GTO Wizard Simplifies Game Tree for Players By Condensing Solutions into ‘Single-Size’

GTO Wizard, one of the most popular poker solvers, released an update about a month ago that included “single-size” solutions. The product seeks to streamline the game tree, thereby offering players more possible solutions and a simpler learning process.

The new single-size solutions have both benefits and potential drawbacks for players looking to learn. While they succeed in their aims, it’s important to keep in mind a few potential pitfalls involved with the new solutions.

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What Single-Size Solutions Do

Single-size solutions attempt to simplify the game tree for players by reducing the betting options to one optimal size. Previously, the library of solutions would often include as many as as six bet sizes.

For instance, take the following solution in a single-raised pot, 10-9-6 rainbow, under the gun against big blind at 50 big blinds deep in a tournament:

_Multi-size solution from GTO Wizard The solver recommends splitting into five different sizes, including four that are used at a decent frequency. That’s an incredibly difficult strategy to implement.

By contrast, plugging the same scenario in with single-size solutions spits out a strategy of betting less often but with a uniform size of 4.5 big blinds. Compared with the more complicated multi-size solution, the single-size solution loses about 0.2 big blinds of expected value (EV).

While that’s not nothing, it’s important to remember that implementing the multi-size strategy close to perfectly is impossible. It’s far too complex.

In general, the decision of whether to bet or check in poker is much more important than sizing, anyway. As long as players are close to the correct frequencies, they stand to do pretty well, since most bet sizes have similar EV, especially on early streets.

Players Now Actually Have More Options

Paradoxically, condensing the game tree down to a single betting option actually gives GTO Wizard users more strategy content. The solver can now dedicate resources previously tied up in complex multi-size solutions to fleshing out more postflop scenarios, something the GTO Wizard press release touting the product noted.

The company claimed its postflop library is now 50-times larger.

This is particularly important to tournament players because the number of possible scenarios is limitless. Variable stacks and the possibility of solving with and without ICM make the options impossibly vast.

Providing solutions for these postflop spots, which end up costing or gaining a player the most money, has far more utility for the user than trying to parse the utility of six different bet sizes and all of the possible paths that emerge thereof.

Single-Size Solutions Could Cost Players Expected Value in Some Ways

There are some possible downsides to using the single-size solutions, some obvious and some a little more subtle.

For one, the aforementioned 0.2 big blinds might seem like a negligible difference, but extrapolated over hundreds and then thousands of hands, that’s actually quite a big hit to the player’s bottom line.

Again, the strategy with six bet sizes is impossible to implement without cheating, but it’s just instructive to see that adding more betting options adds EV to the player’s strategy.

Expanding the game tree also gives a better player more of an edge. They’re going to pick the higher-EV options more often than their opponents. So, the more decisions each player faces, the better chance the stronger player has to capture EV.

It’s also important to treat the solver’s solution as an idea, not an answer. That becomes less clear for players when they look at a single-size solution. They may feel encouraged to only use that_ size the solver gives them, treating it as a rote answer to a question. Seeing a solution with multiple sizes, on the other hand, encourages players to think about how those different sizes might each have utility as part of the overall strategy.

This becomes most evident in river decisions. For instance, imagine a multi-size solution for a given spot includes a 2x-pot river bet, but the single-size solution pares the spot down to pot or check. A player who considers the overbet option and puts it into their strategy (especially against calling-station opponents) is going to win massively more in the long run than a player who simply recalls their single-size solver output and pots the river out of habit.

GTO Wizard Users Should Test Out Different Options

Overall, the single-size solutions should be a net positive for users. However, they have to make sure they don’t fall into the trap of oversimplifying their thinking.

Users with plans that include multi-size solutions and single-size solutions would do well to at least explore what happens when more sizes are added to the solution. Toggling between the two and examining the solutions can help players conceptualize the differences.

Another option for higher-tier users is the AI solve button, using the dynamic sizing tab. Experiment with different sizes. Even if the solver doesn’t use a given size, that’s still telling the user something valuable, as long as they can figure out why.

Lower-tier users without access to the custom solutions should think of the single-size solutions as a starting point. Remember that the optimal size reflects the player’s global strategy. And think about whether certain parts of the range might benefit from deviating, especially when trying to exploit opponent tendencies.

Image credit: Varnolene/Wikimedia Commons (license)

Mo Nuwwarah

Deputy Editor

Mo has been reporting on the poker industry since 2013, excepting a foray into the sports betting space from 2021-2025. He's a regular in live tournaments and cash games at buy-in levels around $400-$2,000.