The Magic of Equity Buckets
One of the most daunting aspects of learning the modern game of poker, especially with solver technology,…
Preflop Strategy in Straddled Pots
Many games allow “straddles,” where a player who is not in the blinds voluntarily posts a blind…
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…
4-Bet Pots OOP as the Preflop Caller
4-bet pots are often uncomfortable to play. Some of the reasons include: — A lot of chips…
Bounty Models Explained: Solving Knockout Tournaments
We’ve just rolled out a revolutionary update! You can now find optimal postflop ICM strategies tailored for…
Theoretical Breakthroughs in ICM
Today, we’ll share one of the most significant theoretical breakthroughs in tournament poker since the invention of…
The Limitations of Nash Equilibrium in ICM Spots
In the complex world of poker tournaments, the Independent Chip Model (ICM) plays a pivotal role in…
Rake & Rakeback Explained: Optimize Your Poker Earnings
Rake is one of the main things that allows poker to distinguish itself as a skill game…
From Gutshots to Airballs: Choosing Your Bluffs
Whenever you’re running a bluff, it’s reassuring to have a backup plan like some draw equity that…
Crush 3-Bet Pots OOP in Cash Games
Did you know that 3-bet pots out of position (OOP) as the preflop aggressor make up roughly…
The Math of Multi-Street Bluffs
Bluffing is a fundamental skill in poker, blending deception with strategic calculation to sway the outcomes of…
The Mechanics of C-Bet Sizing
What factors influence c-bet sizing on the flop? Is it fold equity, SPR, draw equity, polarity, protection,…
Poker Insurance: Reducing Variance or Wasting Money?
Variance is what makes poker great. Without it, recreational players would not keep playing. Most players say…
Money Bubble vs Final Table Bubble
Is one bubble the same as another? Should we play more conservatively on the money bubble of…
Facing 3-Bets From Covering Stacks at the Final Table
The last thing you want when you have a nice stack at the final table of an…
Poker Staking Essentials
One of the great ‘through the looking glass’ moments for any poker player is when they learn…
A Poker Player’s Guide to Conquering Cognitive Biases – Part 2
In the past, I’ve written about gambling biases that can affect how you play and how confirmation…
The 5 Levels of Trainer Mastery for Cash Games
We’ve created over 40 custom drills for this article! Though all drills are accessible through the article,…
How To Review ICM Preflop Ranges
In a sense, tournaments could be considered the more complex format compared to cash games. The case…
Calling Down Over-Bluffed Lines in Lower Limits
If you are playing low stakes, chances are you have a plummeting red line in your tracker’s…
A Poker Player’s Guide to Conquering Cognitive Biases – Part 1
In my article on confirmation bias, I mentioned that there are many cognitive biases and fallacies that…
Exploiting Cold Callers Who Stab Too Much
In single-raised pots (SRPs) between an in position (IP) raiser and an out of position (OOP) caller,…
Using the 80/20 Rule in Poker
The Pareto principle, or the ‘80/20 Rule’, is an economic theory that, when you learn about it,…
Attacking Aggressive Opponents When They Check Back Flop
Playing out of position (OOP) is hard. Playing out of position against an aggressive opponent is even…
Buying the Showdown
This article was inspired by Mark, who submitted a question to my podcast about a concept he…
Barreling as IP Cold-Caller
You cold-called a preflop raise. That’s scary. You bet into a check from the preflop raiser, which…
How Confirmation Bias Impacts Poker Study
There are a great number of cognitive biases, mental models, and heuristics that I plan on writing…
A Champion’s Guide to Knockout Poker Formats
If you’ve opened any online poker client recently you will have seen an explosion of Knockout (KO)…
Pushing Equity With Small Bets
One of the most memorable pieces of poker wisdom I ever received came from my long-time podcast…
Turn Check-Raise Heuristics
Dealing with turn aggression is an area many players find difficult, which is an excellent reason to…
Aggregate Flop Strategy: SB C-Betting in SRP
Continuation betting from the SB does not follow the usual patterns for out of position (OOP) c-betting…
The Power of the Hypergeometric Bet
What size should we bet with our value and bluffs? When our range is perfectly polarized (with…
The Limits of Nodelocking
GTO Wizard’s nodelocking feature is where the theory meets the practical; you can study how to play…
Limp-Called Pot as BB
My favorite way to study with GTO Wizard is to approach it experimentally, using the scientific method…
Why Not Shove?
You’re in the money in an MTT but still a long way from the final table. The…
What We Can Learn From Outlier Hands
The worst way to use a tool like GTO Wizard is to simply ‘line-check’ how your specific…
Building Exploits From Showdown
Understanding how and when to exploit opponents at a live poker table is a delicate affair. It’s…
Navigating Nasty Rivers Out of Position
Playing out of position (OOP) is hard. It’s fundamentally disadvantageous to act on each street without knowing…
Crack the Shell of Nut Draw Strategy
Nut draws hold obvious appeal as betting and raising candidates. They benefit from fold equity, sometimes even…
Preflop Raise Sizing: Examining 2 Key Factors
It amazes me that, after nearly twenty years of playing no-limit hold ‘em professionally, I still haven’t…
How to Handle Loose-Passive Limpers
Solver charts and presolved solutions do not offer much in the way of explicit guidance for responding…
Top 5 Mistakes in Spin & Gos
As a Spin and Go poker coach, I regularly encounter common mistakes that players make, affecting their…
An Introduction to Spin & Gos
I was playing Tournaments for the first decade of my career. But after my first child was…
Relationships and Poker
In my more than 15 years of poker coaching, I’ve helped hundreds of clients improve their check-raising,…
Do Multiple Sizes Matter?
Should I work out the other tools or just stick to the crowbar? Solver results can appear…
The Science of Learning Applied to GTO Wizard
The way we were taught to study in schools was flawed and has negatively impacted our study…
Check-Raising a Single Pair
In this article, I will address a question raised by Twitter/X user ’Matt Riley’, who asks, “In…
The Turn Probe Bet
Imagine yourself defending as the BB caller vs BTN preflop raiser in a 100bb cash game pot.…
When To Encourage Multiway Pots in PKOs
I was recently shown this fascinating PKO hand from the GTO Wizard PKO library. Somebody asked me…
Protect Equity and Prosper
When we think about the best hands to bet in a given situation, we tend to consider…
Do Solvers Have Targets?
Targeting has long been a staple of exploitative poker thinking. When you’re value betting against a predictable…
Disciplining Big Blind in Limped Pots
When the BTN open-limps off a short stack, the postflop play against the BB should resemble that…
I’d Rather Be Drawing
Which is the better hand on a K♥8♦5♦ flop: K♠T♣ or 7♥6♥? OK, I’ll admit I didn’t…
The Curious Case of Open-Limping Buttons
Before the advent of solvers, open-limping was considered the province of passive, gambley recreational players who just…
Cleaning Out Sticky IP Callers
A “sticky” player on your left, one who calls your preflop raises too often and doesn’t give…
Defending Against Tiny 3-Bets
Tournament poker is about precision. Cash games, where stacks typically run into the hundreds of big blinds,…
Heads up! Exploiting SB’s Preflop Mistakes
Heads up (HU) tournament play presents unique challenges to the average player. Many tournament players, particularly those…
C-Betting As the OOP Preflop Raiser
Position is an extremely valuable advantage in poker. Most players would describe the comfort zone as being…
Overchoice: Making Sense of Multiple Sizings
Solver solutions with multiple bet sizes often involve a lot of mixing between those sizes, thereby blurring…
River Refinements: When Your Opponent Won’t Check-Raise
One of the biggest strategic differences between playing in versus out of position involves betting frequency and…
Turn Barreling in 3-Bet Pots
There are two articles on the GTO Wizard blog that make good prerequisites to this piece: Principles…
The Right Way To Think About Protection
Suppose Paul the Protector is in a 200bb cash game and opens A♠A♣ in the SB. The…
The Importance of Board Coverage
The first public version of the GTO Wizard announced AI upgrade already has some useful features to…
How To Adjust When Villain Has No Bluffs
“They always have it!” is a common, semi-joking expression in poker to describe the tendency of a…
Adjusting on Later Streets After Exploiting Flop
The key to exploiting opponents profitably is knowing when to stop. I’m not referring to how often…
C-Betting IP vs Passive Poker Players
A preflop raiser enjoys a significant range advantage over a BB caller, enabling them to continuation bet…
C-Betting Against ICM Preflop Ranges
You raise from early position (EP) in a multi-table tournament and the BB calls. Both of you…
The Art of Bluff Catching
Bluff catching—calling a bet with a modest hand which you expect to win only if your opponent…
Exploiting Excessive C-Betting by IP
On some flops, it is simply not possible for the preflop raiser to continuation bet too often.…
Is Limping Pimping?
In a past Discord post, one of our members noted that an upside of implementing a limping…
Exploiting Excessive C-Betting by OOP
A preflop raiser who continuation bets too often is always a potential target for exploitation, but the…
Preflop Button Mastery in PKOs
Playing from the Button presents many unique opportunities in any tournament format, especially in PKOs. Apart from…
The Worst Turn Card
Greetings from GTO land. In today’s article, we will use the Turn Reports feature to gain a…
Navigating Range Disadvantage as the 3-Bettor
Picture this: We’re playing a NL500 6-max cash game, and we’ve won a few pots, now sitting…
Mastering Three-Bet Pots In Position in MTTs
Playing in position against a three-better is a lesson in playing to your advantages. As the defending…
Mastering Three-Bet Pots Out of Position in MTTs
Three-bet pots are scary. Playing out of position is scary. Put them together, and you’ve got many…
The Greatest Final Table in Triton History
Today, we’ll examine one of the most epic final table battles I’ve ever witnessed! Our adventure begins…
Mastering Thin Value Bets in Checked-Down Pots
Valuing your hand appropriately—determining whether it’s strong enough to value bet or so weak you should consider…
Maximizing Value on Monotone Flops
Monotone flops tend to provoke great anxiety among poker players. It’s easy to imagine that your opponent…