RangeSharp
RangeSharp
A concrete daily and weekly poker study plan. 20 minutes daily beats 3-hour Sunday sessions.
Most players study randomly. They watch a video when they're bored. They open a solver after a bad session. They binge on Sunday and do nothing until the next Sunday. No structure, no feedback loop, no way to know if anything is working.
I did that for years. My results didn't improve. When I finally sat down and built a real routine, things changed. Here's the structure that actually works.
The problem with random study is that you never build on anything. You learn a concept, forget it, relearn it, forget it again. There's no cumulative progress. You're running in place. I did this with postflop concepts for years. I'd watch a video on flop c-betting, feel like I got it, never practice it, and then six months later watch the same video again. I was stuck in a loop.
Another issue: no feedback. You study ranges. Do you know them? You have no idea until you're at the table and it's too late. Most players never test themselves. They assume that because they looked at something, they know it. I used to close the solver and think "I know BTN open." Then I'd get K7s at the table and hesitate. Did I know it or did I recognize it when I saw the chart? Recognition isn't recall. You need to be tested to find out which one you have.
The third killer is volume obsession. "I need to study five hours a week." Why? Five unfocused hours spread across random topics does nothing. Twenty focused minutes of range training every day does a lot. Consistency beats volume. I'll say it again because it's the most important sentence in this post. Your brain consolidates during sleep. Daily training gives you seven consolidation cycles per week. One weekly binge gives you one. The math favors daily.
Good study has a loop. You build ranges. You train them. You find leaks. You fix them. Then you repeat.
Step one: build or refine your ranges. That means solver work. Run a spot, export the solution, import it somewhere you can actually practice. You need a library of ranges for the spots you play. This happens in dedicated sessions, not during your daily training.
Step two: train. This is where you drill the ranges with feedback. Decision mode (get dealt a hand, pick the action) or recall mode (paint the whole range from memory). The algorithm schedules your reviews. You show up, do the work, leave. Twenty minutes is plenty.
Step three: analyze. Where are you weak? What spots do you keep getting wrong? Your training data tells you. If you're messing up BB vs BTN defense, that's your leak. Go back to the solver for that spot, tighten your understanding, then train it more.
The loop closes when you use analysis to inform what you study next. You're not guessing. You're fixing actual holes.
Every day, do two things.
First: 15-20 minutes of range training. Use whatever tool you have. FreeRangeLab, another trainer, physical flashcards. The medium doesn't matter. What matters is that you're doing spaced repetition on preflop spots. The algorithm handles scheduling. You just show up and answer. Wrong answers come back. Right answers get spaced. Over time, the ranges stick.
Second: review yesterday's play. Not every hand. Just the ones that were close or confusing. Did you fold something you shouldn't have? Call something you should have raised? Take five minutes. Look at the spot. Decide what you'll do next time. This builds a feedback loop between play and study. You're not just memorizing. You're connecting theory to your actual decisions.
That's it for daily. Thirty minutes total if you're thorough. Less if you're tight on time. The key is doing it every day.
One solver study session. Thirty to sixty minutes. Pick a spot you're weak in (your training data will tell you) or a spot you play often and want to tighten. Run the solver. Understand the solution. Export and import. Add to your training library. You're building new material. This doesn't need to happen daily. Once a week is enough.
One leak review session. Look at your training dashboard. What's your mastery level on each spot? Where are you below 50%? Those are leaks. Spend twenty minutes drilling the worst one. Or review hand histories from the week and find a pattern. "I'm overfolding from the BB" or "I'm calling too much from the SB." Name the leak, then target it in your next solver session and training block.
Once a month, step back. Are your ranges improving? Is your training data showing progress? If BTN open was 60% mastery last month and it's 80% now, you're getting somewhere. If it's stuck, you need to change something. Maybe you're not training enough. Maybe the spot is too complex and you need to break it down.
Also check if your strategy still matches your games. Did you move up? Move down? Change from 6-max to full ring? Your ranges might need updates. A monthly review keeps everything aligned.
Monday: 20 min range training (BTN open, BB defense), 5 min hand review from Sunday. Maybe one hand stood out. You folded KQo from the BB when the BTN opened. Was that right? Quick check. You confirm it's a call. Note for next time.
Tuesday: 20 min range training (algorithm brings back yesterday's misses), 5 min hand review. You got 98s wrong from the cutoff yesterday. It shows up again. This time you get it. The algorithm will space it out.
Wednesday: 45 min solver session. CO vs BTN 3-bet. Run solution, import to trainer. You're adding a new spot because your dashboard said you're weak when the BTN 3-bets your CO open. You had no idea what to do with AJo. Now you do.
Thursday: 20 min range training (includes new CO vs BTN spot), 5 min hand review. The new spot is in the mix. You're learning it. Some wrong answers. Normal.
Friday: 20 min range training, 20 min leak review (dashboard shows BB vs SB is weak). You drill BB vs SB defense. You've been folding too much. The solver says defend 45%. You've been at like 30%. Time to fix.
Saturday: 20 min range training, 5 min hand review. Play session. You catch yourself on a spot. You would have folded 65s from the BB vs BTN. You called. Correct. The training is working.
Sunday: 20 min range training, 5 min hand review. Play session. Rest.
Total study time: roughly three hours. Spread across seven days. No cramming. No marathon sessions. Just consistent touchpoints. The structure is boring. That's the point. Boring and consistent beats exciting and random.
I use FreeRangeLab for the daily training piece. The study plans, training modes, and dashboard make the loop concrete. I add ranges from the GTO library or import my own from PioSolver. I run Decision mode (deal hand, choose action) or Recall mode (paint the range) depending on what I'm testing. The algorithm schedules reviews. The mastery tracking (0-4 per spot) tells me where I'm weak. The leak detection and study recommendations point me to what to fix next.
The tools don't replace the routine. They support it. You still need to show up daily. You still need to review your play. You still need weekly solver work and leak review. The platform just makes the training part efficient.
You will miss days. Travel, tilt, life. The routine isn't about perfection. When you come back, don't try to make up for it with a marathon. Just restart. Do your normal 20 minutes. The algorithm will have more due. That's fine. Catching up means doing the work, not doubling it.
I missed three days last month. When I came back, I had 80 hands in the queue. I did 30 minutes instead of 20. The next day was back to normal. The sky didn't fall. The important thing is getting back on the schedule, not punishing yourself.
Do something every day. Even ten minutes of range training beats zero. Even five minutes of hand review beats none. The routine works because it's habitual. You stop thinking about whether to study. You just do it. Same time, same structure. The compound effect over months is real.
I used to study when I felt like it. Now I study because it's part of the day. The difference in my preflop accuracy is noticeable. I used to second-guess myself on every borderline hand. Now I know when I know. The uncertainty is mostly gone. Yours will be too if you stick with it.
One caveat: the routine assumes you're playing regularly. If you're on a break from playing, you can scale back the hand review. But keep the range training. When you come back to the tables, you'll have the ranges ready. That's better than relearning them the night before your first session back.
Master your preflop ranges.