Tactics that Revolutionized Poker: A Look at the Impact of GTO Approach
Dive into the wild world of poker transformation as we unravel the impact of Game Theory Optimal (GTO) strategies! Here's the down and dirty on five mind-blowing discoveries that have redefined professional poker play β push-fold wizardry, full-on range betting, over-the-top overbets, blocking the competition with blockers and anti-blockers, and the strategem, Equity Denial.
The Blast from the Past: Push-Fold
While those Nash equilibrium ideas had been dabbled into poker since the '60s, it wasn't until the mid-2000s that the first software for calculating push-fold ranges, aka Sit and Go Wizard, dropped. It drastically shifted how we tackled Sit & Go tourneys, one of the most popular tournament formats at the time.
Reminiscing about grindin' SnGs back in 2010 or 2011, understanding basic push-fold ranges provided a massive advantage, much fiercer than today. Although the tool wasn't great at even calculating ICM, it was incredibly powerful just because it helped players understand push-fold strategies based on chip expected value. Let's check out an example from GTO Wizard's solution archive to see how things might've played out before push-fold was all the rage.
In a typical MTT situation, you're left with 10 big blinds, everyone folded to the button. Before considering the push-fold ranges, we might not have understood that 10 BB is a stack depth where pushing is a boss move. Back then, limit hold'em was the king, so the idea of pushing more than 30% of hands in this situation was only possible with solvers or early calculators.
Throwing the Whole Deck: Betting with the Full Range
The second GTO breakthrough is range betting. Post-flop solvers kicked GTO strategy into hyperdrive post-push-fold, introducing a fresh wave of innovations, including betting with the whole range.
Betting the full range on all boards at 1/3 the pot has proven to be an effective strategy, especially in cash games. Itβs simple to implement, especially when you notice opponents aren't callin' enough against such a size, ain't check-raisin' enough, etc. Even today, if you just bet with the full range on every board at a small size, it still works like a charm, and low and mid-stakes opponents will continue to mess up.
Imagine this 500 NL, 6-max cash game scenario: you open 2.5x from the little blind, caller from the big blind, flop pops A-A-Q with two hearts. Here, the solver opts to raise (only 0.7% checks).
Twenty (20) or even fifteen (15) years ago, we probably wouldn't have recognized this board as a raise. Hell, we didn't even have the proper lingo. I've been playin' poker for 15 years, and remember chat-rooms about poker strategies at that time β the concept of ranges was still pretty fresh, even back then.
All Bet, All In: Overbets
The third GTO opening that flipped professional poker play upside down is overbets. As solvers gained popularity, players started to figure out what strategies on late streets are GTO important. And overbet, without a doubt, took the crown as the most beneficial one. In just a couple years, overbets went from being a little-seen phenomenon to super common.
Let's check out an example from GTO Wizard's archive. We open from the cutoff at 100 BB, caller from the big blind. Bet 33% on the flop, get a call. Here, we see aggregated reports for the turn. As you can see, there are quite a few overbets, with 175% and 125% poppin' up with regularity.
On certain turn cards, overbets dominate. If we filter by frequency, we'll see that overbets are most often done on cards like J, 10, 8, Q β essentially all blanks on the turn.
Overbet becomes a bloody important part of the overall game tree in position on the turn, really helping maximize EV in many situations. If you completely ignore overbets from your strategy, it's going to cost you a significant chunk of EV in many situations. We never knew this until we started workin' with solvers.
King of Blockers: Blockers and Anti-blockers
Our fourth GTO discovery is blockers and anti-blockers. While players in Omaha have been familiar with these for ages, this concept really came to Hold'em in the 2010s.
Solvers have taught us that certain hand combinations work well for bluffin' in some situations and for value bettin' in others. They've also shown that one hand can damn near eliminate another from an opponent's foldin' range, like blockin' nut flushes and backdoor straights.
Consider a scenario like this: similar texture: 9β₯-5β¦-2β£-Qβ₯, but instead of an overbet on the turn, we bet 75% of the pot and get a call. The river comes a three of clubs, which completes a board straight and flush.
Let's analyze the structure of the player's range in this spot, using the Trash Hands filter. Hands with A-h or K-h are played here frequently and are much larger than expected. A-h-x overbets quite often, and A-h-8-7 is played around 87% of the time. Even A-h-J-x has some all-in shoves.
A hand like A-h-J-d will go all-in a significant portion of the time. Blockin' capabilities play a big role here. Blockin' nut flushes and backdoor straights is strong stuff. While Ace is a good card for bluffin', most hold'em players woulda figgered out that initially. But before solvers, we didn't realize just how powerful this play could be.
Protect that Q-card: Equity Denial
Our latest GTO discovery is the concept of Equity Denial. It's only in the last five years or so that we've been able to dig deep on this idea. We see solvers often favorin' larger value bets on early streets with vulnerable value hands.
Previously, this was played for protection. While protection is essential, we now understand that it's more about overcards than about draws. "Makin' 'em pay an incorrect price" with a flush draw isn't something we can really accomplish, and they don't have to fold. But we can fold out overpairs, and that often matters a lot.
Here's a cash simulation scenario: cutoff versus the big blind, 100 BB, flop T-8-5. If we run it through GTO Wizard AI and simplify the flop strategy to two sizes, full pot and pot, we get a more clear picture of the overpair hand:
If we look at the overpair hand, we see that pocket nines have a significantly stronger tendency to bet than any other pairs. Nines never check, tens check a little, jacks check a bit more, and aces check almost half the time.
Furthermore, Jacks are more inclined to bet larger. With JJ, solver prefers playin' both raisin' lines in a roughly 50/50 ratio. While the equity difference is almost negligible: Jacks 76.9%, Aces 80.2%. But when considerin' how they fit into the overall strategy, a significant portion of hands with vulnerable value (AT, KT, JJ) prefer larger bets. This helps deter opponents from realizin' equity with their overcards.
When we narrow our opponent's callin' range on the flop (forcin' 'em to fold overcards), we gain more freedom for a wider value bet on later streets, as we're less afraid they'll catch a top pair. Some cards on the turn that woulda otherwise made us cautious are no longer worrisome, as we bet larger on the flop and these hands are already in the pot.
You can cop GTO Wizard in our store. There's also an option to grab a free license!
Find more educational materials on the GTO Wizard blog or on YouTube, including in Russian. The translation? Professional as hell, 'cause it was prepared by active KOT-MTT coaches.
References:
[1]Da Melo, Felipe. "What is GTO in Poker?" PokerNews.
[2]Delaine, Andrew. "Explaining GTO and the Evolution of Poker Strategy." Cardplayer.
[3]Ferguson, Andy. "The Future of Poker." Global Poker Index.
[4]Maher, Brian. "The Future of GTO in Poker." Poker in Action.
Sit down and go to the casino, where you can play casino-games like poker and casino-games that utilize GTO strategies. The third GTO opening that has redefined professional poker play is overbets, a strategy that involves betting more than the pot size on certain turn cards in certain situations. For example, in a 500 NL, 6-max cash game scenario, overbets can be an effective strategy even today, despite being commonplace.
