Deputy Editor
Popular poker solver GTO Wizard now supports dynamic multi-way preflop solutions thanks to a significant software update. The cloud-based solver can now produce solutions that include up to nine players. Importantly for players, it can also adjust to a variety of rake, ante, and straddle structures.
The company called multi-way preflop solves its “biggest solver upgrade yet.”
“This will fundamentally change how preflop is studied,” GTO Wizard announced in a release. “Until now, studying preflop meant choosing between rigid precomputed charts or heavyweight desktop solvers that required powerful hardware and long compute times. Now, instead of waiting hours, you can solve multiway preflop spots directly in your browser, even on your phone, in seconds.”
GTO Wizard will only make the new functionality available to players willing to pay for a new, highest-yet tier of pricing. Dubbed Ultra, the subscription debuts for the hefty price of $229 per month. That’s a marked increase from the prior highest tier, Elite ($129 per month).
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New GTO Wizard Update Lets Players Adjust Bet Sizes Later
Previously, the GTO Wizard product used built-in preflop sizing, but players could use the artificial intelligence feature (“AI solve”) to adjust bet sizes and actions in the post-flop tree. That made the post-flop solutions more dynamic, as they could be adjusted to fit the actual actions in a hand.
For example, the pre-solved solutions may have included different bet sizes than a player had actually used in a hand they wished to study. The player could simply click the AI solve button and then adjust the bet sizes to the one that actually occurred. Then, they would receive a solution that reflected that bet size, rather than the prepackaged ones.
Now, that feature has been included in the preflop solves. They come courtesy of months of work, as the GTO Wizard team developed its AI.
“Our AI solver learned to approximate a Nash Equilibrium by playing against itself for essentially billions of hands,” the team wrote.
“Aiming for a solver that can generalize to any preflop spot, we trained it on random combinations of stacks, blinds, rake, and ante structures. As such, our preflop multiway solver can accurately handle any spot you can throw at it: BB ante, straddle, double-straddle, Mississippi straddle, etc.”
Post-flop solving remains limited to three players, for computational purposes. The game tree becomes too large for the AI to quickly compute solutions for more than three players. As PokerScout detailed here, multi-way solutions also suffer from some inaccuracies that stem from a lack of unexploitable strategies.
Today’s Preflop Poker Often Differs from Two-Blind Games
One of the driving forces behind the new functionality from GTO Wizard is that today’s poker games are increasingly moving away from the old, static, two-blind format.
“Real games have limpers, maniacs, and calling stations,” the GTO Wizard release explained. “Real games have 5bb opens, short stacks, deep stacks, antes, and weird rake structures. Preflop is dynamic, and your strategy should be too. Multiway Preflop Solving lets you study the game you actually play.”
Straddling, three-blind games, and other mechanics that increase action have become more common in both live and online poker.
Sites like GGPoker allow straddling, and it’s common to see high-stakes games putting straddles in play. CoinPoker’s games usually include preflop antes from every player.
Live games can include “Mississippi straddles,” which can come from the button in some games or any position in others.
Live games can also feature much higher rake than online games. That affects ranges significantly. In higher-rake structures, hands that win fractions of a blind can turn into losing ones.
The new GTO Wizard preflop solver can account for these factors and give players optimal ranges that weren’t previously accessible.
New GTO Wizard Ultra Pricing May Turn Off Players
Only players willing to pony up for the new Ultra tier will have access to the new functionality. The new tier isn’t cheap, charging players $229 per month on the annual plan ($2,748 total) and $279 for those settling monthly.
And that reflects an “early bird discount.” Eventually, GTO Wizard plans to crank those numbers to $289 and $359, respectively.
To justify the increased cost, more features are planned for the tier. These will include ICM-aware preflop solves, support for bounty mechanics (including mystery), and post-flop sims that eventually expand beyond the current three-player max.
