Hi guys, hope you're all crushing. Over the past 6 months i've been playing on softer sites , working with PIO, and overall rebalancing my definitions of what i consider an intelligent person/player to be. The results of that rebalancing have been rewarding to me and i'd like to share this main thought, as it feels highly relevant to the gto solver era that we are all awesomely swept up in. it's pretty simple:

an intelligent person is one who knows where to perceive the most benefit at any given time.

If you're doing a lot of solver work, your EV gains will NOT depend primarily on your work ethic or your level of analytical genius. They will depend on your ability to avoid futility, and on your dedication to place your focus on the area that offers the most EV to your game at any one stage in your evolution. With the ~infinite complexity of the solvers there are so many forbidden apples. Bite one of them and go down its futile rabbit hole of abstractness. These apples are traps for 99% of pros, b/c you're not at a level to accurately apply or interpret that level of complexity. Unless you're at a nosebleed level of understanding of the game, your unchallenged assumptions when interpreting models are likely stunting your growth. I've had a bunch of PIO meetings with my group where we think we are uncovering this next-level concept by observing trends and isolating variables to support new theories. Then we change one betsize option and BLAM everything goes out the window and we wasted hours with over-insistent hypothesis. If you really enjoy the rabbit hole, you should play in it consciously. If you're studying for EV, you should prioritize your focus toward more practicality. Mainly b/c you still suck at poker, relative to solvers.

A work ethic that is focused toward highest perceivable benefit is maximally productive.

The only trap to this is that you must be balanced enough in your perception before you can actually focus yourself towards highest benefit. So start becoming more sensitive to the scent of futility and decelerated patterns. If you're not constantly excited about your studying, or getting monthly reinforcement from your results that you're improving, you should consider making aggressive changes to your approach. Its my opinion that Bayesian supports a self correction process at a pace most of us would feel uncomfortable with, especially as we achieve an increased clairvoyance/understanding of the makeup of our particular playing environment. This process of self correction can be applied to your PIO work when you emphasize the value of focused direction, and when you combine that with a keen sense of what is relevant for beating the shit out of your current playing environment. In other words: how exploitable is your environment? This will give you a sense of how literally you want to apply model strategies to your game, as opposed to using them as benchmarks for exploitative play.

Remember that the solvers are as much a trap as they are a revolutionary tool for growth. The guys who will rise to the top over the next few years are the guys who consistently trade their paradigms for more inclusive, balanced perspectives. It's not new age, it's just logic.

ok go forth and perceive avenues of maximal benefit!

Nick

p.s - this post was inspired by recent members who have asked me to coach their PIO group. I'm interested in this type of lesson format at the moment, mainly b/c it excites me more to teach people how to become self-sufficient learners rather than just give my hand-for-hand analysis. PM me if you have a group that's interested in this type of coaching.