When playing poker, your goal is to win. No matter what combination you have in your hands, with every other deal, your chances rise or drop, depending on what the dealer pulls out from the deck. Poker is a game that combines basic knowledge, strategy, and of course, luck, so the player can win and take all the money on the table. That’s why a lot of players go for known strategies, and the most popular among the poker players in the GTO strategy, which means Game Theory Optimal. It’s consisted of rules that help the player predict which move is the best to do in the next hand, and protect them from the others at the table. You can learn more here about GTO and how to implement it in your game if you are interested to get to know it better, and maybe use it next time you sit with your friends.
Most people find it as a perfect strategy to win at Texas Hold’em tournament, but in order to adapt it, you need to do a lot of math and calculations, so you can come to the next move, but according to the players, it’s pretty effective and will result in great prizes. Also, as you play poker more, you understand GTO strategy better, because it’s very hard to understand the whole concept at first try. According to the professional poker player Tony G the secret is to learn how to balance with the bluffs, so no one can predict when you are bluffing, or if you really have a really good hand. Keep in mind that there is no perfect strategy that guarantees you will win because no one can ever do that, but you can manage to learn important skills, that will help you become a better player.
Since GTO strategy is the best point to start with your poker experience, we will try to mention all the potential benefits and disadvantages.
Source: 888 Poker
Contents
Pros
The goal is not to be exploited when you plan to do something. If you know the opponents, you can predict their next step, but when you play with strangers, you must try to play the perfect poker – but also they will maybe try to do that too.
- If you know what you do, the others won’t ever know what you do
- You can follow their behavior and use it for your own purpose
- You can make them believe they have control over you, so they can defocus from the cards
- You can play against experienced gamblers and increase your chances
- Inexperienced and unknown players will hardly recognize you are calculating every step you take
Cons
Every strategy has some weak points too, so we will mention some of them when it comes to GTO:
- You will need help from a computer for the calculations, to utilize the effectiveness
- There is no exact GTO strategy, but you need to manipulate among the skills and knowledge, to find the balance
- There are weak points in the strategy that can exploit you
- The theory doesn’t always work as planned
- Experienced players can easily catch you using this strategy
Source: unsplash.com
How do learn to be a great poker player?
You need a lot of time and effort to learn more about the so-called perfect poker, and we can’t say it’s easy to understand. Not at all. There is software that helps you discover the basics, which means you are playing against a machine, and as time goes by, you are recognizing the basics of the strategies.
When you learn it, you can be sure that not a lot of other players can use it against you. The point is to prevent being beaten by your opponents, and win all the time – which is impossible. The perfect strategy can’t be applied, since there is not a unique and exact solution to the poker game. There are many combinations, and things can go wrong at any moment.
Being a good poker player doesn’t mean you will be always able to win and have hands full of winning combinations. Playing this game is an art of balance, knowledge, and skills because you have to be aware that odds aren’t always on your side, no matter how sophisticated your strategy you are using. As a great player, you have to know also when it’s the right time to raise the bets, or when to fold. The most appreciated skill is knowing when it’s the right time to stop and go away from the table.
Game Theory Optimal is good but it’s still a theory. And you already know that some theories are easily proven wrong in a very short time.
Source: Medium
Is there a perfect GTO strategy that can be used?
Nothing in this world is perfect, but you can try to manage a good balance between the bets and bluffs during the game. For example, some players consider 2 bluffs for every 3 bets as a perfect option, when the size of the bet is 2x pot. Proportionally, when you bet 1x the pot, you are allowed to make one bluff within every two bets. The smaller we bet, the we bluff less. Bluffs are more likely to help on big bets.
Sometimes you don’t even need to use this strategy, because some of these things are coming naturally to you, especially if you have enough experience, and you play against less experienced, but still talented players. What’s the point? You were at their place once in the past, and you can recognize how they are thinking and planning, and of course, use it to teach them the most valuable lesson – no matter how perfect is their strategy, the experience is always more valuable in cases like this.
The exploitable strategy is the opposite of this one, and it’s easier to be used, which means more players will already know it and try to use it on you – but we are sure you won’t let that happen.
