{"id":4004,"date":"2024-01-08T17:48:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T22:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advancedpokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/?p=4004"},"modified":"2024-01-08T17:48:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T22:48:27","slug":"what-youre-not-being-told-about-gto-and-limping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/what-youre-not-being-told-about-gto-and-limping\/","title":{"rendered":"What you’re not being told about GTO and Limping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let me start by saying this: there are many exceptional poker players out there these day who own training sites, and I have no desire to challenge them all heads-up. Many of their lessons rely heavily on Game-Theory Optimal (GTO) play. But there are some things they are just dead wrong about when it comes to optimal play in low-stakes poker games.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Learn Those GTO Charts”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, only the absolute best players play close to GTO, and most people who try to play GTO play it very poorly.\u00a0 Unless you are playing in the highest stakes games, you can win more money by playing a non-GTO strategy<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying the best players in the world don\u2019t know this.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the problem I have with their training material: it focuses too heavily on GTO play.\u00a0 In fact, the tools they advocate for (and frankly all the hottest GTO tools on the market today) teach you to play the GTO strategy and nothing else. So, am I saying you should abandon GTO principles?\u00a0 No, of course not.\u00a0 Will you win if you always play the GTO strategy? Absolutely. We even have GTO-Style bots here on APT to train against. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do you win the most<\/strong>?\u00a0 The answer to that is, by adapting your play to take advantage of your opponents\u2019 tendencies.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Does GTO Go Wrong?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

95% of poker players play in casual, smaller-stakes cash games and smaller buy-in tournaments. You\u2019re probably one of those players. So this is the crux of where the practice of studying nothing but solvers goes astray. For 95% of all poker players, the best way to improve is by learning to beat typical human opponents. You know, like the ones you play against.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, the way to learn to beat them isn\u2019t by memorizing charts from the GTO solver. It\u2019s by playing a lot of hands against a variety of real opponents. At AdvancedPokerTraining.com, you can play up to 500 hands an hour against life-like opponents. Everyone from weak passive players to those over-aggressive types. These virtual opponents on APT make the same mistakes your opponents are making, so you can learn to exploit them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using our game options, you can set up a table that plays like the games you play in \u2013 whatever that game may be. And you can play every game type \u2013 from cash game simulations, to tournaments as small as a Sit n\u2019 Go or as large as the WSOP Main Event. All while getting expert AI advice designed to empower you to beat these real games. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

There is NO FASTER WAY to learn to beat real poker players than here at APT. I\u2019ve got 15 years and over 80,000 satisfied users from 175 countries to back it up.\u00a0 (Or, you can get back to memorizing those GTO charts\u2026the choice is yours.)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ever open-limp\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some pros today have practically made a religion out of NEVER open-limping.\u00a0By open-limping, we mean just calling the big blind as the first player to voluntarily put money in the pot.\u00a0But once again, they are forgetting that 95% of all poker players play in passive low-stakes games where open-limping is much more profitable with certain hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These hands include small pairs and suited connectors. You have no desire to limit the field or start to build a pot with these hands. Nor do you want to discourage limping pre-flop overall. You want to keep the game nice and friendly, you know, where 5 players limp every hand. By doing a lot of pre-flop raising you\u2019ll encourage other players to start raising more as well.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your goal is to let in as many players as possible with these hands. You want lots of players who can make second-best hands and will give you a big chunk of their stack when you flop a monster.\u00a0You want to keep the stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) big.\u00a0 Small pairs and suited-connectors love big SPRs.\u00a0 And what about when you miss the flop, which will be most of the time? You just fold, and you\u2019re only out one big blind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t believe me? You can try it yourself here on APT.\u00a0Choose an easy table with loose passive players. Using the game options, tell APT to only deal you small pocket pairs from Under-the-gun (UTG).\u00a0Play 500 hands limping, and 500 hands open-raising, and compare your results.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"GTO\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Truthfully, I believe in a little open-limping in even higher stakes games, though the solvers don\u2019t do it.  While it does make it tougher to keep your range balanced and not give off any information, it certainly frustrates opponents who have studied nothing but solvers. A discussion of this is too much for this post, but Daniel Negreanu makes an excellent case for it in this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So before you head strictly down the GTO path, consider who you typically play with. And consider your goals for your game. Then use APT to sharpen your GTO AND your exploitative poker skills. You’ll be glad you did!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying this: there are many exceptional poker players out there these day who own training sites, and I have no desire to challenge them all heads-up. Many of their lessons rely heavily on Game-Theory Optimal (GTO) play. But there are some things they are just dead wrong about when it comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat you're not being told about GTO and Limping - Advanced Poker Training Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When to play GTO poker and when to hold back. And what about open limping anyway? 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