Modern Poker Theory: Building an unbeatable strategy based on GTO principles

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However, applying this approach against every opponent will probably be a bad idea because not all opponents have the same tendencies. The Advantages of Playing GTO in Modern Poker You can look at it this way: If you don’t know that your opponent is making a mistake you will not try to exploit him because you will think that there is nothing to exploit. This books has significant negative sides, but the positives more than make up for it, and that's why I decided to rate it 5 stars instead of 4. Next time you are at a table some of the players will have studied Modern Poker Theory and some won't. The players who have studied Modern Poker Theory will, without doubt, have a better theoretical and practical understanding of No-Limit Hold'em. They will be the favourites in the game. Make sure you are one of them.

The modern poker theory prefers this approach over the exploitative one as it makes things easier to handle in the long run – provided you’re able to master all the intricacies of the GTO approach first. GTO Approach Eliminates Assuming Make sure that you do everything possible to get on the left of the weaker players. This will make isolating them and winning more pots against them so much easier. 3. Keep Your Foot on the Gas Pedal By trying to play perfectly in each spot, players can stop making too many assumptions. Most players start making assumptions about their opponents after playing only a few hands. To limit loss in equity: Calling may be appropriate when a player has adequate pot odds to call but will lose equity on additional money contributed to the pot with a raise. As you will no doubt know, Michael made a name for himself by writing the classic book, Modern Poker Theory. Michael is the world’s leading authority on GTO solvers and how to make the most of them. MODERN POKER THEORY THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE: UNDERSTANDING GTO CONCEPTS AND HOW SOLVERS WORKThis type of situation comes up most often in tournament style play. In a cash game, the adjustments are very similar, but not quite as drastic as the table can ask for what is known as a 'rake break.' A rake break occurs when the floor-man, who represents the casino, agrees to take a smaller portion than usual for the hand. For example, a random casino might normally receive 10% of the pot up to 5 dollars for a 'rake.' In this case the table would only owe 10% up to 3 dollars until there are a sufficient number of players again. In online poker rake breaks are determined automatically. Requirements for continuing with made hands may be lower because loose players may also be playing lower value hands. Drawing to incomplete hands, like flushes, tends to be more valuable as draws will often get favorable pot odds and a stronger hand (rather than merely one pair) is often required to win in multi-way pots. The next thing you want to do is make sure that you keep hammering on the rec players every time they call you.

Unlike calling, raising has an extra way to win: opponents may fold. An opening bet may be considered a raise from a strategy perspective. David Sklansky gives several reasons for raising, summarized below. [1] Don't give these guys a free pass when they limp like most other poker players do. Your job is to get the rec player's chips faster than everybody else. And you do this by getting involved in as many pots as possible against them. 2. Get Position on Them To conceal the strength of a player's hand: If a player has a very strong hand, they might smooth call on an early betting round to avoid giving away the strength of their hand on the hope of getting more money into the pot in later betting rounds.To avoid a re-raise: Only calling (and not raising) denies the original bettor the option of re-raising. However, this is only completely safe in case the player is last to act (i.e. " closing the action"). Leveling or multiple level thinking is accounting for what the other opponents think about the hands. This information can then be used to the player's advantage. Some players might be able to make educated guesses about opponents' hands; this could be seen as the first level. The second level could be thought of as the combination of the first level and deducing what the opponents think the player's hand may be. Skilled players can adjust their game play to be on a higher level than that of less skilled opponents. To bluff A player raises with an inferior or "trash" hand attempts to deceive other players about the strength of their hand, and hopefully induce a better hand to fold.

To semi-bluff A player with a drawing hand may raise both to bluff and for value. While technically still a bluff, as the player may not end up with a made hand and is primarily trying to drive out players, the player still has the opportunity to make his or her hand and win the pot if the bluff is called. You have to remain patient because when you do finally play a big pot against them, you are much more likely to go to showdown. And that means that you need to have the goods. 5. Show Them a Few Bluffs Early On How do you start getting involved in more hands versus the recreational players? You start by raising them every time they limp. This is also called an "isolation raise." Learning and applying a GTO strategy helps players remove doubts and prevents them from being results-oriented.I know math can be terrifying. I know graphs and charts can be daunting. I know this because I myself am not one of the gifted few who are number crunching savants. Fortunately, as I mentioned above, Michael has a talent for simplifying complex concepts such that anyone can understand them. Seriously, he almost had me thinking I could do calculus. Almost!

By observing the tendencies and patterns of one's opponents, one can make more educated guesses about others' potential holdings. For example, if a player has been playing extremely tightly (playing very few hands), then when he/she finally enters a pot, one may surmise that he/she has stronger than average cards. One's table image is the perception by one's opponents of one's own pattern of play. A player can leverage their table image by playing out of character, and thereby inducing his/her opponents to misjudge his/her hand and make a mistake. By approaching each poker hand in this way they don’t need to think about how good is their opponent (leveling wars) because no matter how good they are, by making the correct GTO play they are making money in the long run.

Modern Poker Theory is great for both MTT and cash game players. The book may lean more toward assisting with tournament play, but the principles can be applied to cash games as well. The book truly is comprehensive. It even covers exploitative play, as Michael points out how to take advantage of your opponents in different scenarios where the villain may not be using a balanced GTO strategy.