A 3-5 buy-in shot is respective to the stake you are shotting. In this case, you would shot for 3-5 buy-ins of 100nl.

Also, I don't understand how someone can play a pure exploitive style,
isn't that impossible? Wouldn't it be play "GTO" and then if you have
a pool and/or player exploit, then you would deviate from "GTO" and
exploit?

Why would it be impossible?

Really enjoyed the video, see you at 500 in a year!

Best of luck to you! gimme_da_loot

On the micro rake i believe you looked at the limit chart for party not no limit where rake is slightly above stars 10bb cap at 10nl then 5% capped at $3 for 25nl to 1knl.

Wow. Thank you for clearing this up. Huge brainfart by me. Sorry!!

notalexwong You are very welcome!

Surely if I want to achieve the highest possible win rate

This should not be your goal. Instead, your goal should be to improve as best you can, thereby future-proofing yourself. In turn, the win rate will come. The best Poker player does not always have the highest winrate.

So the way I see it I need to be working on both exploitative play and gto and I can’t just pick one and stick to it.

Note that my advice is aimed toward a lowstakes online grinder, who is looking to move up to substantially tougher games. Naturally, live is a different ballgame entirely. If you are solely interested in playing live, then I do agree that you should look into both theoretical and exploitative Poker.

12min mentioned if you are a 25NL player get your hands on 200NL ranges, which you will be slightly too loose compared to 25NL charts until you reach 200NL. A couple of time Henry Lister has pointed out even though charts are tighter because of rake at micro stakes it still makes more sense to play loose because opponents make a ton of postflop mistakes. I think 200NL charts might actual be optimal at 200NL for exploitative reasons.

It is possible!

Whats your take on CFP stables?

There are some great CFP stables out there. However, I believe 1-1 coaching will always triumph.

what's the user name of Yo Clanty in 2+2? Thank you!

Great video, thanks!

Glad you enjoyed!! jjhoods

What are the communities thoughts on sharing purchased preflop ranges? It seems like quite the financial hit spending ~$500 for the ranges on RangeConverter.. are there other options?

For what some charge...... I think it is reasonable. Hypothetically speaking ;-)

cdzai It is "Clanty" haha

HERE

There are a bunch of cheaper options than range converter. Better quality too.

All the sites with GTO libraries have them - gtowizard (my favorite), gtox, odin, and probably a bunch more I can't think of.

Zenith poker has free, high quality, multi-size, preflop ranges available. Just don't buy anything from the guy, he's not trustworthy.

Uri's site Guerilla Poker has good ranges. And then there are tons of people reselling those rangeconverter ranges, the one I know best is preflop guru.

it seems too complex to succeed

It's not complicated at all. You create some rules for yourself and allocate accordingly.

definitely slowing the process of moving up stakes

Indeed it does. To me, it is worth the trade-off

To each their own. IMO, having your networth solely in Crypto and Poker is a really bad idea.

I am very glad you enjoyed roadtobusto !!

Love the username btw :)

your comment on all ranges being "budget" was interesting, obv. they're a model built off a relatively small game tree , sure, like you said if they were not a simplified model they would require massive amounts of Ram and a couple years to solve lol. I dont beleive any of them are meant to be copied exactly but if studied they build intuition , If I had access to the most accurate preflop ranges available with multiple open, 3 and 4 bet sizes i could never memorize them, but if i studied and practiced i would build intuition. I think great intuition through study is the best us humans can strive for . So having said that it only follows logically that the sims we study are budget too for the same reasons, they are a toy version by definition , i think we build intuition studying them but they too are far from the real thing imo. maybe its your use of the word budget (they're expensive btw) thats awkward Imo Simplified ranges is more accurate and less condescending?

After a quick google, perhaps my wording is wrong. By saying "budget", I mean that the ranges are not going to be as good as they may seem; they are going to stem precisely from the simplifications the user decided to set. So often, the simplifications set are poor.

Moreover, due to the flawed nature of perfect sims (as you mentioned), and the list of different simplifications set by sim sellers, a hefty investment is not warranted until the higher stakes, when you can invest into running them for yourself.

I'm sure telling a less experienced player to go be exploitive and stick to it without a basic theoretical baseline just doesent work imo

Very good and fair point. I agree. Now if everybody just played theoretically, we woudl not have this issue. ;-)

Luke Johnson " I mean that the ranges are not going to be as good as they may seem; they are going to stem precisely from the simplifications the user decided to set. So often, the simplifications set are poor."
yes agreed. cheers !

Hi Leighton

First up thanks for the video. I am currently grinding the lowest stakes of heads up on pokerstars and your content has been the most useful I have found. Selfishly I wish you would do more on HU specifically, you outlined that you would be mainly focused on HU in your first video but have mainly done other things since. Only you and one other coach has produced more than one HUNL vid in the last year and I personally do not get much out of the other coach's style.

Back in February (when I signed with RIO), I was playing more HU than Ring. However, as of the last couple months, that has flipped, and I'm now playing more Ring. I've also noticed that my average viewer appreciates Ring content over HU. With that being said, you make a some very fair points, so I will definitely reconsider some HU content.

One thing that jumped out at me from the discussion of coaching is that you start 1 to 1 coaching sessions with a stats review. I wonder if you could make a video or videos on that? I personally don't have the best handle on how to use my database to improve my play.

Probably not, sorry. I do not believe the average elite viewer needs help with database work as you've mentioned. I'm open to being wrong on this, if others would like to chime in.

Playing HUNL at the lower stakes I encounter people who fold 60% to my 2.5x open and people who fold 0%. I meet people who don't have a preflop 3betting range (or who at the very least didn't 3bet a hand like AKo and have yet to 3bet over a sample of 80 hands). If I don't take these factors into account then I am simply not playing correctly. However I am only involved in actively learning to apply theoretical poker. Here is my idealised thought process in a hand:
1. What are my strategic options in this spot?
2. What frequencies should these options be taken with range?
3. What frequencies should my holding go into each considered line?
4. Do I have any compelling reason to deviate from these frequencies?
5a. If answer to 4 is no, act at estimated GTO frequency
5b. If anwer to 4 is yes, adjust frequencies (conservatively)

I'm not going to dive into exploits, as I do not trust my own opinions enough to suggest them to others.

Re. your thought process. Here is roughly how mine goes vs regs:
1. What are my strategic options in this spot?
2. What is my global (range) frequency?
3. What is my hand's frequency?
4. Am I sure? (usually, as part of double checking, I reconsider how the hand has been played up until this point)
5. Action

So my point here is that I would prefer to say something like "Be systematic about how you integrate theoretical and exploitative elements into your game. Study and drill that system" What do you think?

I hear you re. the theoretical side aspect. I will think about it!

Thank you for the feedback! Leighton Acheson

nogamblenofuture Brilliant, I am glad :)

Best of luck to you :)

I got (and could continue getting if I kept playing) 100% plus rakeback playing on Run it Once poker over a 500k+ hand sample ;)
Check out RIO people!

Very nice!

Really appreciated the overall approach and video. I am an old hand from the way back days. Was interesting to hear the new takes/spins on things. Though some things/many things never change for sure xD Loved the novel bits about consistency, thats great advice and hot take

Glad you enjoyed :)

Yes, consistency is key! We are only human; if we do not enjoy something, we will not be consistent with it. Thus, we should look to find what we enjoy :)

Thank you as always! 72Just4U

Glad you enjoyed this different style of video :)

FishPoker You are right, I've made a grave error here. My apologies. I was looking at the limit games, not no limit. D'oh!!

Thank you CrappyTimeSlot :)

No problem

Good luck! PutMyRobeOnRITE

Hi Coolknights :)

Want to start by saying that your content has been consistently excellent. I'm a massive fan. Sulsky's been absent for a while and you have taken his place as the person who's videos I look out for. Cool, enough fan girling.

Thank you :)

Can confirm that 25 to 500 in a year is a reasonable expectation. I missed out by a few weeks looking at tracker, but I also made some really poor game selection decisions along the way.

Congratulations! (Y)

I feel I get the point that you're trying to make - that theoretically sound play styles scale far better with stakes - but that your way of putting it across might be misleading. IDK, it's been a while since I watched the video, but I feel the hard distinction you made is easy to misapply.

Can you elaborate a little on this, please?

I stick by what I said, that a player should look to stick to one approach, instead of trying to become proficient in both at the same time. Invariably there will be crossovers, but not too many.

I think I got the wrong end of the stick. I essentially thought you were saying that we shouldn't be including exploits if we're adopting a theoretical approach. Listening back, one of the first things you say is you need to exploit fish and fold more when our opponent is very likely under-bluffing. I think we're on the same page.

Perfect :)

Hi mwinn

The video that I needed like air!

That badly, huh? Glad to be of service!

From NL50 to NL500 in one year starts today (13.03.2022)

Love to hear it. Best of luck! (Y)

Today, more than ever, I really have the confidence that I can do it!

Anyone can do it, so long as they stay consistent!

Thank you so much for this precious gift, Luke!

You are most welcome!

danGM

30k hands with lots of study sounds good to me. What do you think your overall study:play ratio is?

Hi danGM

Sorry for the delay getting back to you

Grinding 30k hands with a 2:1 study ratio sounds perfectly fine and good to me!

Hi Kaktus6666

I would recommend playing two zoom tables until you reach 100NL, and then transition to 4 regular tables.

Best of luck!

Hi Luke Johnson

Can you elaborate on why you recommended zoom over reg tables when playing below 100nl?

Thanks.

Lower limit zoom tables run 24/7, and are a superb, consistent format to improve your fundamentals and on-table expertise. As you move up the availability of 24/7 ZOOM action reduces, at which point I'd recommend to transition over.

Note that when you are playing these limits, you are playing to LEARN more than to make $. I personally found that ZOOM was a great format to jump in and out of, whilst staying consistent throughout.

Also note that this is merely my 2c. You can't go too wrong by regular tables or ZOOM, provided you don't go crazy with table count / hands per hour -- 2 tables of zoom/4 regular tables is a really good fit for an upcoming grinder.

Cheers & GL

Maybe I am even more a beginner than I thought. Could you explain in 1 sentence what the difference is between a theoretical player and a exploitative? Is the first .. GTO? The latter, more focused on the player tendencies they see?

You are exactly right; a theoretical player is considerate to GTO Poker, whereas an exploitative player is more considerate to specific player tendencies, etc.

What a great point about ranges aiming at the level you want to get.

Thank you

I also find it interesting and very eye opening that you say pre flop ranges are not solved (this especially makes sense considering the different types of players at mid stakes+). Should I then aim for a certain VPIP/PFR that I would like to play? For example, 25/22 (really just an example), and just stick to that range until I am playing 400nl? Because, I believe, if I understand you correctly....there are plenty of 25/22 type of players at 400nl.

Your VPIP/PFR depends on the average amount of players at your table, so it is impossible to tell you what your VPIP/PFR should be without looking into your database.

I don't really get what you mean with the word "budget"? I am also not sure what you mean with "finding range for 500nl"

"Budget" was referring to all preflop not being extremely accurate, due to the parameters involved. Therefore, it isn't worth investing a whole chunk of $ into ranges.

I am also not sure what you mean with "finding range for 500nl"

I mean buying ranges from a website. Try googling around a bit.

I also really like the 50-30 approach. I actually thought 20 was the number but felt a bit uncomfortable at 10nl with 200 euro. Every time I had a 4 bi's losing session.. I felt like I was almost broke.

Great. The more Pokering you do, the more accustomed you will be with losing BI's/money. It's part and parcel of the process. Losing does not necessarily mean you are doing anything wrong!

The last piece about what's possible in 1 year, just Wow with a capital W.. NL500. That would be amazing.

Yes, it is absolutely possible, with the right approach. Finding a good coach will obviously help you tremendously. Pete Clarke here at RIO does a great job with his coaching.

Could yo do an estimate around my situation? Because this is actually something I am insecure about. With all these people being able to grind hours and hours a day.. I play 10nl (rake is 7, at 20nl it becomes 5 and stays like that for a long while. Can't move to another site in my country). I play every night, 1 hour, sometimes 2. In the weekend, I can play a couple of hours a day. I think 500nl, is too high right? But would 200nl be possible without running like a complete god? (personally I thought 100nl would actually be an amazing accomplishment)

You should be able to forecast this yourself. It's just math :)

Thanks man!
I am diving a little bit with a little toe in GTO. It's scary. There are spiders everywhere and weird stuff going on, but GTO Base (free) is actually pretty good for reviewing sessions!

GTO is definitely a tough mistress to become familiar with.

Let's asume I have a 3bb winrate. I play 1.5 hours a day. 4 tables. That would mean around 100 days from 10nl to 20nl. If we do that * 3 (300 days, I could move up to 100nl. So within a year I think between 50-100nl would be possible.

The amount of tables isn't so important, instead, you should be interested in your hands per hour.

There are fastfold tables, where you are dealt into a new hand (in the same pool of players) after you fold/see showdown, etc.

888 has SNAP
Stars has ZOOM
Party has Fast Forward
GG has Rush and Cash

Therefore, measure your hands per hour, not how many tables you are playing.

Gotcha

When you can, give them a try and see how you find them. What matters most is finding your comfort!

Hi Jordan thank you for reaching out.

It's quite hard for me to give you advice without knowing why you are stuck. Can you give me some more info about your current Pokering?

Hi pokerBoi

Well, you did technically have a strategy for moving up. But perhaps this new one is a little more fine tuned. :)

Best of luck with your shots!

Hey ElSquancho sorry I missed this comment

If I understand your comment correctly, I was referring to playing vs nitty recreationals in HU as quite boring, as it eventuates to merely a task of picking up their blinds and avoiding being coolered vs their tight range

I said not to do this.

wtf, is this a troll? Luke is one of the goat coaches on this site

Hey Luke! Another great video with great content and insight. Currently grinding 50 and 100nl hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be at 500!!! Haha

Hey man, thank you very much, best of luck with your goals (Y)

There seems to be a lot of chatter about your pick gto or exploitative style when you decide to play.
I think what’s important here, especially for a low stakes grinder, is that when you pick one! You simplify your game, in that it’s not too complicated or vastly difficult to navigate in game between the two.
Little bit of a curveball to this topic I remember, is someone like Garrett adelstein, he’s very studied, and has a very good understanding of theory and GTO play.
So when he plays live, he’s super loose and exploitative, he’s able to deviate from gto, understand his opponents thought process throughout a hand and exploit them and put them into tough spots.
Like you said in your video there’s going to be crossover! You need have a good theory based understanding to be able to play optimally, and be able to exploit fish effectively if you want to make the most money and increase your win rate!

Yes, lots. I'd suggest starting with a strong & simplified theory baseline, and then delving into learning exploits later on. Having that strong theory baseline gives you an understanding of when you suspect somebody is deviating. e.g. if you KNOW a situation demands X strategy, yet villain is showcasing something entirely different and you believe they already know X, you can infer they're likely up to something and look to counter. However, if you haven't a clue what X is, how can you infer when you should and shouldn't deviate?

Note that live is obviously a different ballpark altogether given the extra info available.