Introduction to GTO (part 1)
Posted by Vincent V
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I thought it was pretty straight forward. You explained some difficult to explain scenarios in the simplest way possible. I am new to Poker, so new that I am just trying to learn and have not even invested money yet and I am pretty sure I understood the theory that were getting at. I look forward to the future videos.
Good to hear! Thank you
if you understand theory like this i think its maybe time you start playing haha, just start at the lowest stakes.
Cheers.
If we deviate from an optimal strategy we are necessarily making ourselves exploitable. Just because villain doesn't exploit us doesn't mean we are unexploitable, it's just that he hasn't exploited us.
So I think your explanation of that bit around 13:00 might be wrong.
What are you talking about?
GTO maximizes profit since it's an "optimal" strategy. The term "optimal" implies that GTO is always picking paper vs. a rock-only-villain for instance... So GTO has to be a dynamic strategy!
Playing GTO vesus another GTO-Strategy leads to the infamous Nash-Equilibrium - which is what you think GTO is. But the unexploitable Nash Equilibrium is just where GTO ends - it is just a part of GTO. (the sad part, where rake is the only winner)
If Villain in the BB is folding too much vs our SB open, the correct strategy according to Game-Theory is obviously to open any2cards until Villain is defending enough ;-)
I guess you are right, but your definition is completely useless in practical terms since we will never be clairvoyant in game. You will never know exactly when an opponent is exploitable, for how much, for how long, etc.
As soon as you're deviating from the optimal strategy, you're playing an exploitative (and therefore exploitable) strategy. Exploitable in the sense that said villain could simply switch to scissors. Optimal means unexploitable, and it doesn't involve any direct exploiting. Villains simply get exploited as a result of not playing optimal themselves.
You are confusing the term "optimal" with maxEV, which are two very different things.
GTO is not "optimal" in the sense that it leads to the highest amount of money won. In fact, GTO is a term only used within the poker community. It really refers to a strategy or set of strategies that is unexploitable, i.e., as Vincent says, another party cannot increase their EV against your strategy even if he/she knows it completely.
Optimal means that no matter what strategy your opponent is playing, you will never lose. Your EV in worst case scenarios is 0. So even against an opponent playing Rock 100% of the time, the optimal, and GTO strategy is still to play rock, paper and scissors with an equal distribution.
Obviously at that point you're going to want to play exploitative and not GTO, which at that point he'll start trying to exploit your strategy since you aren't playing optimal, and so starts the equilibrium exercise in which eventually both competent opponents would at some point find themselves both playing GTO again.
I think this concept is pretty hard to grasp for most of us,what i'd like to know is for what stakes it's useful to start to apply GTO ( in the case u know what ur doing of course )? I mean here in France for ie some say u need it only at NL 200+ and under u only use pieces of it and playing exploitative is the ultimate strategy, so where is the truth?
I covered this question in the 2nd part of the mini-series :) I think it will release in around a week!
This is a solid video. I was familiar the material but this gave me needed reinforcement. I like your delivery - clear and concise.
Good vid!
Amazing!! Thank you very, very much.
The more i study, the more i realize this is endless. What a fantastic game!!
So what is the best way to learn how to play GTO poker if you have never even heard of the term but been playing live MMT for years and have even won a few tournaments? Any suggestions ?? Any thoughts would be appreciated
Same here,would like to get some insight / answer if possible.
Also does GTO primarily relate to On-Line poker? Seems like its hard to play GTO in live tournaments when you do not have any players stats at the tables correct?
Great introduction, this is why I joined RIO..TY!
There was something you said this video I found odd. You state that a GTO bluffing frequency would show a profit. From my understanding from what I've read (although I am admittedly not a math wizard so correct me if I'm wrong) shouldn't a GTO bluffing frequency show an EV of zero and serve to make villain indifferent to folding or calling our value range in that spot?
Great video, however I have a question does a nash equilibrium in poker exists? beacuse is a game of incomplete information and those "optimal solutions" are made with decisons trees with multiple variables but you may never know if it's the best solution. The nash equilibrium exists when you know a strategy (x, y) (the optimal strategy) in which the payoff functions of the two players are H1(x , y) and H2(x ,y) where x is the strategy of player 1 of the subset X and y the strategy of player 2 of the subset Y. in this case if one player deviate from the staretgy (x, y) their payoff is reduce and it can be exploited. In poker however there's so many combinations and one subgame can affect your optimal strategy.
Hi I have a question that is a bit off topic, but what is the optimal bet size when it comes to Live cash game. I usually open 3.5x from UTG + 1 to CO, 4,5x on the BU, and 3x in the SB. The reason I bet so big on BU is because I have trained in PokerSnowie and the artificial intelligence use 3.5x on BU (since its live i make it a little bigger). As a rule, I have seen that people use larger bet size live, than online. Whats yout thoughts?
Thank you for the breakdown. Trying to explain gto and exploitive play is a almost as difficult as learning how to play! We all want people to know we are more than just degenerate gamblers, and actually working towards mastering a very challenging game. Your breakdown makes this a little less overwhelming of a concept to explain to others.
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