Vision GTO Trainer Review: The Ultimate PLO Training Tool From Run It Once
Although Pot Limit Omaha has become a quite popular game choice lately, there is still a clear lack of learning materials, especially when compared to No-Limit Hold’em.
The situation is much better than it used to be several years ago, of course, and there is a clear positive trend as there are more and more learning options for players of different levels.
However, nothing can substitute or make up for the actual work you do yourself. The knowledge you gain this way is likely to stick with you for a long time. It was probably this idea that led Phil Galfond and the rest of the team behind the Run It Once site to create their Vision GTO trainer for PLO.
At first glance, a very simple tool, RIO’s Vision is actually a very powerful tool (click here to learn more) that gives you an opportunity to learn everything you want to know about Pot Limit Omaha and understand how math works in this game.
Whether you’re new and looking to get some solid foundations or an experienced player who wants to analyze particular spots and situations, you can do it with the Vision GTO trainer.
Vision GTO Trainer in a Nutshell
I’ll start this Vision GTO trainer review with an explanation of what this software actually is. Just like Hold’em, the great game of PLO has its Game Theory Optimal strategy, i.e., the mathematically correct way of playing every single spot.
Although the GTO for Omaha is more complicated and hasn’t perhaps been explored and examined in as much detail, there is now plenty of information out there.
So, this tool relies on that information to provide solutions and make relevant calculations for different spots.
At first glance, Run It Once Vision doesn’t look like much, but in this particular case, the first impression is definitely deceiving. The team behind the software clearly put a lot of emphasis on what’s important for serious players, and that’s the actual calculations behind the scenes.
The interface could have been a bit easier to use, but once you figure things out, it doesn’t matter.
Run It Once PLO Vision – Getting Started With The Software
The first time you get started with the PLO Vision software, you’ll have the option to go through a tutorial.
I suggest you don’t skip on this step as it won’t take too much of your time, and it explains different elements on the screen. Even if you have some experience using similar poker software, this will just make things much easier moving forward.
As you go through the Vision GTO trainer tutorial, you’ll see just how powerful this tool is.
The number of options at your disposal is truly impressive since you can set up any kind of scenario you want as long as you know how to do it.
If the tutorial and this PLO Vision review aren’t enough, there is also a series of videos explaining different functions of this software, and you can see those by clicking on the image below.
So, as long as you are willing to commit some time to figure it out, there are plenty of resources out there to help you. That said, it isn’t all that complicated, especially if you already have a solid grasp of Pot Limit Omaha in general.
The Learning Mode
As you’ll notice, there are two main modes available in the software. You can either “learn” or “practice.” This section of the Vision GTO trainer review will focus on the “Learn” tab.
The learning mode is meant for analyzing different situations, and you have full freedom to set things up the way you want. Main parameters are:
- Stack depth (50 BBs or 100 BBs)
- Preflop action (single raise, 3-bet, or 4-bet)
- Type of board (rainbow or single-suited)
- Player positions
Like most GTO solvers, PLO Vision only analyzes heads up situations, i.e., scenarios involving only two opponents.
Trying to solve scenarios involving multiple players is complicated enough in Hold’em, and it becomes increasingly difficult in Omaha.
However, you can choose different setups for 6-max games, such as UTG vs. button, button vs. big blind, etc.
The Vision GTO trainer lets you pick from several of the most common scenarios so you can easily set up the position you want to review.
You’ll notice that you don’t have an option to manually set up community cards, though. You’ll have to select from one of the preexisting possibilities. If you want to review a certain Q-high board, for example, you’ll need to click on ‘Q’ and select one of premade boards to work with.
This is because it would be impossible or at least quite ineffective to have a setup where you can choose any board and have the software do the calculations in real-time.
I’m guessing that kind of software would require a huge amount of computing power or would be extremely slow and inefficient to use, so I am happy to take what it has to offer as it is.
Getting Down to Business
Once you have the setup you want, the Vision GTO trainer will provide you with solutions and answers on how to play the particular spot.
For example, this is what the most PLO GTO solution is for the preflop aggressor on this particular board playing out of position and taking their entire range into consideration.
Once you check and the action gets to the button, the software now suggests the best option for the IP player, once again given the entire range of hands they are supposed to call with on the button.
If you’re interested in a particular hand in this scenario rather than the entire range, you can click the ‘Overview’ tab in the top right corner.
This will generate a long list of possible hands for the player whose turn it is to act. Scroll down the list to select the hand you’d like to get more information on and click it. After a few seconds, the Vision PLO trainer will come back with an answer.
So, if you’re looking to improve your game and want to learn GTO strategies for PLO, this section of the software can definitely help you improve your understanding of different board textures.
Even if you spend some time just playing around with it and looking at different scenarios you find interesting, you’re bound to learn some things. Of course, the more serious you approach it, the better your results will be, just like with everything else in poker.
Practicing with PLO GTO Vision
The second main tab in the Vision GTO trainer is the “Practice” tab. This one is slightly different from the learning mode, although once you’ve figured out the main functions of the software, you should have no problems finding your way around.
The main idea behind the Practice mode is to challenge yourself with automatically generated hands and try to give a correct answer in various situations.
If you love PLO, this can actually be a very fun way to learn and improve. Even if you don’t know much about PLO GTO concepts, you can set up different scenarios and see how close your current game and way of thinking are to GTO.
There are two different sections you can choose between in the Practice mode, namely:
- Boards
- Hands
As you can probably guess, the first option is if you want to improve your play based on different board textures.
The second option focuses on your hand strength, i.e., how to play a nut flush in different scenarios or what to do with two pair hands, etc.
If you just want to test your skills for a bit and don’t have any particular scenarios in mind, you can go with either option and play hands as the software throws them at you. However, I’d say that, while entertaining, this is the least effective use of the Run It Once Vision tool.
The other way to go about it is to utilize the power of numerous filters provided for both sections (boards and hands).
These filters let you set up things to the smallest detail and really let you practice those scenarios that you struggle with the most.
It’s not only that you can set up particular types of boards, for example, but you can also dictate the kind of action that takes place on every street.
Run It Once Vision trainer lets you define all the parameters of hands you want to practice and then generates scenarios, allowing you to focus on a particular section of the play that you feel you need to improve.
Similarly, if you want to practice certain types of poker hands, the “Hands” section provides numerous filters to let you set things up the way you want them to be.
If, for example, you are interested in figuring out PLO GTO lines for nut-flush draws on paired boards, you can set it up using both filters and generate as many practice hands as you like.
It will take you some time to figure out how to set the filters up so that you get the results you want.
This Vision GTO trainer review should help give you a general idea, but in all honesty, you’ll have to spend some time doing things for yourself to see what works and what doesn’t.
While it may be a bit frustrating at first (as you’ll be wondering why you aren’t getting the results you were hoping for), discovering how things work is half the fun.
RIO Vision GTO Trainer Review – Improving Your Preflop Game
There plenty of great charts, poker cheat sheets, and systems out there you can use to improve your preflop play, but Vision GTO also has you covered.
Vision actually has preflop ranges built-in, so you can practice preflop play without finding the ranges from external sources.
Simply head to the ‘Practice' tab and select the preflop spot you want to train (e.g., BB vs. UTG). Then you leave the Board field empty, and the PPT-Ranges will automatically be filled with the optimal ranges for this spot from within Vision.
This will be automatically done for any preflop spot you choose via the dropdown, which is an exceptionally powerful and easy way to study.
However, you can take it one step further if needed and work with your own custom ranges.
For example, if you think that your ranges in the low stakes games should look differently to exploit other players, you can then insert your own (that you could possibly get from MonkerSolver) and then train with these exploitative ranges as well.
It is particularly important to leave the Board field empty, though, as this tells RIO Vision that you’re looking into preflop spots before any community cards are dealt.
Once you’re done with this, you’ll be good to go. Simply click ‘Generate,’ and the software will start creating scenarios for you to determine whether you should fold, call, or raise with a certain randomly selected hand from the ranges you pasted.
If you’re a visual learner, this can be a great way to utilize the Vision GTO trainer even if this isn’t the primary purpose.
Of course, for this to work, you need to have some experience with Monker yourself or have the ranges given to you by someone else.
Given the fact this isn’t the software’s primary purpose, though, even to have the option to insert premade ranges and have them displayed in this quiz-like way is pretty awesome.
Who Is Pot Limit Omaha Vision GTO Trainer For?
I did say at the start of this Vision GTO trainer review that the software could help experienced players and those new to the game. And, in theory, that is true.
In practice, this is clearly a product aimed at those who have more experience, not just playing the game but using solvers such as this to improve their play.
To be able to use this tool properly, you will need to have a very solid grasp of game fundamentals.
Otherwise, setting things up correctly will take way longer than it should, and the end result may not even be what you wanted it to be.
This isn’t me trying to say that this is a bad piece of software. On the contrary, it is very useful and quite powerful for those who know how to utilize it properly – which is true for a majority of high-level software in general, not just poker-related tools.
If you’re new to PLO, I wouldn’t suggest this as one of your first steps. You can learn some PLO GTO basics and more using an advanced PLO mastery training program and other resources available online.
Of course, if you want to use the tool to get a better grasp of preflop ranges using the method explained earlier, you could definitely do that. There is nothing wrong with that, but if that’s the only thing you’re using the Vision GTO trainer for, you’re definitely missing out on a lot of its potential.
Final Verdict: Is RIO Vision GTO Trainer Worth the Money?
Looking at the price tag of this study tool, the monthly amount you have to pay to use it, especially if you want both the HU and 6-max versions, isn’t that small. So, the question is, does what this tool has what to offer to justify its price?
I’d have to say, for players who have the knowledge and know-how to utilize its full potential, it most certainly does.
You’ll hardly find a better and more intuitive tool to learn PLO GTO on the fly, and anyone playing at mid or higher stakes will have no problems covering the monthly cost of this software.
Obviously, there is no point in buying a tool such as this if you don’t have a plan to use it at least semi-regularly. Like any other tool, it will only pay back its worth if you put it to work.
If you do, however, and do it correctly, I’m fairly confident the RIO Vision GTO trainer will easily make you the money you invest in it many times over. Click here to learn more.
