In February 2017 MonkerSolver was released and PLO solving became a reality for everyone (and not just owners of the fabled "Dream Machine").

Having the tools doesn't make anyone an expert, though, and for a game that is so computationally demanding as PLO it's important to stay relevant and not waste a lot of time on unimplementable perfection. It's easy to mistake information for knowledge, but if three years of NLHE solving have taught us anything, it's that access to optimal strategies does not translate directly into boosted win rate.

A couple of months ago Corey asked me if I wanted to read his book and review it here in exchange for a free copy, and I gladly accepted the proposition. I had just started dabbling with MonkerSolver myself, and I was curious to see how it was applied to PLO.

Since then I have used the program a lot, and I have decided to take up PLO again. Because I do believe PLO will be very profitable in the years to come for anyone who commits to improving their strategies with solvers. Studying this book had a lot to do with my decision, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

Review of "PLO 3B Pots Game Theory and Practice"
The book aims to get you started on a practical path right away. Its sole topic is low SPR scenarios (e.g. 3B pots) in PLO and how to break down their strategies into something that you can understand and actually implement. These scenarios are both frequent, important for the win rate, and they lend themselves to solver study since shallow stack scenarios are the easiest ones to compute solutions for.

This approach of treating a narrow topic in depth makes the book ideal for anyone who wishes to get started with PLO solving, but lacks a method for how to interpret results and transform them into actual strategy. What you will learn is a framework for analyzing PLO solutions and extracting practical knowledge from them. Knowledge that will translate directly into strategy that you can implement.

Since the scope of the book is narrow and it makes no attempt to cover everything about PLO strategy, the discussion is focused and easy to follow. Then it's up to you to apply what you learn to other areas of the game later. I really liked this, because in my experience (I've done massive amounts of NLHE pre flop solving), hands-on experience going deep in a specific area provides much more insight than a general theoretical overview. Once you have trained a good general method by analyzing one part of the game very well, applying the method to other areas will be easy.

One of the eternal problems of studying PLO systematically has been the presentation of ranges, since we don't have anything like the 13x13 Hold'em grid for visual aids. Cory has solved this problem with strategy charts that lets us visualize PLO postflop strategy in an elegant way:

Like so:

And like so:

The first part of the book introduces the method and the framework for attacking PLO with solvers in a practical and relevant fashion. Range construction is the central topic. The second part consists of 16 detailed hand analyses. Understanding these example hands well and reproducing some of the examples (or applying the method to some of your own hands) as you go along will get you up to speed with practical PLO solving very fast.

Before you start with the book I recommend you buy MonkerSolver and get it up and running. The book doesn't provide much technical software advice (but it is my understanding that this will be covered in an optional video package accompanying the book) but the program has a 2+2 thread and there's also a very active Skype Group going.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to tap into the enormous potential of PLO solvers without losing sight of the most important thing for a poker player: We play the game to get our opponents' money, and our study methods should reflect that. We want to be practical and relevant as much as possible, and we'll not waste time on unimplementable perfection.

I'm not sure if I'll write a full review of Cory's book. I did some editing for it, am working on supplementary content that buyers will get free (basically just commentary essays), and am managing content security with the company I've used for my stuff.

So I do have a bias. But there's a reason I got involved, so I'll just mention a couple simple things that I think are important about how Cory constructed the book, and you can judge for yourself if they are important to you.

The central question I find interesting right now in PLO research is how to efficiently use solvers and present solver results given how time-intensive solver work is and how wide the scope of possible questions. Personally this is my #1 guidepost by far as I work on solver stuff and it's the first think I think about when I see what other people are doing. People who have done a lot of Pio work certainly understand this, and with the added complexity of PLO (computationally and in terms of the dimensions of the possible questions), it is a bigger problem here.

It would be relatively easy to sloppily run some assorted stuff for a few months and spit out a big datadump that is very hard to learn from. Cory's book does not do this. He picked a specific topic that is well-defined and discrete but also has variety within it. Sure, we want to solverize everything NOW, but that's not an option, even at the smallest abstraction

So for example, if you have to pick one...

4-bet pots are large but have few variables and are often uninteresting strategically. They are effectively semi-solved without solvers. Single-raised pots are smaller, have a lot more variables, are harder to nail down through a few core examples and could easily end up all over the place. 3-bet pots are a nice intermediate spot on all counts. Pretty big pots, narrower scope (more defined ranges than SRP, usually 1-2 streets of action, usually HU). They lend themselves to someone looking closely at textures, positions, corresponding ranges, and creating a set of 15-20 case studies that illuminate the entire space well. And if you do that well, it is worth a lot in game. That's what Cory did, and his writing is clean and concise. He boils down solves into takeaway concepts very well and gives you the data and graphs so you can trust but verify.

A second problem with solver data-dumping is presentation and visualization. Cory created a very nice graphical representation of ranges that is part of all the examples, as you can see in Zenfish's review.

Decide for yourself if a carefully selected and presented set of solved 3-bet pot case studies that extrapolates well to the full 3-bet pot space is worth $1500. I can say that he could give you the list of cases, monker settings, and N hours of computational time, and the raw output would be a lot less valuable than the book.

Maybe that's something like a review. Oh well.

Hello, Boys and Girls. I got few lessons from Cory which was based materials for book, and now I get my personal copy.

PLO is game with a lot of tough spots and this book will help you to understand 3bet pots too much better.
After learning it, everything becomes more structured and understandable. And now I feels more confident in 3bet pots.

I got the book from Cory a few month ago, i was privileged to have him as my coach. I was impressed with the quality of the books information, it has changed my vision of the game in key points. When i got to the Monker Solver Graphics i was a little intimidated with the complexity of the information, but Cory does such a good job explaining every spot that all becomes clear very fast.

I use his book on a regular bases, every time i review a 3Bet Pot hand, i look up the spot and analyse how should i play the hand! it's an easy task to have a good strategy when you know what combos to choose for a GTO strategy and how to deviate from them for a better exploit!

Woah, $1500? Really?

MonkerSolver ($500), PioSolver Pro($475), PLO Calc($300) and a year of PokerJuice ($499) combined cost the same as this book with the videos.

Here are some numbers to justify the price:

I invented a completely new way to visualize PLO ranges, without which it's very hard to get much value out of Monkersolver in my opinion. There are over a hundred of these strategy graphs in the book along with side by side comparisons of exploitive strategies with optimal strategies that show how the strategies evolve to exploit an opponent's mistakes. Now that my graphic approach is out there, I'm sure you could copy it, but it took me about an hour to do each one so your EV will be higher just buying the book.

First things first though, you have to buy Monkersolver for $500, but arguably you should do that anyway so let's disregard that right now.

Next you will need a PC to run Monkersolver. I bought a machine with 128g of ram for $4500, but lets say you only want to solve 3B pots and are content using poker juice ranges in all spots instead of preflop solves. In that case you'll only need a machine with 32g of ram so that won't cost you as much, but if you don't already own one, you've already paid the price of the book. Virtual machines seem like the cheap option until you realize how long these sims take to normalize. You need hundreds of iterations for even the flop strategies to become reasonable. I ran each flop for over 24 hours and then separately reran all the turns and river to ensure accuracy. You could do this too, but if you're even paying $4 an hour ($4 x 25 hours x 16 sims in the book), you may quickly find that this is more expensive. By the way, you'll make a number of mistakes building the sims and have to rerun them assuming that you catch the mistake. I know from experience.

Let's assume you already have the PC, Monkersolver, and aren't sold on my visualization approach to the Monker ranges. You now have to spend your time analyzing the Monker outputs and reaching the correct conclusions. This will require experience with solvers and a deep knowledge of game theory. Some HSNL players have this since that game has evolved more, but many HSPLO players don't, so you'll need to figure that out. If you make $50 an hour playing and spend 30 hours trying to master solvers and game theory as it pertains to PLO, you've already paid for the book.

I would argue that I've uncovered some completely revolutionary ideas about short stack PLO and present them in such a digestible framework that this book will dramatically impact your game in short stacked SRP, 3B pots and turn play where the SPR is 4 or less. If the book boosts your winrate from $100 an hour to $110 an hour, it could easily pay for it self in a couple months conservatively.

Lastly, it's tax deductible for professional gamblers in the US (not sure about tax code elsewhere) while your time is not.

I hope this post doesn't come off as aggressive or incendiary. I think asking someone to justify the price of their product this completely reasonable and a smart move from savvy consumers. Hopefully my argument for the price rings true.

"First things first though, you have to buy Monkersolver for $500, but arguably you should do that anyway so let's disregard that right now."

"A machine with 32g of ram so that won't cost you as much, but if you don't already own one, you've already paid the price of the book."

If you have to choose between this book or an awesome new computer, that can do many other things, and a state of the art NLH/ PLO GTO Solver, I'd have to go with the tech products.

$50-$100 winrates in 2017 online Pot limit Omaha? The great Jnandez87 https://imgur.com/pjhVC0V , a professional, winrates to me look like $10-$15 an hour at midstakes to high stakes a year or two ago. You cant expect your readers to do better.

What if people read this book and it doesnt improve their game at all or they get crushed. You win $1500 a piece from all of them. They could even end up busto. The randomness and unpredictability of PLO is insane.

Perhaps the market for this book is $5-$10 PLO+ players, minimum $2-$4+ That's a possibility. But, the best PLO players in the world are in those games. Who can possibly be left after Pokerstars took away the rewards programs with 30%, 40%, 50% or even 60% rakeback. And the others poker sites are basically shit. It is tough sailing for pot limit omaha poker players these days.

wow. Copernicus ass so on fire... Probably you are one of that type of guy who can come in to Louis Vuitton and cry that their clothes very expensive.

Man, I will tell you the truth, looks like it will be hard for you to understand, but try... if you dont like product or it is expensive for you, you have a choice to not buy it.

I think everybody can sell everything they want and make the price on it which they want to. PLZ stop telling to anybody how thay should make their bussiness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ISr76VIqYw

The latest poker life podcast. Skip to minute 47 to hear Joey's brief thoughts on the book.

Hopefully, Sean Kapul aka Redrooski24 http://i.imgur.com/DupjrFC.png, one your testimonials for the book, can actually use its contents to improve his game and get back in action on Pokerstars. I havnt seen him back playing yet.

Perhaps, Cory, you should move somewhere that allows you to play on Pokerstars and devastate the player pool. If you could demonstrate your brilliant theory translates into tremendous results, youd probally sell many copies.

The Monker-trees aren't included in the deal? Negotiable?

Wanted to chime in since I’ve spent the last couple of weeks making my through the 3B pot book.

It’s definitely a worthwhile read and imo the price tag matches the level of complexity and usefulness for serious midstakes+ players. High stakes has definitely gotten tougher over the last couple of years, and particularly in 3b pots I’ve noticed a shift in how the elite players approach playing static boards.

This book helped me visualize my range better (esp the chapter covering KK2r bvb) and I especially liked how it covered not just flop play but also what the GTO approach is on a variety of runouts. Haven’t seen these types of explanations or strategy graphs really anywhere else, so I’m confident it will give me a big edge in the games going forward.

• Chance Kornuth

The 'problem' with this price point is even if a book were a massive steal for some people, it is certainly not worth it for some other people (but it is interesting to all people!). At lower price points any book would be worth it for more people, but some of the people who would want it at a higher price point also value the exclusivity that comes with the higher price.

So if you sell a book for $1500, you've decided not to target the people who will never get $1500 in value from it. You then have give the people who it might be worth $1500 to enough information to decide. Maybe reviews are biased, but they include facts, and the people who might pay $1500 are good at telling the difference. And there are previews.

Note that I worked (a little) on the book, read it free, and want it to sell, but in my semi-review, I did not say BUY BUY NOW. I didn't even say buy. I said - here are the main good things imo, decide if it's worth it to you; because the people actually considering buying already know why they might want it and they know how much each data point that can help them decide is worth. Because they are really good at poker.

Hi Cory,

I'm a chess player with close to 2400 FIDE rating.

I noticed in your posting history that you have claimed to be a chess master. Now that your real name is outed, anyone can search you in the FIDE website, and check that you only have a rating of 2091.

I guess my question is: if you have been lying about your level and results as a chess player, why we should trust you about your results as a poker player and a coach?

Cory,

Apologies. I have found on Google that you have a National Master title from the US federation. Its a joke title, but whatever, you can call yourself a chess master and it wont be a lie.

In my eyes a 'national master' is not really a master, but sorry for the misunderstanding. I shouldnt have said that you were a liar. Sorry.

Good luck with your book!

Video Content from the book

Here is a recent video we released discussing solvers and showing some free content from the book. Jump to minute 10 to see analysis from the book itself.

Sorry if I missed it, but was there specific public information regarding your results? Thanks.

Hi I am a 5/10 plo player and I couldn't be happier with the book so far. I only read the first 75 pages of it but for me it has been much better than I expected. The amount of time that it saved me from what I would have to do in terms of solver work and the methodology of the graphs really clicked for me. This is a great shortcut to any serious player who is starting to get into Monkersolver and wants to refine his game and rethink many new nuances of our great game. Anyways that's just my 2cent. gl at the tables

What specifications (GB ram etc) will a computer need to run the preflop game in Monkersolver?

Cory approached me a little while ago with the question whether I was interested to review the book he wrote regarding 3-bet pots in PLO.
Since Im very interested in what the latest solvers are capable of and have little knowledge myself in how to use them I thought it would be an excellent oppurtunity for me to learn more about them, and in the meanwhile, get some PLO theory practice as well.
It turned out the book gave me much more info than just the stuff I mentioned above. I was expecting a broad theoretical outline on specific (3-bet) PLO spots and while it did give this as well the book was also able to combine this theory to practical implications in a very mature way. As a reader/student this saves you quite a bit of time in deducting the implications of any data analysis.
As always one shouldn't expect to get any kind of solution from an eductional book on poker. A good poker book should significantly broaden the knowledge of a typical reader for which the book was meant to be. In this case, the book is clearly meant for the advanced PLO player (a good conceptual understanding of PLO is a requirement to fully appreciate the book). With this comes the hardest task for the writer, namely being valueable in the current PLO enviroment for the advanced player. For me personally, this was the case. It gave me enough new knowledge as well as some new insight in certain spots to happily endorse the book. Job well done!

Hi Cory,

After watching your video's I purchased monker with the intentions of running my own sims, I have found the program challenging to use and I realize I need a better machine than what I currently have (working on it) to make the most of it. Is my understanding correct that with your book I will have the understanding required to run my own sims, understanding how changing the settings can impact my results, and generally use monker sophisticatedly?

Thanks so much for your content. I really appreciate your style, I play in Australian multiblind live games, 5/5/10 10 handed, (internet poker is illegal here now too :( ) and in some private online games where it's often 2-6 handed so I'm really looking to build up some solid understanding of what the theoretical approach to these games should be. Do you think your book could help me?

Thanks again.

I promised earlier in the thread that after 50k hands I would post results, but since I'm about to leave the country and won't be able to play for 8-9 weeks, I figured I would just post now. This is all PLO from 400 to 2k. Obviously the sample is small, but I'm only playing part time so this is the best I can do. For those unfamiliar with my story, I took 2017 mostly off from playing to work on the book and personal development. My previous graph can be found in my poker journal (on RIO).

I enjoy HUPLO the most and spend a lot of my playing time there.

Hey, guys. I was waiting to finish this book before reviewing it, but there's a lot of material in there to digest, and I am super busy, so I read it very slowly :).

I got the ebook and hard copy, and I strongly prefer doing my studying from the physical book. I took only a couple of notes but I did a ton of highlighting of things like surprising solver strategy choices and key points from Cory's conclusions.

I've seen coaches out there share solver-based strategies without explanation or disclaimers, and I've also seen coaches explain, with certainty, why the solvers choose a specific line - and I've disagreed with some of those explanations.

Solvers don't "think about" any of the things we do at the poker table. Putting solver outputs into context and applying human logic to a solver's strategy is the most important part of teaching with solvers, and this is what I think Cory does so well in his book. (which is why I asked him to make videos here at Run It Once!)

Using very strong reasoning skills, he offers his best interpretation of what the solver is trying to tell us, and does so in a way that gives you enough detail to draw your own conclusions.

Cory goes into optimal strategies but also focuses on solver-based exploitative strategies, which, in my opinion, is the most profitable part of studying from solvers today.

This is not a book for beginners, but I think anyone who regularly watches and understands RIO's Elite PLO videos will be able to get a lot of value from it.

I don't review many things, so if you're wondering why I am writing this: Cory gave me a copy of his book a while back and I told him that I'd offer a review if I liked it, which I obviously did. I don't benefit in any way from writing a positive review, and in fact, I may be sending potential RIO customers to go spend their money elsewhere!

I probably don't need those disclaimers, but I just want to be clear that I meant everything I wrote.

Investing in a book like this is a decision that should be based on your skill level, bankroll, future plans, and a number of other things which I know nothing about! What I can say is that I've always been a strong proponent of investing in your poker game if you have plans to play for a while.

Cory's book was an enjoyable read and it's helped me improve my PLO game. I don't believe there are many books that I could say that about.

Hey Cory, where's the best place to find your book for getting shipped to Australia?

Thanks Cory

@Cory

I assume that your book takes a standpoint in 6m/full ring but the theory can be applied elsewhere (I'm playing HU)?

Hey guys, since a number of people have asked me personally for it, here is the table of contents for the book!

Hi guys, as promised, here are my results after 50k hands since I came back to poker.

Final pic is HU.

Screen name and sites you played on or graphs dont count.

Congrats on book ma happy 4th!!!

Hey guys, I just wanted to let everyone know that we have a WCOOP special going on. Use the discount code "wcoop2018" to get the book for $997 and the GTO Package which also includes videos for $1197. Use the link https://www.ploquickpro.com/3betpots-spv1?ref=products if you're interested! Good luck!

Updated results since coming back to poker