So you’ve marked a poker hand to study: What should you do next?

If you end a poker session feeling like you played every hand perfectly, you are simply deluded. That might sound harsh, but it is true. It is not an insult to your poker game to say you almost certainly did not play every hand perfectly. Even the very best players in the world face spots where they are not sure what they should do. These spots only increase as you rise through the stakes and square off against tough opponents day in and day out.

So how do great players attempt to minimize these confusing situations? They tag the hand in their HUD and go back to study the spot later. That way, when the same spot comes up again, they have a better understanding of what to do.

Players with access to GTO solvers like PioSOLVER can run simulations on those tagged hands. But what about those of you who do not have solvers at your disposal? When you mark hands during a session, how should you go about studying the spot?

That is what this article covers. Three practical steps to get the most out of every hand you tag, no solver required.

Check the Charts First

The majority of tricky situations in both tournaments and cash games, when boiled down, start with your preflop play.

Should you have defended the big blind with that hand in the first place? Is that really a hand you should have three-bet from the cutoff versus an under-the-gun open? Could you have played the hand differently preflop and avoided the headache you now face?

The first step should always be to check the charts. No one expects you to memorize every preflop range in one sitting. The way you build up your knowledge of hand selection and ranges is spot by spot, one hand at a time. Your familiarity with these spots expands over time, giving you the confidence and know-how to handle them better in the future.

So when you have tagged a hand to review, start by checking whether it was a good hand to play in the manner you did, based on stack sizes and positions at the table. Solver-approved preflop ranges give you instant feedback on how to improve your strategy and your win rate in both heads-up and multiway pots.

Once you have established a take on your preflop play, you can then analyze how you handled the hand postflop and on later streets.

Discuss with Other Players

Without a solver, the best way to break down a tricky poker hand is to seek out the opinions of others, particularly from players who you feel are more skilled than you right now.

If you have ever watched training videos where experienced players review a session together, you know that before they check what the solver says, they discuss the spot and offer informed opinions on how they would approach it. The solver then either confirms or disagrees with their assessments.

But discussing the hand offers more than simply trying to predict what the solver would do. It allows you to hear and consider different approaches to a spot you may never have thought of, perhaps from players who have detailed knowledge of population tendencies at certain stakes.

As BBZ cash game coach Bertie “bigstealer” Bayley put it: “The value of a community is so much greater than going it alone. You can get trapped within your own thoughts. Others can question your play far easier because they do not have your biases. If somebody came up to me today and said ‘what is the best starting point?’ I would say find yourself a community of people who are at least as good as you, if not better, so you can discuss strategy.”

If you do not have a poker study group, the BBZ Discord has dedicated hand review, ICM, and cash game channels where community members share hands and get feedback from other students and coaches.

Invest in Coaching When You Can

Private poker coaching is not available to every player building up a bankroll, and that is understandable. But if you do hit a score and are looking to take your game to the next level, there is no better investment than going over your tagged hands with an experienced coach.

The value goes beyond just reviewing the spots you flagged. A coach will cover every important hand from a session, including the ones you deemed standard and insignificant. Those are often the hands that surprise you the most when someone with more experience takes a closer look.