Drilling Spots¶
Drilling is where the skill actually gets built — if you do it as retrieval, not review. This page is Retrieval Practice applied to poker.
The golden rule: predict before you reveal¶
In the GTO Wizard Trainer (or any drill), decide your action and why before you look at the solver's answer. That act of generating the answer from memory is the rep that builds skill. Clicking through to "see what's right" without committing first is just review — it feels productive and teaches little.
The block types (a spot's life-cycle)¶
A spot ages through stages — each one less study, more testing, more spacing:
| Stage | What you do | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Learn it: study the solution first, understand the why | Open-book → closed, one spot type (blocked) |
| Generative | Produce the answer cold, before revealing | Closed-book, blocked (build fluency) |
| Consolidation | Reinforce + mix with related spots | Closed-book, interleaved |
| Maintenance | Quick check of the core spots only | Brief, spaced |
Acquisition is the only stage where you study before producing — because new material is complex and worked examples beat struggling when you're a novice. Every stage after removes the crutch.
Blocked vs random — use both¶
GTO Wizard's modes map onto this directly:
- Spot / Street mode (drill one node) = blocked → for acquisition & building fluency.
- Full Hand / random spots = interleaved → for consolidation; random spots force you to first identify which situation you're in (the real skill). → Interleaving
How fast should you drill?¶
Accuracy before speed — "slow is smooth, smooth is fast":
- Acquisition: no clock — reason fully.
- Generative: commit within ~10–30s, but actually decide before revealing.
- Consolidation/Maintenance: tighten toward game speed (a few seconds) to build automaticity and mimic real conditions.
Let your EV-loss score decide when to speed up — if accuracy drops when you go faster, you went too fast. Don't drill fast before you can drill correctly.
Two failure modes
Too fast = clicking by recognition (the fluency illusion — you're not generating). Too slow = staring/browsing instead of testing. The sweet spot: long enough to produce a reasoned answer, short enough that you commit.
Key takeaway¶
Drill = predict, commit, then reveal. Move each spot from acquisition → generative → consolidation → maintenance, blocked first then interleaved, slow first then game-speed. The score tells you when to advance.
Sources: GTO Wizard Trainer · Practice Mode