Hello! I’m on the PR team at CLOViZ Inc.
A lot of people are probably wondering what CLOViZ actually is and what kind of members we have on the team.
In this blog, we’ll introduce CLOViZ members through an interview format. While touching on the vision and values CLOViZ aims for, as well as each member’s role and skill set, we’ll highlight the strength of the team as a whole and the unique appeal of each individual.
In this article, we’ll focus on CEO Masaki and introduce the University of Tokyo-born poker learning app, POKER Q'z!
Director roundtable discussion: Part 1 is here
1. Level-based learning and making your leaks visible
ーーCould you tell us what POKER Q'z aims to achieve and what makes it unique?
Masaki：
Of course, we’re targeting people who can study proactively, but more than that, we want to reach the people who struggle to do so. I used to be in that camp myself, so I really understand how it feels. There are many players who have been playing poker for a long time but have never studied, people who don’t know how to learn, people who aren’t sure where they stand, and people who feel that advanced analysis tools are too intimidating.
For those players, we want to provide a learning environment that feels close to real play. You get to think from the perspective of “What would I do here?”, and then you can see whether your result was good or bad and where you rank among everyone else. That’s the kind of learning experience we want to offer.
We also want to deliver this not only in Japan, but to poker players around the world.
Kitsugi：
I feel that many existing poker learning services are positioned closer to “research” than “studying.” That’s because users have to interpret the information on their own. In that format, it’s extremely difficult for beginners who don’t know what to do to understand everything from scratch, and the barrier to entry is high.
With our service, POKER Q'z, we explain things carefully based on specific situations, including points like “How should you think to navigate this spot well?” and “Why is that choice incorrect?” A major feature is that when you face a similar situation again, you naturally learn how to make the right decision.
Goto：
Exactly. For someone who doesn’t play poker, it’s like being told, “If you miss a question that 70% of people get right on a practice exam, that’s bad,” but no one tells you which materials will help you get to the point where you can solve it. That’s how traditional services have been. With POKER Q'z, you can learn in a consistent way all the way through to “If you master this material, you’ll be able to solve that type of problem.”
Also, in poker study you might ask others for advice, but you often get incorrect information, and choosing the right training materials can be full of pitfalls. At CLOViZ, the content is created by people with proven tournament results and by those who have studied theory properly, so reliability is built in. With YouTube, learning can be one-way and you may feel a skill gap, but with our service you can get learning that matches your current situation.
Masaki：
Making your leaks visible is another key point. For example, in fitness, when your body fat percentage and where you’re carrying fat are recorded and shown over time, it helps you stay motivated.
Kitsugi：
That’s right. POKER Q'z runs a complex system behind the scenes, but from the user’s perspective, it naturally makes your leaks visible. For example, if you frequently make mistakes with decisions in a specific hand range, we’ve implemented a feature that prioritizes and recommends learning content for that area. As a result, it’s an app you can keep using without stress and without losing motivation.
2. The future of POKER Q'z: human-like CPU (AI), global expansion, and building a community
ーーIt’s true that when you can see your leaks and see yourself improving, it boosts motivation. Finally, could you share your long-term vision?
Masaki：
Right now, the app is based on theoretical results, but in real poker, each player has their own tendencies and habits. In the future, we want to build a learning system that can adapt to a wide range of play styles. For example, we’re considering ways to support counter-strategies against aggressive opponents, and systems that work not only for cash games but also for tournament formats.
One especially interesting idea is developing a CPU (AI) that can reproduce a specific player’s style. If we can make that happen, it would help you objectively understand how your own play style appears to other players. And if you could play against a CPU modeled after famous international players, it would add even more ways to learn while having fun.
The importance of GTO, the game theory optimal strategy, won’t change. But by combining it with matches against a human-like AI, we want to broaden what players can learn.
Fortunately, our team includes members who are deeply knowledgeable in both poker and engineering, so we’re confident we can deliver unique value that hasn’t existed before. We’ve also received investment from one of the world’s top five poker social app game companies, which is downloaded widely across the US and Europe, and we plan to expand globally in the future. Considering that the player base is growing not only in traditional poker markets but also in regions like South America and Asia, we feel the timing is excellent.
Ultimately, we want to build a community both online and offline, creating an environment where players can learn from each other.
ーーMasaki, Kitsugi, and Goto, thank you very much for the interview today!
Thank you as well. If you’re interested in what we’re doing or feel like you’d like to work with us on service development, please contact us via the link below!
