Modern Poker Theory: Building an Unbeatable Strategy Based on GTO Principles

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Modern Poker Theory is a comprehensive, rigorous guide to the most important aspects of No-Limit Hold’em. The relationship between pot odds and odds of winning is one of the most important concepts in poker strategy.

Maximizing your winnings versus recreational poker players is absolutely vital to your success in today's games, especially at the lower limits. This higher-level segment of the Modern Poker Theory video series discusses GTO Solvers in part 1 (4 Videos), which covers the importance of GTO Solvers and the differences between the various options available. He went above and beyond what I was expecting, even delving into other poker-related software that you can use in unison with the GTO solvers such as Equilab and Flopzilla equity calculators (in many instances, you’ll want to utilize multiple poker software programs simultaneously). All content on this site is intended for those 21 or older or of legal gambling age in their jurisdiction. Loose players play relatively more hands and tend to continue with weaker hands; hence they do not often fold.This article is a very basic summary of how game theory is applied in poker, but hopefully you’ve gained something from it, or at least become more curious about how to develop your game in-line with game theory concepts. I have competed for many years at the highest levels, and the level of my game jumped when I started studying the material in this book diligently.

Every successful poker player knows that admitting mistakes to one’s self is absolutely crucial to consistently playing well. Acevedo has run thousands of scenarios through these algorithms and gleaned incredible insights on what optimal poker looks like. In part 3 (4 videos), we are shown the usefulness of post-flop aggregated analysis and how we can play against the solution using Simple GTO Trainer in regular mode and drills. By employing deception, a poker player hopes to induce their opponent(s) to act differently from how they would if they could see their cards. And if you actually have a really strong hand like top pair, two pair, trips or better, then you should simply just keep betting the entire time.Shannon has fond memories of playing poker during Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays with family as a child in the 80s; everybody was bluffing and nobody was folding! They completely unplug when they see those three scary letters because they have heard a lot of misinformation about what game theory optimal really truly is. The best thing you can do from a practical standpoint is to learn the modern poker theory but not to use it in every scenario. A pair of aces doesn’t want to be overbet on an overbet board, for instance, because it blocks the opponent’s AX continuing range.

To understand how the modern theory of poker helps players with their confidence and deal with downswings you can think about it this way. At least that’s how I felt after reading the amazing book (see my Modern Poker Theory book review here). To drive out worse hands when a player's own hand may be second best: A combination protection and probe raise, a player with a strong hand but not the "nuts" (the hole cards that make the best possible hand given the current face-up cards) may raise, both to induce drawing hands that may improve to the "nut hand" to fold, while also testing to see if another player has the "nuts". This is why it is important to understand that GTO is a strategy that players implement so they wouldn’t get exploited. However, if you are pretty confident that you need to learn GTO because other players in your games are exploiting you, you should find better games it is much easier than learning GTO.Since poker is an imperfect information game, these solvers need to take into account all the possible hands for every position and stack size on a poker table. The players who have studied Modern Poker Theory will, without doubt, have a better theoretical and practical understanding of No-Limit Hold’em.

Related is the semi-bluff, in which a player who does not have a strong hand, but has a chance to improve it to a strong hand in later rounds, bets strongly on the hand in the hopes of inducing other players with weaker "made" hands to fold. If you are able to learn GTO and also do this, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a winning player! If you are betting for value in certain situations, you should also be betting as a bluff with other hands in your range so that your opponent is unsure whether you are betting for value or as a bluff.

Even though the material is mostly prepared for MTT crowd with shallower stack, the fundamental knowledge it covers still applies to other form of poker. Many confusing concepts such as overbetting, balancing multiple bet-sizing ranges, donk betting, and check-raising as the preflop raiser are crucial to a player's strategy, despite few players implementing them or talking about them. That flop may not benefit the player, but the player may still have many "outs" (cards left to deal that could make a strong hand), or even if the odds are slim they can try to bluff. For example, a tell might suggest that an opponent has missed a draw, so a player seeing it may decide a bluff would be more effective than usual. I really appreciate the fully colored range charts, and love the overall quality of the print (D+B generally has high quality prints in my experience).