Play a hand one decision at a time. You choose, then you find out why — with the ranges, frequencies and sourcing behind every answer, and a plain statement wherever the theory runs out.
Every frequency and range cites Modern Poker Theory by page.
You defend the big blind, flop top pair with a straight draw, and land on the single flop the solver leads more often than any other. Knowing why is what makes the bet repeatable.
BB vs BTNPre-flop → Flop2 decisions+50 XP
A full hand on the board the book works through in most depth. You play a passive flop on purpose, then the single best card in the deck arrives — and the plan you deferred becomes the plan you execute.
BB vs UTGPre-flop → Flop → Turn → River4 decisions+75 XP
One preflop decision with an offsuit ace in the big blind. The button opens, and the right answer is easy — what is worth learning is why this seat, and only this seat, lets you defend this wide.
BB vs BTNPre-flop1 decision+30 XP
One preflop decision with a middle pocket pair. Most players see two answers here and a third they would rather not think about. At 25bb the equilibrium has four — and the one that looks like panic is the one the source names for this hand.
BB vs BTNPre-flop1 decision+30 XP
Two preflop decisions with the same pocket pair against the same button open. Nothing changes between them except the size of the stacks — and that alone changes the answer.
BB vs BTNPre-flop2 decisions+45 XP
The same 40bb, the same big blind, the same two cards, the same 2.2bb open — decided twice. Only the opener’s seat changes, and the correct action changes with it.
BB vs BTNPre-flop2 decisions+40 XP
One flop decision on the button. The pair on the board is doing two things at once — it takes your big bet away, and it hands you a bet you can make almost every time.
BTN vs BBFlop1 decision+50 XP
The same seat, the same stack, the same chapter as the board where leading was right — and an ace on the flop instead of a six. You flop top pair and the correct play is to do nothing, for reasons the source measures.
BB vs BTNFlop1 decision+40 XP
Three flops, no hand. Every flop in hold’em falls into one of four donk-bet frequency bands, and you can read which one from the board alone — its rank, the straights it makes, and its suits. All three flops here are ones the book names individually; classifying a flop it does not name is a judgement, and this puzzle says where that line falls.
BB vs BTNFlop3 decisions+60 XP
One flop decision from UTG on A♥Q♦3♠. Playing a perfect mixed strategy here is optional — but only if you pick the right size to simplify to. One of the two costs nothing at all; the other costs 6.6bb/100.
UTG vs BBFlop1 decision+35 XP
The book takes the button’s range, leaves it completely unchanged, and makes it act first on the flop. Nothing about the cards moves. Everything about the strategy does — and the gap between the two is what position is worth.
BTN vs BBFlop1 decision+45 XP
Two flops, one hand, one seat. Nothing changes between the decisions except the three cards on the felt — and that is enough to move the preflop raiser’s betting frequency from 96% to 62%.
BTN vs BBFlop2 decisions+30 XP
Two flops, one card apart, with your hand and the pot held still. Nothing about A♠8♣ changes between them — only the number of straight draws the big blind can be holding — and that alone moves both how often you bet and how big. Graded DERIVED: the source states the direction of this effect, not a number.
BTN vs BBFlop2 decisions+60 XP
You hold the range advantage on this flop and the book wants you betting at a high frequency. It also wants you betting the minimum. Those two sentences are not in tension — they are two different decisions.
UTG vs BBFlop1 decision+75 XP
How often you bet and how much you bet are two separate decisions. This is the board where the book sets one of them high and the other one low — and getting it right means resisting the instinct to move both dials together.
BTN vs BBFlop1 decision+60 XP
You open the button, the big blind calls, and the flop is a low paired board. Your hand is fine. So is almost everything else you hold — and that fact, not your two cards, decides what you do.
BTN vs BBFlop1 decision+55 XP
You check the turn, UTG barrels a second time, and the raise available to you is your entire stack. This puzzle is about why that is not a choice — and why more than 40% of the range facing this bet simply folds.
BB vs UTGTurn1 decision+75 XP
One flop, three possible turns, and no hand to play. Before any decision on the turn there is a reading — the book gives you six groups to make it with, and this puzzle only asks you to make it.
BB vs UTGTurn3 decisions+30 XP
One decision, out of position on the turn. The pre-flop raiser checked the flop back — and that single passive action hands you a betting range you did not have a moment earlier.
BB vs UTGTurn1 decision+50 XP
One flop decision in the big blind, on a monotone board where every straight is already out. The bet is the smallest one legal — and that single fact changes which hands you are allowed to fold.
BB vs UTGFlop1 decision+35 XP
One flop decision in the big blind against a small c-bet. MDF says defend 75%, the arithmetic behind that 75% is correct, and you should still fold — because the calculation was never about your cards.
BB vs UTGFlop1 decision+40 XP
One river decision with the best hand you could possibly hold that still loses to everything worth betting. The cards stop mattering the moment you can name the shape of the spot — after that it is arithmetic.
BB vs BTNRiver1 decision+35 XP