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Originally Posted by deucesbruh
What specific books that were published after the invention of PIO would you recommend? I also have The Theory of Poker Applied to No-Limit by Sklansky which discusses GTO, and Essential Poker Math by Alton Hardin, which also touches on GTO.
I don't think I want to become a "GTO Bot". As Sklansky notes in his updated ToP book, it's probably optimal to use GTO as a baseline for unknown opponents, and then deviate from GTO based on known opponents' strengths/weaknesses (and/or capitalizing on their deviations from GTO). I feel like that's likely to be the most lucrative approach.
With that being said, I understand that I still need to actually study GTO theory in order to implement that strategy. For now, I'm struggling with calculating odds and equity during live play. I'm using the WSOP app to practice that (I currently live in FL where real-money online play isn't legal yet, and the closest live poker room is an hour drive away). I think - especially for online play - that it's virtually impossible to come up with an exact number for any of that stuff, so I've been doing my best to estimate and make decisions "on the fly" informed by both my estimations and the reality of the situations.
One thing that really gets me is how to justify a decision using pure math in strange situations like when you're playing for "fake maoney" and idiots who clearly aren't trying to learn how to play real poker well and just ship massive bets that way overshadow the pot. I'm getting ridiculously horrible pot odds in those situations, but incredible implied odds, right? I just hate having to fold every hand because some maniac is firing ridiculously huge barrels at relatively insignificant pots. (That being said - I tend to find excellent spots to stack them after tightening up and isolating them, so maybe I should stop focusing on numbers and just make sure I make proper adjustments for these kinds of players?)
I haven't read either of the books you mentioned, but I know essential poker math released an updated edition so that could be good/relevant. Sklansky's book was considered groundbreaking at the time, but a lot has changed since then as computers have made it possible to model optimal play, which wasn't the case when his book was written. Let me know what you think of those books if you read either of them.
I do most of my learning online/ with videos these days, but for books about GTO poker specifically Play Optimal Poker Volumes 1 and 2, Modern Poker Theory and books by Dara O'Kearney are some that I've read that helped me.
Play Optimal Poker volume 1 is mostly theory that is kind of necessary to lay the foundation to understand volume 2 that is more focused on actual poker.
Modern Poker Theory is good, potentially overwhelming, but there are tons of useful charts in it.
Dara O'kearney wrote a book called Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified. I haven't read it yet, but I thought his ICM tournament book was excellent.
All that being said, if you're just looking to get good at poker you might get more out of the time you put in studying by watching poker videos. There are a lot of good free ones on YouTube. Maybe you could try videos by Jonathan Little, Bart Hanson, etc.? Anyway good luck at the tables!