Cash game training

Know the best play against the player in front of you.

Practice against real player types. See the highest EV play for your exact hand, every hand.

The Arena table on the flop. You hold T♣T♦, the board is T♠ 7♠ 6♦, the pot is $13 and the Loose Passive big blind has checked.

Bet $7 (half pot) example line
Bet $5 example line
Check back example line

Loose Passive. Pairs and draws can continue against small bets. Compare sizes to find how much value their range supports.

Illustrative lines. The best action depends on the full ranges and history. Method and limits.

Against the other two: Tight Passive. Folds most hands that missed, and folds more as the bet grows. Checking lets those hands improve, while betting charges pairs and draws. Loose Aggressive. Keeps weak pairs and draws in against small bets and raises its draws, but folds them to big ones. A small bet gets more calls.

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Every flop The solver covers all 1,755 distinct flops, so the answer fits the board you're on.

+211 bb/100 Best Response over the GTO baseline, against the Loose Passive, on the same 25,001 hands. See the test

Practice

Six opponents. Five play like your Tuesday game.

Five player types modeled on how real players play, each with a leak you can learn to find. The sixth plays a GTO-style strategy.

Full file in early access

Calling station

Loose Passive

Calls small bets too often and holds on to weak pairs against them.

Read the Loose Passive guide

Guides: Loose Passive Loose Aggressive Tight Passive

Read every file on the opponent types page.

Inside the app

This is what opens on October 9.

The full Arena table at a flop decision, with the battle log, the bankroll bar and the bet controls.

The campaign

Twelve levels. Every read gets harder.

Beat a calling station at level one. Face a player who has studied your hands at level twelve.

Every hand is heads-up. How the Arena deals

Levels 3 to 4 · The high roller room

Loose Aggressive

Plays two thirds of its hands and bets the flop with plenty of air. Practice calling early bets lighter and giving river bets credit.

VPIP 66%PFR 24%AF 4.2

The level 3 card in the Arena lobby: Loose Aggressive, in position, 100 big blinds, $2/$4 stakes, with the player pool bar and the Start Run button.

Table image items at the marked levels Every hand saved to the Hand Lab

Review

Every hand explained in plain language.

The tendency you faced, where the balanced play falls short, and the adjustment that makes more.

Illustrative hand review

Tendency: The button is a Loose Passive. It calls small river bets with almost any pair, but folds every weak pair and about half its second pairs to a bet over 70% of the pot.
Deviation: Compare checking with several river bet sizes. A missed draw alone does not show which line earns more.
Adjustment: Review how often this opponent folds and which hands continue before choosing a bluff. This is an illustrative review, not a validated result for the hand.

Log a hand: the describe screen with a hand typed in plain words, the stakes picker and the Parse hand button.

Replay and branch supported hands

Three hands · no signup

Which player owns you?

Three spots, three opponents. Find the one you keep paying off.

Read the example explanations

The Calling Station: Fold to a passive player's rare raise

They have called 14 of your bets and raised twice. Both raises turned over two pair or better.

A passive player's rare raise means strength. On a dry board like this it raises only two pair or better and never raises a draw, so top pair is behind.

Recommended action: Fold

Both raises you saw tonight were two pair or better, and this is the same raise. Top pair is behind, so folding saves the $48.

The Maniac: Raise for value against a wide opener

When 3-bet, they folded four times and called with K-9 suited and 7-6 suited.

This opener folds about two thirds of the time to a 3-bet, and most hands that call are behind ace-queen.

Recommended action: 3-bet to $26

They open wide and fold most of it to a 3-bet. The hands that call, like the K-9 and 7-6 you saw, are behind ace-queen.

The Nit: Size bluffs up against a player who folds more to bigger bets

They have folded to about half of your flop bets, and more often the bigger you bet.

This player folds more as the bet gets bigger. Here a pot-size bet folds about 79% of their range, against 65% for $7.

Recommended action: Bet $13

They fold more to bigger bets: about 79% of their range folds to $13, against 65% to $7. With six-five and no pair, the bigger bluff earns more.

Hand 1 of 3

Turn · Pot $156

The Calling Station · Loose Passive Calls often. Rarely raises.

VPIP 42%
PFR 7.6%
AF 1.3

Your hand

Board

Positions: You: BTN. Opponent: BB.
Effective stack: $200 each at the start of the turn; you have $178 behind after betting.

The turn started with $64. You bet $22. The big blind raises to $70, making the pot $156. Calling costs another $48.

Tonight: They have called 14 of your bets and raised twice. Both raises turned over two pair or better.

Your move.

Illustrative comparison

Same hand. Different player. Different answer.

You reach the river with top pair. Before betting, consider which worse hands this opponent will call with.

Against a selective caller

Thin value gets fewer calls.

If worse pairs fold and better hands call, checking can be preferable. Think about which hands continue, not just how strong yours looks.

Against a calling station

Worse pairs can pay you.

A player who calls too often can make a thinner value bet worth considering. Choose a size that those weaker hands are likely to call.

What this example assumes

This teaching example assumes the opponent's calling tendencies match your read. It does not show a calculated engine result.

A specific recommendation also depends on the hand, board, action history, bet size, and opponent model. Top pair is not automatically a bet or a check.

Read the data method

Method

Solved for the highest EV play against each player type.

A GTO solver balances your whole range so it cannot be exploited. Real opponents do not play equilibrium poker, so Poker Shark asks a different question: with this hand, against this player, which action makes the most?

New to adjusting against opponents? Read our guide to exploitative poker strategy.

Step 1 Player types in Five player types written from research on how real players play, each measured over 20,000 hands.
Step 2 Your hand against their range Each player type shows up with a range for the spot. Your exact hand is played against it, action by action, across all 1,755 strategically distinct flops.
Step 3 The highest EV action out Every bet, call, raise and fold is priced against that range. The action that wins the most is the answer, one action per spot, with the reasons attached.

Player types describe tendencies. They do not tell you what one person holds tonight. Read what Poker Shark does not do.

Get ready for your next cash game.

Early access opens October 9, 2026.

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Questions about practicing with Poker Shark

What kind of poker is this for? +

The public preview teaches six-max no-limit Hold'em cash-game adjustments against simulated opponent types. Arena hands are heads-up at a six-seat table. The practice opponents are not other people playing online.

What can I try without signing up? +

The three-hand exercise gives immediate instructional feedback and a suggested practice focus. You can view every answer and retry without entering an email.

How is this different from studying GTO? +

GTO provides a balanced baseline and can also inform opponent-specific adjustments. Poker Shark turns that study into repeated practice against recognizable cash-game tendencies, with explanations of why your read changes the decision. In our 25,001-hand test against the Loose Passive, the Best Response won 237 bb/100 and the GTO baseline won 26 bb/100. See the test

What hands can the Lab analyze? +

Hands you play in the Arena and hands you log from your own games. Some spots are outside what the Lab supports yet, and it tells you when that happens. See supported scope and limitations

Does it know how a specific player will act? +

No. A player type describes how that kind of player tends to play. The person at your table can play differently, so a recommendation is only as good as your read.

Can I use this during a game? +

Poker Shark is for practice and review between sessions.

Is early access free, and when does it open? +

Early access opens October 9, 2026. It is free during early access, with no credit card required. Public launch is planned for October 22, 2026; pricing after early access will be announced separately.