO Wizard ins´t the same thing as any of this poker solvers we covered so far in this article but it is worth mentioning here. It is not a solver because you can´t run your on sims in it but it comes to this article because it is a website where you can acess pre-solved sims for almost every spot in NLH. You save running time and disc space but win loose customisation. It is a very good way for new players to start looking into sims because here you are left with the ensurance that the sims are not runned with any mistake a new user might make.
Check GTO Wizard our review here!
Final thoughts on Poker Solvers
All professional poker players should at least get hold of a poker solver. They can vastly improve game awareness and you don’t need to rely only on intuition anymore. Even if you’re oldschool and like to do manual analysis of poker situations, there is no way near using a poker solver to learn more and practice your in-game strategy!
Using poker solvers is the best way possible for you to gain a competitive edge and improve your performance – therefore your profits – over time.
