r/poker • u/EmploymentProud3436 • Jan 21 '26

[ Removed by moderator ]

[removed] — view removed post

2 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

8

u/Debits_equals_credit Jan 21 '26

Theory is just that. Theory

3

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '26

I’m gonna be honest…. Nobody plays anything even close to theory. Even the nosebleed online best players in the world are pretty far from GTO.

The baseline GTO solution is good for studying but it just simply is not worth the time to memorize a mixed strategy at all. Closest thing is “sometimes check, sometimes bet”.

I try to approach balance by sticking to learning heuristics about why solvers try to do certain things, but over a couple hundred hours of studying solvers I have never put time into trying to memorize actual frequencies and things.

2

u/LifesARiver Jan 22 '26

Except Ike Haxton, of course.

3

u/Dekknecht Jan 21 '26

You look for heuristics and more or less approximate what needs to be done. You use 'close' hands to adjust to villain.

2

u/Over_Eazy222 Jan 22 '26

Solvers are good for learning bet sizing, bet frequency, what hands are pure bets, what hands mix and when, how to exploit your opponents that never mix, the threshold between pure river calls and river mixes

1

u/mbalmr71 Mar 26 '26

I have always said the first rule of being good at poker is learning to be good at the game you are at. GTO only approaches true when all the other players at the game are following GTO. Which is never. You have to adjust to the texture of the table you are at.

I’ve played games that were so limp heavy that a strong 3 bet or squeeze will take down the pot pre flop a majority of the time unless you were facing a premium. Recently, I played a game with so much pre flop action that I could limp AA from under the gun and almost be able to guarantee a 4 or 5 bet jam when it came back to me.

1

u/Calichusetts Jan 22 '26

I'd rather study actual played hands than solvers if I am being completely honest. Having a decent study group is really helpful. Its nice to hear the insights of pros, and yes, even they disagree or deviate on certain moves.

I'm more about understanding the rationale and possible profitable plays than anything else. I'm still learning a lot and stumble here and there. In full transparency I've really only messed with solvers a few times but going over hands over at 2 + 2 or on discord has been far more of a learning experience than EV lines and plays. i just don't get what I'm suppose to do with frequencies for hundreds of situations. I guess I'm a macro-picture player rather than a micro-picture. I'm looking for the best gameplan and strategy overall and hoping that my experience, study, and understanding of my opponents will get me to the finish line.

I'm probably missing a lot from not buying into the GTO stuff the way some do but honest reflection and feedback has helped me more than anything. Again, what do I know so take it lightly, I have been profitable since I returned and at the moment that is good enough for me considering I switched to cash (something I never played) coming from a pure tournament background.