I have been playing Texas Holdem Poker a couple of times a week now for over a year. I’ve been doing well and showing a Profit, however there are some games where I do a lot better than others. As an Exploitative player type I seem to do well at the smaller games where I know all my opponents pretty well, but every time I step up to a bigger game I struggle because my exploitative style doesn’t really work against unknowns. It’s time for me to evolve...
Image Generated by AI
One of the recent developments in the Poker space is this idea of playing Game Theory Optimal. I’ve been aware of it for some time but have always avoided it because I didn’t want to learn how to play like a Robot and I still firmly believe that poker is a game of Human Intuition and Nuance. That said I have realised that I need to improve my “Default” game where I have zero knowledge of my opponents. So it’s time for me to learn some GTO.
I’ve signed up for a trial of GTO Wizard which is advertised as “The ultimate all-in-one GTO study tool”. In the past I’ve used a basic Poker Calculator which can give you a % Win Chance on any given board texture, but this GTO Wizard tool has a lot more complexity. It breaks situations down into Ranges and can calculate what is theoretically the best play in any situation. It also has a cool Trainer where you can practice against a GTO Bot Opponent and get immediate feedback on how close (or far) you are from optimal play.
Source
On my first run at the trainer I got a score of about 44% over 150 hands which means I am still pretty far from optimal play. However its a tool that I can use to benchmark my play and try to get better at playing GTO. I think it will help me evolve my game to the point where I can still play well when my opponents are unknown. Of course I will still rely on picking up Tells to Profile and Exploit my opponents once I get to know them, but playing GTO will be a handy default mode to start tables.
Battle Helper much? hahaha
It is interesting to see how your own instincts & style vs Stats.
Much like a Rage Attack by a Barbarian using BruteForce vs a Trained Swordsman.
Be the Barbarian! grrrr.
Absolutely! That's a very good comparison.
Back in the day, this was called playing ABC poker. It works well on smaller table players because they will mostly hang themselves but not so much on bigger tables. I remember when I moved up in stakes, I had to up my game and start to study it properly. I used to run simulations on Excel and read a dozen poker books, mostly advanced odds and game theory. One thing I learned with poker was, that education never stops.
If you getting knocked back on the bigger tables, maybe try to be more selective of the table you are joining, a large average pot size will let you know lots of action and you'll be able to play tight with your hand selection but aggressively when you pick up a good hand. The same in reverse, if the table has a small average pot size, then you should play aggressively, widen your hand range and see more flops.
I've not played properly in years but if you SGS guys ever host a poker tournament or cash game, im down like Charlie Brown.
Nice. I had not heard of ABC Poker before but after looking it up, it does look like an earlier version of GTO. I play in tournaments so have very little control over my seating. Sometimes I can pick my starting seat, but the tournament director will move you around as the field gets smaller.
Not sure how SGS would get a game going, but I'd be open to it for sure. I know @silverd510 would be up for it too.
I was playing poker proper like 20 years ago so im sure the game has evolved levels since then.
There is a HIVE poker site, its not popular but leave it with me and i'll see if it is still in operation. If so, i'll contact the admin and see if i can get them to create a custom tournament for us. I'd prefer cash games but tournaments would be better for less experienced people to get their head around.
I'll keep you posted in our group DM mate
Ok, sounds good.
Which site is it? I saw one a while back, but I wouldn't use that tbh. Not sure it's active either.
I've been working on getting both cash games and tournaments onchain (not developing it myself though) and I'm optimistic
I’m in
Sounds like a plan, hope it works for you. I don’t see myself using something like that. I’m big on feeling out people. It just the way I play.
Thanks mate. I like feeling people out too. It's the fun part. Playing like a robot isn't going to be much fun, but it's just another string in the bow - so to speak.
I get it, anything to help. I just don’t see myself ever doing that.
I think I would be horrible at poker. I would imagine I might have about a million different tells.
I thought so too, but I think I am getting better at masking them.
I’ve never tried playing poker but with the things I’ve heard about it, it is not my kind of game and I won’t do so well in it
I wish you goodluck though
May be that becomes good for you wanna try it too
You received an upvote of 100% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!
Please remember to contribute great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag to create another Precious Gem.
Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @buggedout.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
!PIMP !DHEDGE
You must be killin' it out here!
@trumpman just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @buggedout.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/3 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
This post has been selected for upvote from our token accounts by @trumpman! Based on your tags you received upvotes from the following account(s):
- @dhedge.bonus
@trumpman has 6 vote calls left today.
Hold 10 or more DHEDGE to unlock daily dividends. Hold 100 or more DHEDGE to unlock thread votes. Calling in our curation accounts currently has a minimum holding requirement of 100 DHEDGE. The more DHEDGE you hold, the higher upvote you can call in. Buy DHEDGE on Tribaldex or earn some daily by joining one of our many delegation pools at app.dhedge.cc.