PokerToast · study tools for mixed-game poker
Limit Hold'em strategy and study tools
Limit Texas Hold'em: two cards each, five shared cards, fixed bet sizes (a small bet before the flop and on the flop, a big bet on the turn and river).
PokerToast is a study tool for mixed-game players: you practice decisions and see what a trained solver does. There is no real-money play.
Hold'em starting hands: what the solver does
The heads-up solver's most frequent play in 5 common spots. "How often" is a mix: the solver plays some hands more than one way. "Not settled" means another play measured better, so treat that answer as uncertain. Each row opens the full answer: the solver's numbers, how they were made, and the common advice where we found one.
Numbers from PokerToast's own trained solver (version H-9047710-20261007012447): trained by self-play, not a solved game; heads-up limit only; similar hands are grouped, so a number is for the group, not your exact cards. All of these spots in one table, with what each play is worth.
What PokerToast's solver knows about Hold'em
PokerToast trained its own Hold'em solvers for limit betting (at most four bets per street) by self-play (Monte Carlo counterfactual regret minimization). A solver learns how often to fold, check, call, bet or raise in each situation, and then each play's value is measured by playing the situation out many times.
- Heads-up (2 players): Trained and in use (63,797 situations learned, 9,047,710 training iterations). Before the flop it knows all 169 starting-hand types and your position (button or big blind). After the flop it groups your hand by how it uses the board (for example an overpair, top pair and its kicker, or a draw), the board's texture (paired, two or three of a suit, connected), the pot and the betting so far on this street.
- 3-handed: Trained and in use (158,796 situations learned, 10,703,200 training iterations). Uses the same hand grouping, plus your seat before the flop (button, small blind, big blind or other), how many opponents are left, how many act after you, and whether you made the last bet on the street before.
Limits, honestly: the solvers group similar hands together, so their numbers are for the group, not your exact cards; they play limit only; there is no solver for 4 or more players yet; and every "worth" number assumes an opponent who plays like the solver, not like the players at your table.
Real example spots
These are recent Daily Spots for Hold'em: hands dealt by the Bot Lab engine, with the decision picked and graded by the trained heads-up solver. The answers are hidden until you open them.
Example 1: Hold'em, turn
Daily Spot #14 (2026-10-18)
Hold'em, heads-up, limit 20/40. Turn. You: (8s) (9d) (big blind). Board: 6d 4c 9c 2h. Before the flop: opponent raises, you call. Flop: you bet, opponent raises, you raise, opponent raises, you call. Turn: you bet, opponent raises. Pot 360. Your move: Fold / Call / Raise.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Call | 98% | +5.7 |
| Fold | 1% | +0 |
| Raise | <1% | -9.2 |
The solver calls 98%, folds 1% of the time.
In plain words: you have a pair of nines.
Why call: calling is worth about 14.9 chips more than raising, so putting more chips in does not pay here; folding would give up the 5.7 chips that calling wins on average, so the 360-chip pot is worth fighting for.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 1,349 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
Example 2: Hold'em, turn
Daily Spot #13 (2026-10-17)
Hold'em, heads-up, limit 20/40. Turn. You: (8c) (9d) (big blind). Board: Kh 4s Ah 5d. Before the flop: opponent raises, you call. Flop: you check, opponent bets, you call. Turn: you check, opponent bets. Pot 160. Your move: Fold / Call / Raise.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Fold | 100% | +0 |
| Call | 0% | -6.5 |
| Raise | 0% | -13.3 |
The solver folds 100% of the time.
In plain words: you have no pair (ace high).
Why fold: even the best way to continue (calling) loses about 6.5 chips on average from here, so the 160 chips already in the pot do not pay for going on with this hand.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 11,223 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
Example 3: Hold'em, turn
Daily Spot #12 (2026-10-16)
Hold'em, heads-up, limit 20/40. Turn. You: (2h) (4h) (button). Board: 8s Js 2d Jc. Before the flop: you raise, opponent calls. Flop: opponent bets, you call. Turn: opponent bets. Pot 160. Your move: Fold / Call / Raise.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Call | 100% | +37 |
| Raise | <1% | +29.4 |
| Fold | 0% | +0 |
The solver calls 100% of the time.
In plain words: you have two pair, jacks and deuces.
Why call: calling is worth about 7.6 chips more than raising, so putting more chips in does not pay here; folding would give up the 37 chips that calling wins on average, so the 160-chip pot is worth fighting for.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 1,191 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
The Bot Lab for Hold'em
- Play Hold'em against bots at a table of 2 to 6 players (log in first): every Bot Lab game is on the Study plan.
- Heads-up at the default limit stakes, the bot plays the trained solver strategy.
- 3-handed at the default limit stakes, the bots play the 3-handed solver strategy. Bigger tables use simple rule bots.
- No-limit Hold'em tables are offered too; there the bots are rule bots, since the solvers are limit only.
- Bot personalities: shark, fish, rock and maniac (or a secret mix), to practice against different styles.
- Hints (Pro plan): while you play, how often the solver takes each action and what each is worth, where a solver exists for your table size (free accounts: 1 a day).
- My hands (Pro plan): your decisions compared with the solver (every spot it has learned), a skill score (chips lost per 100 hands compared with the solver) and your playing style.
- Table read: each opponent's likely style, the plays that gave it away, and how to adjust.
The Calculator for Hold'em
- The Research Calculator (PC site): lists every hand an opponent could hold in Hold'em, lets you narrow them down into a range, and works out your equity against it, street by street.
- Its Solver tab: for a heads-up limit spot you set up, how often the solver takes each action and what each is worth (free accounts: 3 lookups a day; the Study plan has no limit).
- The free Hold'em equity calculator: your cards against your opponents' up cards or the board, worked out on the server, no sign-up.
- The free equity calculator: your cards against your opponents' cards, no sign-up: open it for Hold'em.
Try it
Today's Hold'em Daily Spot Free equity calculator Open PokerToast
Bot Lab: open PokerToast, log in, choose Play Bots, then pick Hold'em and the number of players.
Other games: Razz · Stud · Stud 8 · Omaha 8
Solver answers to common Hold'em questions: the Hold'em Reference.