How to study GTO: five tips from Reddit users

To become a better poker player, one needs to understand GTO – this is understood by anyone who is knowledgeable in mathematics and game theory. But where to start if you’re not part of forums, not ready to spend $249 on PioSOLVER yet, and find it difficult to read GTO books with endless range charts? Where can you find materials to study template game situations that you can adapt to your own game? Users on Reddit tried to answer these questions – we gathered all the most valuable information.

Tip 1: Use a free open-source solver

You can download the Desktop PostFlop solver from GitHub. It works on Windows and Linux but does not work on Mac. Reddit users compared Desktop PostFlop and PioSOLVER – the solutions were quite close. The downside of the solver is that solutions cannot be saved. You can find a guide to Desktop PostFlop on YouTube.

Tip 2: Use all the free features of GTO Wizard

Every day in GTO Wizard, you can study 10 hands for free in practice mode, as well as analyze 5 hands per month. Advanced subscriptions start from $49 per month. GTO Wizard has its own blog where educational articles are published. GTO Wizard also has its own YouTube channel.

Tip 3: Watch quality content on YouTube and Twitch

In addition to the GTO Wizard channel, Reddit users recommended channels such as Finding Equilibrium, Carrot Corner, Saulo Costa (especially his session reviews), as well as the streams of Bert “girafganger7” Stevens.

Tip 4: Read books

Reddit users recommended two books that teach understanding GTO without delving into the intricacies of ranges:

Play Optimal Poker 1 and 2, by Andrew Brokos
GTO Poker Simplified, by Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter

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Tip 5: Use your head

The most important advice: don’t just memorize solutions, but learn to understand the principles behind why the solver plays a certain way.

It’s better to invest in a solver or a training course and learn to understand why the solver plays a certain way.

In one interview, Linus “LlinusLlove” Loeliger talked about how he once understood the principles of the solver, started applying them in the game, and it worked.

Nowadays, there are many young players who blindly mimic solver solutions and simply adopt decisions from GTO Wizard without analysis. They think that the solver has solved certain situations, and these solutions can always be applied in the game.

Of course, the essence of GTO is that you adhere to the optimal strategy and do not change your game, thus remaining invulnerable to exploits.

But GTO players forget that poker is a mathematical game played by humans. People are subject to emotions and miscalculations. And very often you will play against opponents for whom GTO is not the theoretically optimal game, but rather a model of a Pontiac car from the 1960s.

I’ve heard many stories from GTO players whose excellent solver-driven bluffs were instantly snapped off by opponents with just a second pair, who were simultaneously betting on sports on their phone while playing poker.