Introduction to ‘Game Theory Optimal’ (GTO)
There’s a buzz word in the poker world these days that you may have heard, but many new players aren’t yet familiar with it. That buzz word is GTO.
GTO stands for Game Theory Optimal.
What it means is using an strategy which opponents cannot counter. In this article we’re going to explain what it is. We’ll tell you why you should learn about it. And then we’ll explain why you shouldn’t be focusing on it during games.
Beyond the buzz word, what does GTO poker strategy actually mean?
Well, GTO is a theoretical game state. In this game state all players are making optimal decisions. They’re using perfect bet sizing according to the hand ranges that they should continue with on every street.
You’ll notice why this is theoretical, as this will rarely if ever the case in a real poker game. Players have their own understanding and approach that effects what hands they enter a pot with. It effects how they act, their bet sizing, and everything about how they play.
Having said that, what GTO poker strategy does provide is an optimal solution to every situation in poker. That has to count for something in a complex game. In fact, as we’ll discover, it counts for a lot.
GTO poker is all about balance. Balanced ranges, balanced bet sizing and the correct frequency of actions. With everything balanced opponents will either break even, by also playing optimal strategy, or to make mistakes.
The easiest way to explain this is with a basic example:
Let’s say there is $100 in the pot, and you bet $100 on the river. Your opponent, who has a medium strength hand (a bluff catcher, something like JT on a board of QJ963), now has to decide whether to call this final river bet. They have to call $100 to win the $200 in the pot.
This gives pot odds of 2:1, which means they must win the pot one-third of the time to break even. Assuming they’re ahead of all your bluffs and behind your value bets, the GTO poker strategy determines a specific course. That you should be value betting two-thirds of the time and bluffing one-third of the time when you make this bet.
The bet, the frequency of value bets to bluffs, and the sizing used makes your opponent indifferent to calling or folding. If they call every time, they will break even by catching your bluff at the precise frequency that the pot odds are offering. If they fold, they will neither win or lose any more chips on the river.
By balancing your value bets and bluffs with a perfect GTO strategy, you leave other players nowhere to go. Other than to call at the exact rate of the GTO solution. If they deviate from this solution, they stand to lose money.
Although we’ve used a simple example, this game theory applies for all situations in poker.
Why should you learn about GTO strategies?
Learning about GTO strategies involves topics like basic math, odds, ranges, and frequencies. It’s a very complicated aspect of poker and one that only serious players tend to study. But for anyone who wants to elevate their game, studying GTO poker is a worthy pursuit.
As you study game theory optimal play, you’ll develop a much stronger sense of constructing solid ranges. You’ll know what pots to enter with from what positions. You’ll know how to build a three-betting range. And what range to stay in the pot with as the hand progresses towards the river.
You’ll also learn how to balance your ranges between value betting and bluffing. You’ll learn the right frequency to match your bet sizing so that you’re not exploited even by very tough opponents.
GTO poker solutions also uncover all sorts of gaps in knowledge. Gaps that once filled can help you to gain a deeper understanding of poker strategy. GTO strategy shows us, for example, how important blockers are when it comes to figuring out an optimal betting line for a hand.
A firm grasp of these concepts will help you to make much better decisions, understand situations and ranges better. And help control your opponents through keeping proper frequencies.
Key GTO concepts
Here are some of the key concepts that you’ll learn as you delve deeper into GTO poker strategy. You might not immediately understand these GTO concepts, but they will become clearer as you do more study and analysis of your game.
Nash Equilibrium
GTO stands for game theory optimal, but what exactly does that mean?
It refers to a concept known as Nash equilibrium. That’s a game state in which no individual player has any reason to deviate from the given strategy. Even if they know their opponent’s strategy.
For the aggressor in the pot, GTO poker strategy offers a balanced frequency between value bets and bluffs based on a given bet sizing. The result is opponent’s cannot gain chips no matter how they react.
In turn, the defending player finds the perfect frequency for responding to the bet. So they neither win nor lose chips in the long run, like in our river bet example above. When both find this point and it’s in neither player’s best interest to deviate, the Nash equilibrium is reached.
Balancing betting ranges
So, to play GTO poker, you’ll need to find the correct ratio of value bets to bluffs whenever you are betting or raising the pot. This along with making the correct bet sizing to make the play unexploitable.
Once you’ve figured out the correct frequencies, you’ll need to determine which hands are suitable as both value bets and bluffs. The correct solution is not always to bet or raise. Poker GTO solutions also point out which hands to check with or fold.
Minimum defense frequency
To become unexploitable facing a GTO bet, the defending player has the task of figuring out their minimum defense frequency. In other words, they will need to call with a minimum percentage of hands to prevent opponents from making chips.
It’s based on bet sizing. A larger bet gives a lower minimum defense frequency, as you will need to be right less of the time to make chips. A smaller bet sizing gives a higher defense frequency with weaker value hands and draws. Folding too often here will allow opponents to claim pots with too little risk.
Learning GTO poker
The GTO concepts mentioned here seem complex, and that’s because they are. You can’t pluck these Nash frequencies out of thin air, or even work them out with hours of human brainpower.
When it comes to the more “simple” situations, such as preflop ranges, it’s possible to construct charts. You can memorize these for use at the tables (we’ll cover this in more detail below).
For most situations, though, each hand is an individual spot with unique factors that can influence the outcome of the solution. To learn these is going to take time, dedicated and an analytical approach to your own game.
The easier, albeit more expensive approach, is to sign up for a training course. Or to seek tuition from a professional player. They will draw on existing knowledge and also run through your hand histories to identify major areas to work on, known as your leaks.
A note on split hands
A major point to touch on when it comes to GTO poker strategy, is that solutions can come with mixed frequencies. For example, a GTO solution might suggest calling 80 percent of the time and folding 20 percent of the time.
To illustrate, from UTG+1 on a nine-handed table, you should be raising around 9-10 percent of hands. Pocket tens is a raise 100 percent of the time, but pocket nines only 50 percent of the time. Pocket eights is usually a fold, but you can raise a small percentage of the time in this GTO range.
Likewise, the 9-10 percent opening range suggests raising ace-king suited down to ace-ten suited 100 percent of the time. While raising ace-nine suited with a 50 percent split.
In reality, humans can’t always remember these splits. Instead, think about them as the marginal cutoff points in a range. Then use other factors, such as opponent’s tendencies, to judge whether you should play a hand one way or another.
GTO poker strategy versus exploitative strategy
Now that we’ve talked about what GTO means, and why it’s a good idea to learn more about it, let’s talk about why you shouldn’t focus on this in games.
This comment may surprise you. But for the most part, you should work on your GTO poker strategy away from the tables, while using exploitative strategy at the tables.
This is because, most of the time, you will be playing opponents who often make mistakes. They won’t play poker with game theory optimal betting lines every time. Nobody does.
This is true of any stakes, but especially the lower stakes. All your opponents will deviate from GTO in one way or another. Whether that’s by betting too often or not often enough, folding too often or not often enough, and so on.
So, although a GTO strategy will be profitable, an exploitative strategy will work better. For instance, from our example we know if betting $100 into a $100 pot, the GTO bluffing frequency is 33% to make our opponent indifferent to calling or folding. But this isn’t always the way to win the most chips.
For instance, say your opponent is a very conservative player who never calls big river bets without a monster hand. You can make more chips by increasing your bluffing frequency. They are folding too often, so you can bluff with a higher frequency. If an opponent is overfolding, it may even be profitable to bluff 80-100 percent of the time.
Bluffing at such a high frequency is well out of balance according to GTO poker strategy. Yet, as an exploitative play based on our observations of opponents, it could well turn out to be far more profitable.
Then the other side of the coin, if our opponent is a calling station calling down with any pair or even ace high. In this case we can exploit that by betting much wider for value than GTO strategy suggests (including weaker value hands). And reducing our bluffing frequency so that the other player will pay off more of our value bets.
But, there’s a flipside to deviating from GTO poker solutions. Doing so leaves us vulnerable and no longer unexploitable. If our opponents notice that we are bluffing too often, they could switch to calling us down lighter and they would be the one making the chips.
The good news is, weaker players won’t notice that your ranges aren’t balanced. Or they won’t notice quick enough to make the needed adjustment. This makes them ideal targets for exploitative poker.
Bringing together GTO poker and exploitative play
By now, something should becoming clear. A well-rounded strategy involves game theory optimal solutions and constant deviations from these solutions. Usually in the form of exploitative play.
It’s not one or the other. By knowing the optimal strategy, you’ll have a clearer idea of how and when to deviate from it.
As a general guideline, here’s when and how to use GTO strategy with exploitative play. All depending on your opponent and your knowledge of them:
- Against strong players – Strong players will be taking note of how you play. And looking to exploit you if you get too far out of line. You can use GTO strategy to neutralize this by becoming unexploitable. By playing a balanced approach, they won’t be able to counter you in any meaningful way. Even if they are “better players”.
- With no information – If you have no information, because the game has just started or a player is new to the table, you can stick to playing optimal poker. If they don’t also play GTO poker, you’ll gain chips using this approach. As you gain information, you can start to adjust your ranges.
- Against weaker players – As you start to gain more information, you can identify the weaker players at the table and the ways they make mistakes. Do they overbet, overcall overfold or underfold? Once you’ve identified weaknesses, you can deviate from optimal strategy, making exploitative plays.
- Against strong players with information – Even strong players will make mistakes. These mistakes might not always be obvious or vulgar. But it’s very unlikely anyone will play perfect GTO. Strong players will also be playing exploitative according to table dynamics, which in turn leaves room to exploit them. If you want to do this, you’ll need to be on top of table image and dynamics at all times.
- Switching back to GTO – GTO poker can also provide a bit of a safety blanket. If the table dynamics are too much, be it your table image or tilt, you can switch back to a GTO strategy until you regain composure. Independent of your opponent’s actions, you can play GTO knowing that you’re making unexploitable plays.
GTO poker mistakes and misunderstandings
GTO poker is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the game. Beginners may think it’s a buzzword, while lower stakes players often neglect the concept. Here are the most common mistakes and misunderstanding when it comes to poker GTO.
GTO is nothing but a buzzword – You might have heard experienced players talk about “GTO” as if speaking another language. While it’s thrown about, the term refers to complex mathematical solutions to every problem in poker. It’s not something to dismiss based on its place as a buzzword among the poker elite.
You don’t need to learn GTO at the lower stakes – This is another misconception that can be costly for aspiring poker players. It’s true that beginners shouldn’t focus on GTO and should instead master the basics of poker strategy. However, even at the lower stakes GTO poker is useful. Both as a learning tool to identify leaks, and as an optimal strategy against tough players. Besides, learning it now will be even more beneficial as you move up in stakes.
The best players play GTO like robots – If you programmed nine robots to play with GTO solutions, no one robot would have an edge. In reality, players always deviate from GTO. Either due to their approach to the game, or when adapting to opponents and table dynamics. The best poker players will usually have an understanding of GTO. But they are also experts at hand reading and observing the table.
The aim is to play the GTO optimal strategy – As you learn GTO, you may fall into the trap of thinking that your aim is to play the GTO solution every time. This is not the aim. For reasons we have mentioned, your aim is to play exploitative whenever possible. You want to lose the least and extract the most chips from a given situation.
