From Clause

The from clause defines the scenario PQL will simulate. Each binding is key='value', with bindings separated by commas. Keys are case-insensitive; values are always single-quoted strings.

from game='holdem', hero='AhKh', villain='QQ+', board='Ah9s2c', dead='2c'

A binding key may appear at most once. Duplicate keys produce a parse error.

Reserved Keys

Key	Value type	Meaning
`game`	game name	Which poker variant to play (default `holdem`)
`board`	board range	Community cards or a board pattern
`dead`	card list	Cards removed from the deck before dealing

Anything that is not one of those three is interpreted as a player name and its value parsed as a range.

`game`

Selects the poker variant. Open PQL currently supports:

holdem — Texas Hold’em (default)
omaha — Pot-Limit Omaha (4 hole cards)
shortdeck — 6+ Hold’em (36-card deck)

See Supported Games for the full description.

Players

Players are declared by giving each one a name and a range:

hero='AhKh'                         -- exact two cards
villain='QQ+'                       -- pocket pair QQ or better
villain1='AwKw, AxKy'               -- a small named range
fish='*'                            -- any two cards

Any identifier (other than game, board, dead) is accepted as a player name; the convention is hero, villain, villain1, …, villainN. The full set of players in the from clause defines the seat lineup for that query.

See Range Notation for the value syntax. Classic notation (AKs, AKo) is not yet implemented; only the generic variable-suit syntax is supported.

`board`

The community-card situation. The board can be a fully-known set of cards or a board range pattern:

board='Ah9s2c'             -- flop
board='Ah9s2c7d'           -- turn
board='Ah9s2c7dTs'         -- river
board=''                   -- preflop (no community cards)
board='Aw9x2y'             -- generic flop pattern (any rainbow A-9-2)

When a partial board is given, remaining streets are sampled per trial. See Boards and Streets.

`dead`

Cards that should be removed from the deck before dealing. Useful for “given the burn cards…” scenarios:

dead='2c, 7h'

dead cards never appear in any player’s holding nor on the board.

Defaults

Field	Default if omitted
`game`	`holdem`
`board`	`*` (preflop, all five board cards sampled)
`dead`	empty
players	(no players declared — usually you want at least one)

Ordering

Bindings may appear in any order. By convention, declare game first, then players, then board, then dead.

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