Why You Can Never Play Truly GTO: 2 Card Confidence Explains

If you know anything about GTO, you will know that solver solutions are way too complicated and way too many for a human player to imitate. But even if you had a solver with you for every step of the game tree, you would not be able to play perfect GTO against a human.

To understand why, let us look at this hand from BeppeBergomi, who faces high-stakes legend DavyJones922.

The Problem with Range Construction

BeppeBergomi opens on the button and DavyJones922 three-bets.

Now with , we have an easy decision: even the solver four-bets 100% of the time. However, every serious player does not only think about his hand, but mainly about his range. If we want to make the best decisions post-flop, we want to know which other hands we have in this spot as well. Otherwise, we heavily risk playing "face up" as we only think about our exact hand.

According to GTO, our four-betting range would look like this:

• 10.5% of four-bets with hands like suited, , and being high frequency.
• Medium and low pocket pairs, suited and off-suit broadways, suited, and suited connectors are lower frequency.

There is not really much to discuss, except that there is, because this strategy is based on the premise that the small blind plays a "three-bet or fold" strategy. This may be the case for DavyJones, but it may as well not be.

We can also change the simulation to one where the small blind can opt to just flat call as well. With GTOWizard’s new AI pre-flop solver, this can be done really quickly and we get the complete GTO pre-flop tree within seconds. This was not the case before, where you had to solve for hours.

The problem that remains is that our approach on the button would be quite different in that scenario. Instead of 10% to 12%, we would only four-bet 6.8% of our range if the small blind had a GTO flatting range. That is a big difference.

So, how do we know which one to follow?

Well, we do not, because we do not know which strategy DavyJones plays. Even with a GTO solver at hand, we have no chance of knowing the perfect strategy against his actual approach. That is why you can never play "GTO GTO" in real life: even GTO simulations are just abstractions of reality.

Yes, you could watch and study his actions and see if he had played the raise or fold strategy before or implemented some calls as well. But even then, in any post-flop node, you would encounter the same problem.

When he check-raises on this flop, does he use this check-raise all the time or does he mix in other sizes as well?

Getting this strategy right is already not humanly possible in the first place and you will inevitably deviate from it. But getting the solution right to resemble your opponent's play perfectly is physically not possible because we cannot look into Davy's brain. Even if we could, even he probably does not know his exact size approach in every spot, either.

So what do we do?

Instead of relying on hard truths like this exact strategy, we want to focus on impacts.

• What are the most important factors driving our strategy?
• In which direction do they impact our play?

Going back to the pre-flop spot, we see that a "three-bet or fold" strategy makes us want to four-bet looser.

Why? It is because the small blind's three-betting range is wider when they do not have the option to call, and three-betting is the only way to continue with a hand they want to play.

A wider three-betting range makes us want to four-bet more aggressively.

This is not exactly a groundbreaking discovery, but that is the point. Not everything has to be super complicated in this game. In fact, you will learn much more if you focus on a few simple and important factors that drive your decisions.

For this spot, it means you want to closely watch your opponent's three-betting tendencies and quickly adapt. This sounds simple, but ironically, most people still do not do it. Instead, they grind down their standard GTO pre-flop ranges.

On the flop, we do not have much of a decision with , but if we fast-forward a few hands, we get to a very similar spot.

With , we can four-bet or just call.

As opposed to the previous hand, which was 170 big blinds deep effectively, we are now playing with 100 big blinds. Again, we see a difference between the simulation where the small blind plays "raise or fold" only and the one where we can flat.

BeppeBergomi with vs DavyJones922

Flop:

• BeppeBergomi bets $1,425 into $5,700. DavyJones922 raises to $2,850. BeppeBergomi calls.

Turn:

• DavyJones922 bets $2,050 into $11,400. Beppe calls.

River:

• DavyJones922 goes all in for $9,518. The pot is $15,500. BeppeBergomi calls. Davy has .

BeppeBergomi with vs DavyJones922

Flop:

• Beppe bets $850 into $5,100. DavyJones922 raises to $1,850. BeppeBergomi shoves his remaining $9,082.50 in.

Even though this may look like a tilt move, there is actually some merit to the play. To follow up on the topic of simplifying, let us use this example to simplify blockers and how they should be used. In general, there are only three levels you need to consider when it comes to blockers.

Each comes with its own question.

Count Cards in Poker: Is it Just Like Blackjack?

Read

Read

The Three Levels of Consideration for Blockers

Level 1: Is your opponent playing close to GTO?

Do you have any reason to try to play close to GTO yourself? If not, and your opponent heavily deviates, for example, by check-raising too little or being too value-heavy in four-bet pots, which is often the case at mid and low stakes, then you do not need to consider blockers much at all.

Just exploit whatever leak you have discovered in their approach and enjoy the additional big blinds.

Level 2: Approaching GTO (Two sides of the same coin)

2A: Do you block your opponent's nut or value hands? This is important because if you block the best hands in your opponent's range, they will be able to continue less often, and your bluff will be successful more often. In this hand, we do exactly that. The blocks and the blocks , both of which are often in the small blind's range.

2B: Do you block your opponent's bluffs? Why is our hand never a jam while the and sometimes is?

This is because the Ace of Hearts blocks the small blind's of hearts combinations, which never check-raise and mostly just check-fold on the flop. Meanwhile, the blocks of spades combinations, which regularly check-raise because they have a backdoor flush draw and then fold to a jam. Those are exactly the hands we do not want to block. Blocking hands that check-raise and then fold makes it less likely our opponent folds when we bluff. When considering good blockers, do not only look for hands that block your opponent's calls, but also those that unblock their folds.

Level 3: Which concepts actually apply?

This is the one people rarely talk about, but it may be the most important. A specific opponent may not have a general leak like being too passive, but GTO blocker concepts only make sense to use if you think they are actually applied in reality. You want to estimate if your opponent actually plays according to the concepts that make hands good or bad blockers.

For the and to be a better blocker because it unblocks folds, DavyJones has to actually check-raise backdoor flush draws more often than non-backdoor flush draws. Otherwise, this hand would not be a good unblocker. I am very sure that will be the case in this example for most regulars at mid-stakes and below.

But if it was not, you could scrap the "2B" part of the equation and only base your decision on what you think actually happens.

Oh, and one more tip for increasing your win rate: do not play against DavyJones.

If you want to start getting onto the level that 2 Card Confidence is training viewers on, take these two crucial steps:

1. Begin Training: Download tools like GTOWizard or other solvers from the GipsyTeam Shop. We'll supply these tools at the lowest prices, guaranteed.
2. Choose Ideal Poker Rooms: Don't immediately hop onto the room with the biggest welcome bonus or prettiest software. Target rooms where your edge is the greatest. These spots are perfect for honing your skills, with the lowest possible pressure.

For this journey, GipsyTeam is your partner. We can set you up with the softest rooms, help you pick software that matches your format or level, and secure the highest rakeback deals. We aren't just a poker news site. GipsyTeam helps you play profitably, wherever you are in the world.

Get in touch with us for free, and let's begin your progress.

The best poker rooms for beginners

CoinPoker

4.8

$100 GipsyTeam weekly freeroll

Overview 172 reviews

Code:

GTCOM

Copied

Registration

Enter this code in the “CODE (optional)” field during registration:

Americas Cardroom

4.5

Up to 65% rakeback

Overview 87 reviews

Code:

GTEN3

Copied

Registration

In the "Referral Code" field, enter this code:

Black Chip Poker

4.6

20% extra rakeback on the first deposit

Overview 104 reviews

Code:

GTCOM

Copied

Registration

In the "Referral Code" field, enter this code: