The best tools for getting back into poker depend on how you’ll play now. We make Poker Skill, a free phone app whose short lessons rebuild preflop decisions by position, for casual players coming back. Run It Once fits players who learn from video, and GTO Wizard with a tracker such as Hold’em Manager 3 suits online grinders.
The best tools for getting back into poker, by how you’ll play now
The list runs from the casual player’s pick to the online grinder’s.
- Poker Skill. Short lessons, the Daily Puzzle and coached hands against AI opponents in Practice vs AI. Pick this if you play casually and want your fundamentals back a few minutes at a time.
- Run It Once. Training videos from strong players and a strategy forum. Pick this if you learn by watching someone explain their hands.
- GTO Wizard. A library of solved spots, a trainer and hand-history uploads, in a browser. Pick this if you’re going back to online games and want to check your lines against a solver.
- Hold’em Manager 3. A database and HUD built from your own online hands. Pick this if you play online in volume and want to find the spots you misplay.
If you’re new to poker rather than coming back, best poker software for beginners orders the same kinds of tools for a first-time player, and how to study poker lays out a weekly plan built on one topic at a time.
Catch-up tools at a glance
| Tool | What it helps you relearn | How you use it | Price | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poker Skill | Preflop decisions by seat and the fundamentals | Lessons of a few minutes and the Daily Puzzle | Free forever. | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Run It Once | Strategy, from strong players explaining hands | Watching videos and reading the forum | $24.99 a month (Low Stakes) | Web, with apps for watching |
| GTO Wizard | How a solver plays the spots you face | Looking up solved spots and drilling trainer hands | Free plan; cash plans from $39 a month, billed yearly | Web browser |
| Hold’em Manager 3 | Your own leaks and your opponents’ habits online | Running beside your online tables | $65 or $100 once, after a 14-day trial | Windows |
Prices and features checked September 2026.
The four tools in detail
Poker Skill
Lessons and coached practice on your phone
Free forever.
Best for Casual players returning after a break who want their fundamentals and preflop decisions back in short sessions.
Skip if You're a returning grinder who wants a tracker and a solver.
Free version Every lesson, the Daily Puzzle and one Practice vs AI game a day. Poker Skill Plus is an optional subscription.
Where it runs iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later) and Android
Built for Texas Hold'em, Poker Skill teaches one decision at a time in lessons of a few minutes each. Streaks and XP keep a daily habit going.
Run It Once
Pro training videos and a strategy forum
$24.99 a month for the Low Stakes plan
Best for Returning players who learn by watching strong players explain their hands, starting at low stakes.
Skip if You want your own decisions graded: the plans are video libraries and a forum, and the plans page prices Vision, its separate trainer, only for PLO.
Free version A free Basic account opens the forums; the videos need a paid plan.
Where it runs Web browser, with iPhone and Android apps for watching the videos
Run It Once is a training site built on videos from strong players, and it adds two new ones every day across its plans. The Low Stakes plan brings five new videos a week and a library of more than 3,000. Elite, at $199.99 a month or $1,400 a year, adds seminars, structured mini courses and a separate Elite library of more than 6,000 videos. The phone apps play the videos once you log in to an account.
Compared with Poker Skill: Run It Once is the pick if you learn by watching strong players explain their hands, while Poker Skill has you make each decision yourself and then shows you why.
GTO Wizard
Solved spots and hand review in the browser
Free plan
Best for Returning online players who want to see how a solver plays the spots they face and check their own hands against it.
Skip if You play a casual home game and want the fundamentals back first, because its answers assume you think in ranges.
Free version 100 preflop solutions, 1 postflop solution and 10 trainer hands a day, for as long as you use it.
Where it runs A web browser, on a computer or a phone; the company's only store app, PokerArena, is a separate heads-up game
GTO Wizard's library holds solved spots for cash games and tournaments, so you can look up a spot from preflop to the river and see how often each hand takes each action. Its trainer drills those spots with instant feedback, and uploading your hand histories shows your stats. For cash games, Starter costs $39 a month billed yearly ($468) or $49 month to month, with the basic preflop solutions and 100bb postflop solutions.
Compared with Poker Skill: GTO Wizard suits returning online players who want to check their spots against a solver in a browser, while Poker Skill rebuilds the fundamentals first in short lessons on iPhone and Android.
Hold'em Manager 3
A tracker and HUD for your online sessions
$65 once
Best for Players going back to online games in volume who want to find their own leaks and read opponents' stats.
Skip if You play only live, or you don't run Windows, because it reads online hand histories and runs on Windows.
Free version A 14-day free trial, after which a limited version keeps working at no charge; an account is required.
Where it runs Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit); on a Mac only through Windows in a virtual machine such as Parallels
Hold'em Manager 3 imports your hands from more than 12 supported online poker networks, overlays each opponent's stats on the tables you play and analyzes your own game. The Hold'em license is a one-time purchase of $65 for small stakes or $100 for all stakes, with a year of updates; maintenance after that is optional. Its publisher also sells PokerTracker 4, which runs on macOS as well as Windows.
Compared with Poker Skill: Hold'em Manager 3 is a Windows tracker that finds leaks in the hands you play online, while Poker Skill trains your decisions between sessions with lessons and the Daily Puzzle.
What to relearn first after a break
Start before the flop. When the pot folds to you, open with a raise on the hands you want to play and fold the rest: raising with strong hands builds the pot and narrows the field, and open-limping is not the default line. On a standard six-handed chart, your opening range widens with each seat closer to the button: under the gun, with five players left to act behind you, opens the fewest hands, and the button opens the most. Ranges also shift with stack depth and the number of players, so relearn the chart for the game you’ll actually play. Poker Skill teaches opening with raise-or-fold lessons for under the gun, the cutoff, the button and the small blind, plus a call-or-fold lesson for the big blind, then moves on to isolating limpers and answering someone else’s open.
If you’re going back to online games, a tracker and a solver work as a pair. The tracker reads your hand histories and shows the spots you play most, and the solver shows how often each hand in a range takes each action, bet sizes included, in a spot you set up. When you review a hand of your own, look at both players’ ranges before your own cards, then replay it one street at a time and decide each street before you reveal the next. The tracker’s opponent stats grow more telling as hands pile up, though a player far from the usual numbers shows it sooner.
Before your first session back
Who should skip Poker Skill
Skip Poker Skill if you’re returning to grind online and want a tracker and a solver. Hold’em Manager 3 is built on online volume, and GTO Wizard is where you take the spots that volume turns up.
How we compared
Each tool was judged on what it helps you relearn after a break, how you use it, what it costs and where it runs. Poker Skill’s facts come from its App Store and Google Play listings, the app itself and its training app page; Run It Once, GTO Wizard, Hold’em Manager 3 and PokerTracker 4 were read on their own sites and store listings in September 2026. Who each one suits is our call.
Frequently asked questions
Is Run It Once worth it?
It can be, if you learn by watching strong players explain their hands and you study the videos actively, taking notes and drilling similar hands. The Low Stakes plan costs $24.99 a month and adds five new videos a week to a library of more than 3,000. Run It Once's free Basic account opens only the forums, so judging the videos takes a paid month.
Is GTO software useful if you don't play much?
Yes, as a reference for the spots you do play, once the basics are back. A solved library shows how often each hand in a range takes each action, so its version of a few spots from your own sessions gives you plenty to study. GTO Wizard's free plan, with 10 trainer hands and 1 postflop solution a day, is a place to start before you pay.
Should I get Hold'em Manager 3 or PokerTracker 4?
Pick by your computer, then by your poker site: Hold'em Manager 3 runs on Windows while PokerTracker 4 also runs on macOS, and both import hands only from the sites they support. They come from the same company, Max Value Software, and their Hold'em licenses cost about the same: $65 or $100 for Hold'em Manager 3, $64.99 or $99.99 for PokerTracker 4. Each tracker has a 14-day free trial.