Guide
Beginner's guide to PurePoker Solver
What is this?
PurePoker Solver shows the mathematically best way to play short-stacked heads-up poker. When you only have a few big blinds left, the choices are simple: go all-in (jam) or fold. The solver works out which hands should do which.
How does it know?
The solver plays the same situation against itself, over and over. After each round, both players adjust their strategy a little toward whatever wins more. In the end, neither player can gain by changing only their own strategy. That balance is called a Nash equilibrium, and it is what the chart shows. All the numbers are calculated by our own solver.
Reading the chart
The grid shows all 169 starting hands.
- Diagonal: pairs (AA, KK … 22).
- Above the diagonal: suited hands, where both cards are the same suit (AKs).
- Below the diagonal: offsuit hands (AKo).
- Jam: for the small blind.
- Call: for the big blind.
- Fold: give up the hand.
- Mixed: take the action some of the time and fold the rest. The left share of the square is how often. Open the hand to see the exact percent.
Tap a hand to see its exact frequency and how many card combinations it has.
The settings
- Stack: how many big blinds you have. The shorter your stack, the more hands you should jam. The charts cover 3–15 bb.
- Spot: SB jam is the small blind deciding whether to go all-in. BB call is the big blind deciding whether to call that all-in.
- Ante: an extra forced bet from both players. More money in the pot usually means wider ranges. Ante other than 0 is not solved, so that chart stays empty.
- Model: chipEV: the chart counts chips only, with no tournament prize money (ICM) and no rake.
Words worth knowing
- bb: big blind, the unit for stacks.
- Equity: how often a hand wins if all the cards are dealt out. AA beats KK about 82% of the time.
- Exploitability: how much a perfect opponent could win against the strategy. Close to 0 means it is solved.
- ICM: a model that turns tournament chips into prize money. Coming soon.
How to use it
- Pick your stack and spot.
- Look up your hand.
- Coral means jam, ice blue means call, slate means fold.
- Practise until you know the chart without looking.
That practice is what PurePoker Trainer is for. PurePoker Trainer
Beta
The solver is in beta. The 10 bb chart passed our own check. An outside published table has not been compared yet. Use the charts as a learning tool for now.