Bungakat on adding BBZ’s Trainer tool to Preflop Charts: ‘It will have a big impact’

Baseball players have batting cages. Golfers have simulators. Chess players have puzzles and celebrity bots.

Just about every sport or game you can think of has a way for players to practice outside of direct competition.

But for years, the only way for poker players to practice specific situations was in-game, and that can be a costly way to train.

But in recent years, online training tools have revolutionised the way poker players train – the same way BBZ Poker’s Daily Seminars changed the studying game by making it a daily interactive, community-based activity.

So BBZ Poker is proud to introduce an exciting new addition to our NL Holdem preflop range/chart packages: our innovative poker training software feature. Now, with any chart purchase, you can take your poker skills to the next level by testing your game and studying GTO in an efficient and enjoyable manner.

This feature offers a dynamic and interactive way to refine your understanding of GTO preflop strategies, making the learning process both effective and fun.

To learn more about the Trainer tool and why it’s such a useful way to improve your poker game, we spoke to one of its creators – BBZ coach Jargo ‘bungakat’ Alaväli. He tells us how it was put together, and the spots he recommends you study on it.

BBZ Blog: What was the process of putting the Poker Trainer together? When did the team first have the idea and how did you see it through to fruition?

Jargo ‘bungakat’ Alaväli: The process of getting the Trainer together took a lot of time. There are so many things that go into getting everything together and working. There is a technical side of things to integrate everything from the solver to the website, and then there is the visual and smoothness of the Trainer.

You kind of know what you want, but there are a lot of small details you need to pay attention to in order to give users a great studying experience with the Trainer. I think we have done a good job on that, but it’s still a work in progress as we just launched it, and we are working on improving all aspects and adding new features in the coming weeks and months.

We always had an idea to have a Trainer, and it was just a process of going from Charts View to Range View to Trainer. All of those take some time to design and implement, and I think the trainer just came naturally as the next step from Range View.

How useful will the preflop trainer be to beginners studying charts for the first time?

I think it will have a big impact on everyone beginners and pros. Having a tool like Poker Trainer helps you to practise a large amount of hands quickly with instant feedback.

For example, let’s say I want to study big blind defends. I will go through Charts to look for solutions (probably spending around 5-15 mins depending on how many stack sizes I want to look at). Then fire up the Trainer and filter out exactly those solutions you just studied and practise it with Trainer for 15-30 mins.

The Trainer gives you instant feedback and you can get in a lot of hands and really improve your chosen situation. Once you feel like you’re getting good at this spot, move on to the next one.

1/6 #poker #strategygames #pokercoaching pic.twitter.com/oojMH55rVw

— BBZ Poker (@BBZPoker) November 23, 2023

How do you think this tool will impact the BBZ community and its results?

It will definitely have a positive impact. Adding a new tool that will impact the studying process is a big step for any training site. Trainer will just add another tool to people’s everyday studying process and it’s great! We already received a lot of great feedback and people love it.

Could you break down five spots you think are the most important for new players to study, and something that might surprise players to learn about each spot?

I think the most important spots to study for new players are the basic preflop ranges. You want to learn what hands can be profitable when opened in every spot. You also want to know how to play if somebody opens and what you can then profitably call and 3-bet.

The exact spots I would go with are positions: BB, SB, BTN and CO plays. That’s where you can gain the biggest edges. There isn’t that much EV in learning EP vs EP open yet you still want to know it. I would just focus on BB defends, BTN play, SB play, CO play – that would be my top four order of positions I would study.