The 5 Levels of Training Mastery for MTTs

Studying poker can be a challenge to both new and seasoned players. Tournament poker, in particular, presents additional challenges to learning due to the extra moving parts that need to be accounted for and managed appropriately. From fluctuating stack depths to the varying stages of a tournament—giving rise to a spectrum of ICM implications—to the presence of bounties. Luckily, with GTO Wizard we have the tools available to improve our performance in each of these areas. Whether you’re just learning preflop ranges or are looking for advanced solutions to custom spots, this article is here to inspire and guide you through your MTT learning journey.

Before shooting out of the starting blocks into the trainer, let’s first discuss some ways on how to improve quickly at something.

Additional Principles of Fast and Effective Learning

In our original 5 Levels of Training Mastery article, we looked at four principles of fast and effective learning:

The Five Levels of Trainer Mastery for Tournaments

Level 1: The Apprentice

If you are just starting out with GTO Wizard or tournament poker in general, the fundamental area to focus on is our preflop play in Chip EV. Specifically, we want to focus on when to open, 3-bet, or fold at various stack depths.

When going through these drills make sure to pay attention to the sizes that are being used when betting. In game, you will see a wide range of sizes from opponents, so it’s important to learn the optimal bet sizes to use.

All drills use High RNG, which can be a learning curve for newer players. However, learning to use RNG while training as early as possible will help you avoid many future setbacks and pitfalls. If you feel strongly about practicing without RNG, you can always turn it off in the settings of the drills (“Modes” tab > “RNG mode”).

Recommended resources:

The 10 Most Important Concepts for New Poker Players

The BEST Preflop MTT Ranges for Free!

Preflop Mechanics

Looking for something that’s more comprehensive, especially when it comes to theory? Check out our MTT Fundamentals Study Plan for a full guide on learning tournament poker!

Level 2: The Novice

Once you are comfortable with preflop play in Chip EV we will want to begin looking at postflop play. While there are a nearly infinite number of postflop spots to practice, the drills below are designed to test you on the most common postflop situations based on preflop play, board textures and stack depth.

Level 3: The Scholar

Now that we have tackled Chip EV play it’s time to look at how tournaments play when ICM becomes non-trivial. If you are new to the concept of ICM take a look at the recommended resources below for an explanation of what it is and how it impacts tournament play.

The drills below are designed to give you a wide range of preflop challenges based on stack sizes and tournament stages leading to the final table.

Recommended resources:

The Basics of ICM in Poker

How to Review ICM Preflop Ranges

When does ICM Become Significant in MTTs?

Level 4: The Mage

If you’ve made it this far, you should be seeing positive results from your learning efforts, which will translate to more final tables where the real money is made. At this point, we want to focus on how to adjust when we reach the final table based on risk premiumsRisk premiums
Risk Premium measures the extra risk you take stacking off in an MTT. It’s a measure of survival pressure and a valuable tool for understanding ICM spots. Risk premium is defined as the extra equity you’d need to call someone’s shove, compared to a (chip EV) pot odds calculation. RP = Required Equity (ICM) – Required Equity (cEV) when stacks are fully invested. Each player has a unique risk premium against every other player in a tournament. and players left.

Note that heads-up tournament strategy is very unique and requires significant practice to master. It becomes even more difficult because even the best players are only making heads-up in MTTs on a semi-regular basis, meaning there are less opportunities to gain real-world experience, which we mentioned earlier can be a way into the fast track for learning. Although the heads-up drills below will get you started on understanding the nuances of this stage of a tournament, I’d encourage you to do additional research into heads-up strategy at this point in your journey.

Level 5: The Wizard

Once you have reached mage-level mastery, we can open the portal to two understudied domains of the game. Here, we can further build out our skill lead over the average player:

Progressive Knockout (PKOProgressive Knockout Tournament (PKO)
In poker, a PKO (Progressive Knockout) tournament is a tournament format where a portion of the buy-in goes toward a bounty on each player’s head. In PKO tournaments, when a player eliminates another player, they typically receive a cash prize for half of the eliminated player’s bounty. The remaining half of the bounty is added to their own head for other players to try to claim. When two or more players win, in a split pot, the bounty is divided equally across all winners. Note, some sites such as Pokerstars run PKO tournaments where ⅔ or even the full prize pool are dedicated to bounty prizes.) Tournament Study – Once you are comfortable with the standard tournament spots from our previous levels, you can start to set your sights on tackling new tournament formats like the ones that involve bounties.

Custom Solution Study – GTO Wizard offers subscribers the opportunity to define custom solutions using artificial intelligence to find an optimal, exploitative strategy for non-GTO scenarios. As of July 29, 2024, the custom solver also accounts for ICM/PKO dynamics in postflop play (even during the earlier stages of a tournament). For more information on working with custom solutions check out our video Introducing GTO Wizard AI.

Recommended Resource:

The Theory of Progressive Knockout Tournaments

Master Poker Like a Pro with GTO Wizard AI Trainer

Introducing Nodelocking

MTT Revolution: The Ultimate ICM Solver Upgrade

Level ∞: The GTO Wizard (Has No Limit to Learning)

Whether you’ve completed all the levels or only stayed for the study tips, learning is a continuous process. If you make a resolution to apply yourself daily and actually follow through on it, then improvement is inevitable! This not only goes for poker but extends to anything one can pursue in life.

Now is a great time to check the stats page to see what drills you did best on and what could use improvement. Use this performance guide if you’re new to this aspect of the app.

How you choose to continue your poker journey from here is entirely up to you! Remember to challenge yourself and practice a wide variety of spots. With each study session, you’re chipping away at the wall that is understanding poker. Hopefully, by now, the wall no longer looks so impenetrable.

Addendum