Although poker solvers have established themselves as key tools for those serious about studying the game, many players, especially beginners, are not comfortable with them. Many solvers look and feel too complex and come with a big gap between playing and studying that’s not easy to bridge.
The Railbird solver was developed with the main focus on bridging that gap, giving all players a solution that’s actually intuitive, easy to use, and produces outputs that make sense even to those new to the game.
In many ways, the Railbird app is a solver for the masses, looking to level the playing field and give everyone access to advanced resources without requiring them to have advanced knowledge beforehand. That’s a tall order for sure, but the team behind the software has done quite an impressive job of it.
In this Railbird review, we’ll give you a well-rounded rundown of what this platform does, how it works, what makes it different from other products of this type out there, and, hopefully, answer the most important question: is this the right solver for you?
Railbird at a Glance: Navigating the App
First thing first, Railbird is available in web-based and desktop versions. The web version is solid, and it will give you a pretty good idea of what the app is all about, but if you want to experience the full power and all features of the platform, you should definitely download and install the desktop app.
The Railbird app is rich in features, and we’ll go into more detail about the most important ones in a moment, but here’s a quick breakdown:
- The ability to import and analyze your online hands from major poker sites
- Individual hand analysis – you can even describe a hand from memory using plain language
- Player profiles built based on the information from imported hands
- Practice mode – train through full hands or specific spots
- Pattern recognition
- Custom improvement plans
Railbird uses the power of AI to create a learning environment that is similar to the actual gameplay in many ways. The software is generally quite intuitive and easy to navigate, which makes it much more accessible for beginners.
Hand Analysis & Personal Improvement Plans
The Railbird app is designed as your fully developed poker learning hub. Unlike most solvers out there, it doesn’t just give you a breakdown of individual spots. Instead, it uses the database of all imported hands to come up with improvement plans based on your biggest leaks.
To start, you can import any hands you have stored locally. Railbird supports all major poker sites, including PokerStars, GGPoker, 888poker, partypoker, WPT Global, CoinPoker, and more. Once you set up the path, new hands will also be automatically imported every time you run the app.
Once the hands are imported, they are analyzed by the solver, and you get AI-narrated explanations of different spots, leaks, and mistakes. You don’t have to interpret confusing charts that often don’t make much sense if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at.
Finally, the software picks up your biggest leaks and comes up with improvement plans with hands-on exercises. You’ll be able to play through full hands and/or specific spots and work on the areas of the game that need the most of your attention.
Building a Database of Live Hands
If you mostly play live, Railbird offers a very cool feature where you can input hands by describing them. This is a great option for players who play live and keep notes on the most interesting hands.
You can take those notes, type them into the software, and it will recreate the situation for you and give you the solver breakdown, street by street, with detailed explanations.
This is great for actual hands and any hypothetical situations you might want to look into. The app does a great job of reading and translating the information when you use the standard poker lingo like UTG, HJ, BTN, 3-bet, etc.
This is to say that you can type in the entire hand history really quickly, and it’s a really unique feature of the Railbird app that helps it stand out from the competition.
Patterns & Player Profiles
The Railbird app isn’t static; it is designed to grow and evolve with you. The more you practice and the more hands you import, the better the feedback you’ll receive.
The ‘Patterns’ section of the app will develop as your hands database grows. Here, you’ll find a list of different patterns recognized by AI as well as suggestions on how to improve on particular leaks and links to targeted exercises.
The ‘Players’ section is similar, but instead of your information, it brings you information about the opponents you played against the most. The software will recognize their leaks and then generate suggestions for exploits you can implement to take advantage of those leaks.
This is a high-level feature and, naturally, the more info you have on a particular opponent, the more useful it will be. That said, it is also a great learning tool, as realizing a particular type of leak exists in a certain player pool can provide a significant strategic advantage.
Unlimited Practice with the Railbird App
If you want to study a particular spot or situation, you can do so inside the ‘Practice’ tab. The trainer is divided into several main sections and subsections, such as:
- Preflop (RFI, 3-bet, short stack shoves, etc.)
- Betting & Barreling (c-betting, donk betting, delayed c-bets, etc.)
- Defending (facing c-bet, facing check-raise, river bets, etc.)
- 3/4-bet pots
- Blind vs. blind play
All major scenarios you can come up with are pretty much covered, so you can pick the one that you want to focus on and get started. Simply select what you want to practice, click ‘Begin session,’ and you’ll be all set.
The app will generate situations relevant to the particular spot, tasking you with making decisions – should you bet or check, call or fold, what bet size to use, etc. After you make the decision, it will be rated; you’ll get an explanation of why it is or isn’t the best choice, and you can study it before moving on to the next drill.
Alternatively, you can go into the full hand mode and just play different hands and situations randomly thrown at you by the app. This is a fun way to learn poker with no pressure that feels like you’re actually playing. When you’re done with the session, you’ll receive detailed feedback on your play.
Railbird: Built and Priced for Solver Newbies
Are there many more poker solvers out there? Most certainly. If you are the kind of player who enjoys looking at complicated charts with colored sections that describe the lowest of frequencies, there are other products you’ll enjoy more.
Railbird is built differently. This is a solver/app that targets novice and intermediate players who don’t want to spend dozens of hours learning how solvers work in the first place before they can start using them.
This software doesn’t speak in riddles and color codes. It tells you, in simple language and clear words, what’s what. That alone makes Railbird quite unique and different from most other products out there.
As for the pricing, there are multiple options available with different structures and usage limits that allow you to get excellent bang for your buck, whether you just want to examine difficult spots from time to time or prefer to devote endless hours to “getting in the lab” and studying.
Plus, as an added bonus, you’ll get a 20% discount on the price when you sign up for Railbird via our exclusive link.
It is worth noting that the app has been constantly evolving, with new features added quite regularly, so there is no telling where it might end up. But as it stands, it is a fun, user-friendly, and powerful enough solution for most players’ studying needs.
