Is playing GTO more like mastering openings in chess or more like mastering middle game?
I'm asking this question as a struggling but aspirational poker player.
When I watch people some high level players YouTube channels it seems like they know the theory for basically every spot they are in and can play very close to GTO. I want to know how to develop that ability.
Is getting to that level more like "I recognize this spot as similar to other spots I've seen and basically know what my whole range does here"
or is it more like,
"This spot is completely new to me because the game tree is so complex, but I have all these things that I can think about to come up with the right answer"
One of these seems more like memorizing openings in chess and one of them seems more like becoming proficient at the middle game, but I'm not much of a chess player, so forgive me if I'm mistaken.
3 Replies
When I watch people some high level players YouTube channels it seems like they know the theory for basically every spot they are in and can play very close to GTO
Saulo Costa is a very good player and in some of his YT videos the GTO optimal strategy is overlayed and you can compare live his strategy vs what the solver says. He has a lot right but also a few blunders.
I don't think many players play "very close" to GTO, this looks awfully hard. And maybe there are some content creators who claim being GTO in some spots but unlike S.C. do not provide the solver solution in overlay and we only have their words.
I am not an expert but I feel like the beginning of a poker hand is more similar to a chess opening. For preflop you can rather easily memorize solved charts and apply them without being exploitable. In a standard heads-up flop situation I believe the best players have very good heuristics depending on the texture and preflop action. But after that it becomes increasingly complex and your description "I have all these things that I can think about to come up with the right answer" is correct.
The preflop is like a chess opening, and then it gets more muddy when going further, using ideas and/or math. Not necessarily talking about NLH cash, that can be memorized, prepared further more easily than PLO or MTTs. The human psychology play a major role on poker compared to chess, though in both cases one needs to think about the factors rather than just copy-paste moves.
I agree with the previous posters who said pre flop is more like opening moves in chess that can pretty much be memorized, although you also need to adjust to other players' tendencies. The simplest preflop adjustments are just to play more hands against weaker players, assuming a postflop edge, and to tighten up a bit against strong competition. Flops can also be studied and GTO strategies can be recreated to an extent, with some simplifications.
As you get further into the hand you kind of have to think like a solver. You make assumptions about other players' ranges and use game theory principles to split your own range into various classes with different actions. When the best players in the world are competing they are often still playing pretty close to GTO on later streets. That's unusual though. Even they are making adjustments and exploits. They're just more nuanced.
When you're uncertain what to do in a given spot it's often helpful to consider where you are at in your own range. This is highly situational. For example AA can be close to the top of your range in one postflop scenario, but in another it can be nothing but a bluffcatcher.
I've been sharing this video for years as it really helps to explain that concept. I kind of think of a poker hand like a funnel where the more big blinds go in the more hands get folded out until you eventually funnel down the hands to only very strong holdings. That analogy is a simplification, but this video could also help you the way it helped me immensely at a certain stage of my poker journey:
