Hand Advisor Guide

#What is the Hand Advisor?

The Hand Advisor is a browser-based poker assistant for live play. It sits beside you at the table (on your phone or laptop) and gives you solver-backed recommendations for every decision in a heads-up postflop No-Limit Hold'em hand.

You walk through each hand as it happens in real life — deal cards, record actions, and the advisor instantly tells you the optimal play with win percentages, expected value, and full strategy breakdowns.

Instant analysis

Heuristic solver runs in under 150ms, giving you a recommendation before the action is on you.

Deep analysis

CFR+ solver (click to run) computes near-equilibrium strategy in 0.5–2 seconds.

Range awareness

See opponent range estimates, board textures, and how your hand ranks in real time.

Works offline

All computation happens in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.

#Setting Up a Session

When you first open the advisor, you see the New Session setup screen. Configure it to match your real table.

Format: Cash / MTT / SNG

Choose your game type. This affects blind structures, timer behavior, and how profit/loss is tracked.

CASH

Standard cash game. Blinds stay fixed. Profit/loss tracked in BB or chips.

MTT

Multi-table tournament. Blinds increase on a timer. Tracks players remaining.

SNG

Sit & Go. Same as MTT but for single-table tournaments.

Table Size

Select how many seats at your table: 2-max (heads-up), 6-max, 8-max, 9-max, or 10-max. This determines how many player positions are shown on the felt and which position labels are used (UTG, MP, CO, BTN, SB, BB, etc.).

Blinds, Ante & Straddle

Set the small blind and big blind amounts. Use the quick-select presets (1/2, 2/5, 5/10, 10/25) or type custom values.

Ante

A forced bet from every player each hand. Enter 0 for no ante. Common in tournaments.

Straddle

An optional blind bet. Choose None, UTG (under-the-gun straddle), Button, or Mississippi (the straddle rotates).

Starting Stacks

Enter your starting stack in big blinds (for cash) or chips (for tournaments). The conversion is shown below the input (e.g., "200 BB = 400 chips"). All players start with the same stack.

Tournament Timer

In MTT and SNG modes, a circular timer appears in the header showing time remaining in the current blind level. When the timer reaches zero, blinds automatically increase to the next level.

Click the timer

Pause or resume the countdown.

Scroll on timer

Adjust the remaining time by ±30 seconds.

Level structure

Open the blind editor to see all levels, jump between them, and change the duration.

Playing Your First Hand

After clicking Start Playing, you see the poker table. Here's the flow:

1. Press Space or click Deal to start a hand. Blinds are posted automatically.
2. The first player to act gets an action menu — choose fold, call, raise, etc.
3. When it reaches your seat (hero), the card picker opens — tap your two hole cards.
4. The solver instantly runs and shows a recommendation in the sidebar and action menu.
5. Continue recording actions for all players through each street (flop, turn, river).
6. At showdown, pick the winner. Your session stats update.
7. Press Space again for the next hand.

#Table Layout

The main area shows a realistic poker table with seats arranged around the felt. The table fills the left portion of the screen on desktop, with the analysis sidebar on the right. On mobile, the table takes the full screen with a pull-up sheet at the bottom.

Seats & Positions

Each seat around the table shows:

• Position label — UTG, MP, CO, BTN, SB, BB (color-coded: your seat is amber/gold)
• Stack size — displayed below the position in BB or chips
• Dealer button — a small "D" marker on the BTN seat
• ACT indicator — a glowing "ACT" badge appears above the player whose turn it is
• Status — folded players are grayed out, all-in players show a special indicator

Click any seatto open its action menu (if it's that player's turn) or the card picker (if hero needs cards). Right-click a seat to open the context menu for stack editing, hero assignment, and more.

Pot & Bet Chips

The pot is displayed at the top-center of the table as a chip stack with the amount in BB (or chips). Individual player bets for the current street appear as smaller chip stacks in front of each seat.

Chips are color-coded by denomination: white (small), red, blue, green, and black (large) — just like real casino chips.

Board Cards

Community cards appear in the center of the table as the hand progresses:

Flop

Three cards dealt after the first betting round.

Turn

One card dealt after the flop betting round.

River

One card dealt after the turn betting round.

When a new street begins, the card picker opens automatically for you to input the board cards you see at your real table.

Hero Hole Cards

Your two private cards appear at the bottom center of the table, displayed face-up. These are selected via the card picker when action first reaches your seat. Once entered, the solver can analyze your hand and provide recommendations.

#Action Menu

The action menu appears whenever a player needs to act. On desktop it's a floating panel (draggable by its header); on mobile it slides up from the bottom.

The menu shows the player's position and name at the top, then lists every legal action:

Fold

Surrender your hand. Keyboard: F

Check

Pass when no bet is facing you. Keyboard: X

Call

Match the current bet. Shows the amount. Keyboard: C

Raise / Bet

Increase the bet. Multiple size presets shown (½ pot, ¾ pot, pot, custom). Keyboard: R

All-in

Push your entire stack. Keyboard: A

When it's hero's turn and the solver has a recommendation, the suggested action appears as a highlighted banner at the top of the menu — showing the action, win percentage, and expected value. You can click it to execute that action directly.

#Card Picker

A modal that opens when you need to select cards — either your hole cards or board cards (flop, turn, river). It shows a full deck organized by suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) with 13 cards per row.

Title

Shows what you're picking: "Hole Cards", "The Flop", "The Turn", or "The River".

Slots

Numbered preview slots at the top show your selections (1, 2 for hole cards; 1, 2, 3 for flop).

Dead cards

Cards already in play (other players' known cards, board cards) are faded and unselectable.

Fold button

When picking hole cards, you can click Fold to fold without selecting.

Cancel

Close the picker without selecting.

#Seat Context Menu

Right-click (or long-press on mobile) any seat to open a context menu with advanced options:

Use this seat

Make this seat your hero position.

Edit stack

Type a new stack size, or use quick buttons (50bb, 100bb, 200bb, 500bb).

Sit out

Mark a player as sitting out (they won't be dealt in).

Seat player

Add a player to an empty seat.

Eliminate

Remove a player (tournament mode — they busted).

Set as dealer

Move the dealer button to this seat.

#Bottom Bar & Street Progress

The bottom bar spans the full width and contains three elements:

Deal / New Hand

Start a new hand or deal the next one. Keyboard: Space, N, or D.

Street indicators

Four connected dots showing PRE → FLOP → TURN → RVR. The current street is highlighted.

Undo

Revert the last action. Keyboard: U or Ctrl+Z. Disabled when no actions to undo.

A status message in the center tells you what's happening: "Tap to deal", "Pick 3 cards", "[Position] to act", etc.

There is also a Skip to Hero button in the bottom-left corner of the table. Press it (or hit Space) to automatically fold all players before your seat, jumping straight to your turn.

#Keyboard Shortcuts

Click the ? icon in the top-left corner of the table to see all shortcuts. Here's the complete list:

#Header Bar

The header bar runs across the top of the live page and contains session info and quick controls.

LIVE badge

Confirms you're in live advisor mode.

Blinds display

Shows current blinds (e.g., "1/2"). Click to open the blind editor.

Current action

Shows whose turn it is with a colored dot (amber = hero, white = opponent) and the amount to call.

Hand counter

Shows "Hand #X" — the current hand number in this session.

Profit/Loss

Running P/L for the session in BB (green if positive, red if negative). In tournaments, shows players remaining.

BB / Chips toggle

Switch between displaying all values in big blinds or chip amounts.

Setup button

Reopen the session configuration.

Bookmark star

Bookmark the current hand for later review.

History link

Jump to the hand history page.

Blinds & Level Editor

Click the blinds display (e.g., "Blinds 1/2") to open the editor panel. Here you can:

• Manually change SB, BB, and ante amounts
• In tournament mode: set level duration (3, 6, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes)
• Navigate between levels (prev/next) or jump to any level
• Reset the timer

BB / Chips Toggle

Click BB / Chipsin the header to switch how all monetary values are displayed. In BB mode, everything is relative to the big blind (e.g., "2.5bb"). In Chips mode, raw chip amounts are shown (e.g., "500").

BB mode is recommended for cash games (easier to compare across stakes). Chips mode is more natural for tournaments.

Hand Counter & P/L

The hand counter increments with each new hand dealt. Profit/loss is calculated from your starting stack and updated after every completed hand. In tournament mode, instead of P/L you see the number of players still in the game.

#Recommendation Panel

When it's your turn and you've entered your hole cards, the solver runs automatically and displays its recommendation in the sidebar (and in the action menu).

The recommendation includes:

Win % ring

A circular progress indicator color-coded by strength. Green = strong, amber = marginal, red = weak.

Action

The recommended play: FOLD, CHECK, CALL, BET, RAISE, or ALL-IN.

Amount

For bets/raises, the recommended sizing (e.g., "Raise 3.0bb").

EV

The estimated expected value of the recommended action in BB.

Verdict

A human-readable assessment: Profitable, Slight edge, Borderline, or Losing.

Tier badge

Shows the solver tier: QUICK (heuristic), ESTIMATED (WASM CFR), or DEEP EST. (deep CFR+).

Pot odds

When facing a bet, shows the pot odds you're getting.

Solver Tiers Explained

The advisor has three levels of analysis, each trading speed for accuracy:

All results are labeled "estimated EV" — the solver is approximate, not exact. Higher tiers converge closer to true game-theoretic equilibrium but take longer.

Deep Solve

When you're postflop and want higher-quality analysis, click the Deep Solve button in the sidebar. This triggers the CFR+ algorithm which runs more iterations to get closer to Nash equilibrium.

The deep solve result replaces the current recommendation and updates the strategy bar with mixed frequencies. It's most useful for marginal decisions where the quick heuristic might not be accurate enough.

#Strategy Distribution

When the solver returns a result with multiple viable actions, the Strategy Bar shows a horizontal stacked bar representing the mixed strategy.

Gray segment

Fold frequency

Green segment

Check or call frequency

Orange segment

Bet or raise frequency

Red segment

All-in frequency

Percentage labels appear on segments large enough to fit them (≥8%). Below the bar, EV values are shown for each action with ≥5% frequency. A source note indicates whether this is a "CFR+ strategy" or "Heuristic estimate".

#Hand Analysis (Why?)

Click the Why? button (in the action menu or sidebar) to open the full analysis modal. This explains the reasoning behind the recommendation.

The analysis panel includes:

Action decision box

Large color-coded action (fold=gray, check/call=green, bet/raise=orange, all-in=red) with verdict text and EV.

Stats grid

Six-cell grid showing Hand name, Position, Equity %, Pot Odds, Win %, and Stack depth.

Reasoning text

Plain-English explanation of why this action was recommended, considering position, equity, pot odds, and opponent tendencies.

Source badge

Which solver tier produced this result.

Confidence indicator

How confident the solver is in the recommendation.

#Sidebar: Hand Info

The top of the right sidebar shows your current hand:

• Hero cards — your two hole cards displayed visually
• Hand name — e.g., "Pair of Jacks", "Ace-King suited"
• Hand percentile — "Top X% of hands" showing where your hand ranks among all 169 starting hands

Before cards are selected, this area shows a "Tap to select cards" button. Before a hand is dealt, it shows "Deal a hand first".

#Range Matrix

A 13×13 grid showing all 169 canonical starting hands. Pocket pairs run along the diagonal, suited hands in the upper-right triangle, offsuit hands in the lower-left.

Green cells

Hands you should raise/play with from this position.

Orange cells

Hands to raise when facing a bet.

Gray cells

Hands to fold.

Amber ring

Highlights your current hand in the matrix.

The matrix title shows the position and facing context, e.g., "RANGE · SB OPEN" or "RANGE · BTN vs 3BET".

#Board Texture Tags

On postflop streets, the sidebar shows the community cards with descriptive tags beneath them. These help you quickly assess the board character:

Paired

Two cards share the same rank.

Monotone

All cards are the same suit.

Two-tone

Two cards share a suit (flush draw possible).

Rainbow

All different suits.

Connected

Cards are close in rank (straight draw possible).

Flush draw

Two cards of one suit on the board.

Flush possible

Three or more cards of one suit (a flush can be made).

Broadway

Board contains high cards (T, J, Q, K, A).

Low board

Board is mostly low cards.

#Strategy / Ranges / Analysis Tabs

Below the recommendation, the sidebar has three tabs:

STRATEGY

Shows the strategy distribution bar (mixed frequencies for each action) and source note.

RANGES

Shows the opponent range grid — a 13×13 matrix with estimated opponent hand weights.

ANALYSIS

Shows the equity histogram, detailed equity stats (win %, equity %, EV), and range morphology panel.

Range Morphology

The morphology panel (inside the Analysis tab) provides advanced range analysis:

Polarization gauge

A linear-to-polarized gradient bar. Shows whether ranges are condensed (merged) or split between strong and weak hands.

Range advantage bar

A centered bar showing who has the equity edge — green for hero, red for villain.

Nut advantage

Two panels showing what percentage of the nut hands each player holds.

Capped range warnings

Alerts when a player's range is "capped" — missing the strongest hands (amber for hero, green for villain).

#Actions History

The ACTIONS section at the bottom of the sidebar lists every action taken in the current hand, grouped by street (PRE, FLOP, TURN, RVR).

Each action shows the player's position (amber for hero, white for opponents), the action in past tense (raised, called, folded, etc.), and the amount if applicable.

#Win / Loss Overlay

When a hand ends (all but one player folds, or the river is complete), an overlay appears on the table showing the result:

WON

You won the pot (shown in green).

LOST

You lost (shown in red).

FOLDED

You folded earlier in the hand.

The overlay also displays the final pot size and a Next button to proceed to the next hand.

#Winner Picker

If a hand reaches showdown with multiple players still in, the Who won? modal appears. It shows the pot amount and a button for each active player (their position, name, and stack). Click the winner to award them the pot.

There's also a Skip button if you don't want to record the result.

#Undo & Corrections

Made a mistake? Press U or Ctrl+Z (or click the Undo button in the bottom bar) to reverse the last action. You can undo multiple times to step back through the hand.

Undo works for any action: folds, calls, raises, card selections, and even dealing. It's disabled when there are no actions to undo or when a hand is complete.

#Mobile Layout

On mobile devices (below the "lg" breakpoint), the layout adapts:

• The right sidebar is hidden
• The table fills the full screen
• A bottom sheet replaces the sidebar (pull up from the bottom)
• The action menu slides up as a bottom sheet instead of a floating panel
• The card picker becomes a full-width modal
• The header is compacted

Bottom Sheet (Advice / Ranges / History)

The mobile bottom sheet has a peek bar always visible at the bottom showing a quick summary (best action, equity, EV). Pull it up to expand and see three tabs:

ADVICE

Recommendation, strategy bar, hand info, and board texture — the most important info.

RANGES

The range matrix (preflop) and opponent range grid.

HISTORY

Action history and session stats.

#Pro Tips

#Frequently Asked Questions