Frequently Asked Questions
The Basics
What is Alien Poker Club?
It is a poker practice simulator. You play hands against computer opponents that are modeled on the kinds of players you meet at a low-stakes card room, and a coach panel tells you what it would do in your spot while the hand is still live. Afterwards you can replay the hand and look at your own statistics. It exists because solvers are expensive and feel like homework, and free-money games play nothing like real poker.
There is a longer walk-through on the How It Works page.
Is this gambling? Can I win or lose real money?
No. All play is with play money and the chips have zero monetary value. They cannot be bought, sold, traded, redeemed, or cashed out, there is no wagering of any kind, and there are no prizes. Winning or losing a pot has no financial consequence whatsoever. The only money that ever changes hands is an optional subscription fee for the software itself, which is not a stake or a deposit. You must be 18 or over to use the service.
What is the Coach, and is it a solver?
The Coach is our own engine's read of the spot you are in: fold, call, or raise, with a size and a short plain-English reason, updated on every street. It is not solver output, it is not certified game-theory-optimal play, and it is not a commercial solver in disguise. We call it a coach rather than GTO precisely so nobody mistakes it for something it is not. It is an approximation, it can be wrong, and it knows nothing about the specific opponents in your home game. The separate range charts in the study area are a different thing: those really are derived from an offline solver pipeline we run ourselves.
Which poker variants can I play?
Four: No-Limit Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, Omaha 8 Hi-Lo, and Pot-Limit Omaha. No-Limit Hold'em is the primary variant and the most thoroughly tuned. PLO is playable but labeled BETA, which means the opponent behavior and the advice are less mature there and are still being tuned. We would rather say so than let you find out.
Money
What does it cost?
The free tier is free forever and lets you play 100 hands a day for your first month, then 25 hands a day after that — with the full game and coach advice on every decision; the limit is on volume, not on features. Premium is , removes the daily cap, and is the only thing we ever charge for. There is one price and one plan. No upsells, no ads, no data sales.
Do I need an account to try it?
No. The Play Now button starts a guest session — about 30 minutes at the table, no email address, nothing to cancel. No account is needed for your first 14 days of play; after that, a free account keeps you going. Guest play is deliberately temporary and nothing from it is guaranteed to be saved. If you want your hand histories and statistics kept, create a free account.
How do I cancel Premium?
Through the Stripe customer portal, which you reach from your account page. That is deliberately the only cancel path — Stripe holds the subscription, so canceling there is the action that actually takes effect, rather than an in-app button that has to ask Stripe on your behalf and might quietly fail. Canceling stops the next renewal and you keep Premium until the end of the period you have already paid for. It does not by itself produce a refund.
Can I get a refund?
Yes — a full refund within 30 days of a charge, no questions asked, on both the first charge and any annual renewal. Email us from the address on the account and say which charge you mean. Refunds go back to the original payment method through Stripe. A refund ends Premium access immediately, which is the difference between refunding and canceling: cancel if you simply do not want to be billed again. The full terms are in our Refund Policy.
Practicalities
Does it work on my phone or tablet?
Yes. It runs in the browser on a phone, a tablet, or a computer, with nothing to download. On a phone the table turns upright to fit the screen, and the coach, your stats, and your hand history open as drawers from the edges instead of sitting beside the table. A bigger screen still shows the most at once, so a laptop or desktop is the roomiest way to play, but a phone is a real way to get your hands in. If you want it one tap away, use Install on my device to put it on your home screen.
What happens to my hands and my data?
Hands you play while signed in are saved to your account so you can review them and so your statistics mean something. We do not sell your data, we do not run ads, and there is no advertising or cross-site tracking on the site. You can export your data or delete your account yourself at any time, and deleting the account removes your saved hands with it. The Privacy Policy lists every single thing we store and why.
Who is behind Alien Poker Club?
It is built and operated by Alien Stagecraft LLC, a small outfit in California. It is a passion project made by poker players who wanted this to exist — not a venture-funded product with a growth target. We make money when someone pays for Premium, and that is the entire business model.
Is this a remake of Turbo Texas Hold'em?
No, and we are not affiliated with Wilson Software. But one of us learned poker on it, especially Omaha, and the idea that you practice against named opponents with real tendencies rather than against chaos comes straight from it. The alliterative character names are a nod. We wrote a page about what it got right and what we took from it.
Will practicing here make me a winning player?
We are not going to promise that, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. What this gives you is repetitions against opponents who behave like real ones, and immediate feedback on decisions while you still remember making them. That is the raw material for getting better. What you do with it is up to you.
Still Stuck?
Anything not covered here, use the contact form or email [email protected]. A person reads it.
See also the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.