Poker Q’z Developer Shares Tournament Strategy Secrets: Top Features and Behind-the-Scenes Story of the New Tournament Mode

Hello! I’m Shuhei from CLOViZ Inc.

In November 2025, the poker training app POKER Q'z released a long-awaited new feature: the Tournament Mode.
In addition to the existing Cash Game Mode, you can now learn tournament-specific skills such as ICM and short-stack strategy.

For this article, we interviewed POKER Q'z developers Toshiki Ohata and Hayato Abe directly.
What are the keys to tournament success? How do you actually get better at poker?
We also asked them to speak from the perspective of poker players.

We also dug into why they built the app, and how to use it to improve faster.
They shared insights only developers can offer, including behind-the-scenes stories from development, so be sure to read to the end.

The POKER Q'z Developers as Poker Players

First, could you both introduce yourselves?

Ohata:
I’m Toshiki Ohata. I’m a master’s student in the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. I belong to a lab that researches game AI and natural language processing, and I’m currently on leave from school to focus on the business.

https://pokerqz.com/ja/blog/interview01

Abe:
I’m Hayato Abe. I’m currently a third-year student in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo. I’ve studied poker thoroughly from both theory and real play, and I’ve been fully immersed in poker every day, in both tournaments and cash games.

What roles do you each have on POKER Q'z?

Abe:
While researching poker, I decide what goes into the app’s content.
I think about which hands to feature and what lessons will help users improve the most.

Ohata:
I help with some of the content, but I mainly handle development.
I implement quizzes and lessons, and I write programs that calculate GTO strategies.

At this point, what does the overall lesson structure in POKER Q'z look like?

Abe:
Broadly speaking, poker is divided into cash games and tournaments, and Levels 0–2 cover fundamentals that apply to both.
From Level 3 onward, the paths split: the Cash Game Mode teaches core concepts like GTO, while the Tournament Mode focuses on tournament-specific thinking such as ICM.

Thanks. This interview is about the new Tournament Mode, but before we dive in, do you have any memorable tournament stories from your own experience?

Abe:
This is from my first time playing a tournament. The top finishers received in-store points, so there was a clear “in the money” line. There were about 70 players, and I made it to the point where one more elimination would put me in the money.
But I only had 2bb left, and somehow I picked up pocket eights UTG. I ended up jamming for 2bb, and a player behind me called with pocket nines.

Ohata:
That’s brutal (laughs).

Abe:
So I bubbled my first live tournament ever (laughs).
And on the turn, we both picked up straight draws, and the outs flipped.

Ohata:
So the board had 6, 7, T on it?

Abe:
Exactly. So halfway through, I was the one yelling “Nine! Nine! Nine!” (laughs).

Ohata:
Did an eight come on the river?

Abe:
Nope, nothing on the river (laughs).

Ohata:
If the river was an eight, that would’ve been legendary (laughs).

That’s an amazing story. And it’s perfect because the lessons cover bubble play a lot (laughs). Ohata, do you have a story too?

Ohata:
I’ve got a legendary one too (laughs).
I had pocket fives in the BB and called a BTN open. The flop came 3, 3, 5, so I flopped a full house.
The opponent was super aggressive, and we got it all-in on the flop. When we flipped, they had 64s. Boat vs open-ender is basically locked up, right?
Then the turn was a 3, and the river was also a 3!

Everyone:
(laughter)

Ohata:
I lost to their 6-high because the board played (laughs).

That’s insane (laughs).

Ohata:
The worst, most unbelievable bad beat of my life (laughs).

In Tournaments, Preflop Is 90%

Now that we’ve heard some great tournament stories, let’s talk about the app. What are the key points of the newly released Tournament Mode?

Abe:
The biggest thing is understanding the difference from cash games. There are two major points.
First, tournaments have no rake, and they have antes. That means preflop ranges change dramatically. And because you have to play different ranges depending on the situation, preflop becomes far more complex than in cash games.
Second, in tournaments, the goal isn’t simply to increase your chip count. You’re playing for placement. So even if a call is profitable in chips, it can be a mistake when you consider whether you cash or not. Near the bubble, for example, big stacks can apply pressure aggressively, while short stacks often have to fight to survive. That kind of structure doesn’t really exist in cash games.

Right, concepts like “rake vs ante” and “cashing” don’t exist in cash games, and they create strategic differences.

Abe:
Exactly. And in tournaments, preflop carries an extremely high weight.
I truly believe tournaments are 90% preflop.
Even if you win a huge all-in early at blinds like 100/200, those chips might only be worth 1bb later. That’s tournament poker: you can build a stack early, then give it away later because of a small preflop mistake.

That’s something that happens because blinds keep rising in tournaments.

Abe:
Yes. That’s why preflop accuracy is critical.
And once you get down to 10bb late, you often don’t even reach postflop. If you make even a small mistake in a 10bb all-in call, you lose your entire stack and you’re out. So preflop mistakes are extremely costly.

That’s true.

Abe:
The new Tournament Mode lessons organize these points and explain them in a simplified way.

Within Tournament Mode, do you have a personal favorite lesson you’d recommend?

Abe:
For me, it’s the ICM explanation. I think we did a great job showing that your chip count and your payout value are not the same.
We use an example tournament with a $100 prize pool and a $60 first-place prize. Total chips are 100 points, and the chip leader has 70 points. In that spot, the chip leader’s 70 points are not worth $70. You only get $60 if you win all the chips, so those 70 points are worth less than $60.

That’s a very clear ICM example.

Abe:
It’s hard to grasp the value of a single chip point. In this example, even with 70 out of 100 points, first place only pays $60, so it can’t be worth $70. The key is that having more chips can actually be disadvantageous in terms of marginal value.
On the other hand, if last place pays $10, then even if you only have 10 points right now, you still get $10 even if you drop to 0. That means those 10 points are worth more than $10.

Ohata:
It helps to imagine chips as a stack piling up. The chips at the bottom are high value, and the chips stacked on top are lower value.

I see.

Ohata:
This also explains bubble factor. Short stacks mostly hold those high-value bottom chips, while deep stacks can gamble with lower-value top chips. That’s why short stacks are forced into tougher spots.

Abe:
People often say “short stacks are disadvantaged.” That’s true in a sense, but it’s because the chips you fought to survive with are so valuable, so you’re forced to fold more.

Right, even with 2bb, it matters to hang on and cash.

Abe:
Exactly. That’s why this lesson focuses on learning the fundamentals so you can make decisions that are profitable in terms of expected prize value.
We built this lesson hoping it helps everyone improve their tournament results.

GTO Wizard Is a Dictionary. POKER Q'z Is a Textbook.

Abe, you’ve created such strong lessons. How did you study to reach that level yourself?

Abe:
I studied relentlessly by running GTO Wizard over and over.
For bubble factor, I learned by looking at charts and thinking, “Oh, it applies to two players here,” and so on.
One thing surprised me. Intuitively, it feels like busting with 10bb is a bigger mistake than busting with 3bb, right?

It does feel that way.

Abe:
But it’s actually the opposite. The player with 3bb has a higher bubble factor than the player with 10bb. In other words, the 10bb stack can call all-ins more easily.

Ohata:
That’s because if the 10bb stack calls and wins, they jump to a bit over 20bb and their expected prize value increases sharply. But if the 3bb stack calls and wins, they only get to a bit over 6bb, so the upside is much smaller.

Abe:
So in the past, when I still had 10bb, I would fold even strong hands, and when I had 3bb, I’d shove because I felt forced to. But it was backwards.

So whether you have 10bb or 3bb, losing an all-in means you bust, but if you win and double, the 10bb stack’s expected prize value rises much more.

Ohata:
Exactly. A lot of players misunderstand this, so I really want people to learn it.

Abe:
That’s how I studied: staring at GTO Wizard and finding patterns across situations and putting them into words.

Ohata:
Honestly, it’s genius.
Abe takes GTO Wizard’s endless, hard-to-interpret solutions and extracts the key features and condenses them into lessons.

Abe:
What I want to tell everyone is this: “GTO Wizard is a dictionary, and POKER Q'z is a textbook.” GTO Wizard is like a massive dictionary. If you just look at it, you often don’t really understand anything.
So if you think, “I want to study bubble factor,” and you open a huge dictionary, it’s overwhelming. But with a textbook that extracts the essentials, you can learn naturally.

Ohata:
“GTO Wizard is a dictionary, POKER Q'z is a textbook” is a great tagline (laughs).

It really is (laughs).

Abe:
I think it’s important to use GTO Wizard to search for new insights, but if you don’t understand the textbook basics and you jump straight into the dictionary, you’ll often end up completely lost.
Also, you can easily fall into the trap of ending with analysis of a single hand, which is honestly pointless.

Ohata:
Getting excited like “The call frequency was there! I was right!” is the most meaningless way to use a GTO tool (laughs).

That really is meaningless (laughs).

Abe:
For example, even if a solver says BTN is shoving their entire range so you can call with KTo, in real life the opponent might not shove that wide and might have a lot more Ax. In that case, calling with KTo becomes massively negative EV.

Ohata:
So when you use GTO Wizard, you must compare the GTO opponent strategy with the real opponent strategy.

Abe:
But only a small number of players can do that well. That’s why I want people to study with POKER Q'z first, and then look at solutions like GTO Wizard.
By learning POKER Q'z lessons, you’ll be able to use solver tools effectively.

You Alternate Between Input and Output

Abe:
Another big advantage of POKER Q'z is that it gives you the feeling of actually playing poker.
I turn common player mistakes into practical quizzes, so you can think about them as your own decisions.
It’s also dialogue-based, so you move forward while being prompted with questions, and you can confirm your growth by solving practice problems and real-hand quizzes. I think it’s designed for active learning.

Ohata:
In other words, POKER Q'z is designed so you can alternate between input and output.
With typical study, you mostly consume information and don’t get enough chances to apply it. But in POKER Q'z, it’s all contained in one place.

Right. In POKER Q'z, Q-chan makes a mistake, Aria points it out and explains it, then you solve practice questions, then real-hand quizzes, and so on.

Abe:
And because everything is broken into short chapters, you can study in small chunks during spare time.

Ohata:
Yeah, being able to alternate input and output, and being able to do it in spare moments, are key strengths of POKER Q'z.

One more thing: everything you’ve shared has been fascinating, so if you have any other quick story, I’d love to hear it.

Abe:
Okay, here’s a tricky spot (laughs).
It’s a 6-max table. I’m in the BB as the shortest stack, UTG is the next shortest, and there are several deep stacks in between. In this situation, the BB can barely call a UTG 2bb open.
That’s because UTG tightens their opening range since deep stacks are behind, and I have to tighten even more because I’m shorter than UTG. So I can only call with an extremely tight range.

Ohata:
So there are two separate reasons the range gets tighter.

Abe:
Exactly. So even though it’s “just” a 2bb open, I’m folding hands like T7s and KTo. It’s unbelievably tight. It felt like all-in or fold most of the time.
When I discovered that, I was literally saying in the office, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” (laughs).

Ohata:
But what’s impressive is that Abe turned “You’ve got to be kidding me!” into an actual discovery: the idea that there are two separate tightening factors.

Abe:
That’s the struggle of building lessons…

Ohata:
Like we said, the real value is that we extract the essence from complex solutions and package it into lessons.
And this is something unique to games of incomplete information: it’s hard to find clear “standard lines.” Even so, POKER Q'z can present something close to a practical guideline.

Abe:
I think we teach fundamental strategy very well. And once you have that foundation, you can observe opponents and adjust into opponent-specific strategy, which will help you improve even more. POKER Q'z can be the compass that guides you there.

Final Question: The One Thing You Should Focus on in Tournaments

To close, if you could share just one thing readers should focus on in tournaments, what would it be?

Abe:
It has to be “tournaments are 90% preflop” (laughs).
In the late stages, one small mistake in an all-in call can erase all your work. And compared to early-stage mistakes, the impact of a small preflop mistake late is literally on a different order of magnitude. Preflop matters that much. And late-stage spots are also affected by bubble factor, which makes them very difficult. If you reduce your preflop mistakes even a little, your tournament results will improve dramatically.
If your preflop is correct, things usually won’t go that badly. I truly believe preflop skill strongly correlates with overall poker skill.
You could even play postflop however you want, just check everything (laughs).

Ohata:
Don’t do that (laughs).

Abe:
That’s how strongly I want to emphasize how important preflop is (laughs).

Ohata:
The new Tournament Mode focuses mainly on preflop, while postflop is covered in depth in the Cash Game Mode.

Abe:
Yes. Cash Game Mode includes a lot of knowledge that helps in tournaments too. For example, c-bet strategy by flop texture translates directly to tournament play, so I’d love for people to study that as well.
But first and foremost, preflop is everything.

So the idea is: study tournament-specific preflop in Tournament Mode, then learn postflop strategy that applies to both formats in Cash Game Mode.

Ohata:
That’s the best approach. We’d be happy if you register for both while you’re here.