Except that we do say that the game needs to be aggressive. You should read what the book says.

Also, in the Introduction we used very extreme examples in order to illustrate how far out of the box we’re willing to contemplate when the situation is right.

Mason

Back in the 1980s, when I lived in California, one of the poker games I played a lot (before hold 'em and stud were legalized) was California ace-to-five lowball. If there ever was a poker game that was a good fit for game theory, this was it, and it probably fits game theory better than no-limit hold 'em. Because of this, I was studying game theory at that time.

For an example, in 1987, the first edition of my book Gambling Theory and Other Topics came out. A year later I expanded the book and one of the chapters added was titled "Betting and Game Theory." This chapter contains some information that, as far as I can tell, many of the poker instructors today still don't understand. For example, they almost all talk about range protection where as the aggressor you hold some of your value hands back and keep in your checking range. But none of them, again as far as I know, talk about when it is right to go to range aggression and actually bet hands whose EV is now negative.

However, our new book, which this thread is about, is not a GTO poker strategy. In the games it's targeted for, using a GTO poker strategy will usually be a mistake.

Mason

Yup I hear ya, you don’t need Doug Polk to teach you about GTO.

I have met him but we're not friends. When I met him, I thanked him for my being a successful poker player after reading his books.

PW says these guys don't know how to play and don't understand game theory like he does, when he is on other subforums discussing being staked by criminals and asking what are the best promos for playing 1/3nl.

Jesus

I’ve made over $250k playing 1/3 and 2/5 lol I think you’re confused.

Do you think reading a book on game theory is the same as studying GTO solutions for nlhe?

Mason what experiments and data have you used to determine what is GTO for nlhe and then how were you able to compare it and reach the conclusion that it is usually mistake ?

It’s fine to say that’s your opinion.


Can you guys please answer how many hours either one of you has spent studying gto on upswing or Rio

It is ok if the answer is zero hours

Kind of funny how you need backers and hunt for promos then.

No, they're not exactly the same. Neither is applicable to full ring 1/3 NLH games.

Clearly you don’t know how poker works. Have you ever studied gto? A lot of it is more than applicable at live low stakes. Like tons and tons of it. One of the few things gto gets wrong for live is how to play the river. Besides that it’s great

You think it’s bad for low stakes? is that other peoples thoughts or you did gro research on your own

Who cares?

I have studied some material on game theory. It's not nearly as useful for playing multiplayer games against bad opponents. I've also been a poker pro for many years and have never needed staking.

You're welcome to think otherwise, but you are literally the last person whose advice I would take on this. Based on all your other posts, both the lack of intelligence shown on them, and your need for backers for 1/3, I see your endorsement of any idea as being significant evidence for that idea being incorrect.

You would think that 😂😂

There are some principles from GTO which can be applied, but which you need to make adjustments to. The solvers generally assume HU pots and correct play by opponents, which is pretty far from reality at live low stakes.

Every GTO expert would disagree with you regarding almost all games including poker. Any strategy that will beat all counterstrategies not GTIO can do better if appropriate adjustments are made to the non GTO strategy of the opponent. That is a simple logical fact. (Sort of like if a jury has decided to use criteria make it harder to convict an innocent person, that criteria must make it easier to acquit a guilty person. It almost never matters what the details are.)

When people were telling me about this game I thought they were trolling me. I wonder how long that card room is going to last until the managers realize too late that they're slaughtering their golden cow. It's like nobody did the math on how insane that rake is for their poker room's longevity.

It is terrible, but just in case you didn't notice it's Canadian dollars so 'only' max $15 US.

But of course then it's also basically a 1/2 game, with a $225 cap.

I noticed, I'm in Canada lol. The games here have crazy rake compared to the US. The card room where I am is 10% at $8 + $2. It's beatable, but barely, because the $1/2 here is noticeably tougher than your average $1/2 game.

Ok, wasn't meaning to be pedantic, I just thought you and others might not have noticed. There should be different signs for different currencies, even if they are both called "dollars".

It is surprising to me that even within Canada the rake can vary so widely.
But actually I thought there was no poker in Toronto except for temporary rooms for part of the summer. I guess that has changed but it's now at one place with no nearby competition?

Where is your casino with the more reasonable rake but tougher games?

Someone was posting elsewhere that in Germany they have 5% with a 20 euro cap, and presumably no tipping. That is way better than Canada. It maybe winds up less than the US for their 1/1 euro game, but more for bigger games.

The exchange rate doesn't matter; what matters is the size of the rake relative to the steaks / BI. So exactly equivalent to any USA#1 (or any other country) 1/2 NL $300 max BI game.

You don't have to read too many Venues & Communities thread to realize that USA#1 is likely one of the last places on earth with a lol $5 maximum rake in LLSNL. My 1/3 NL game hasn't seen a $5 maximum rake since early 2016, and is currently sitting at $9 (max rake) + $1 (BBJ drop) + $1 (high hand drop) + typically ~$1 tip. Late last year I played on our opposite coast in a game that was only raking $7 + $1, and I doubt there's a better raked game in the country.

GcluelessUSA#1noobG

If properly nodelocked a gto bot will crush a donk harder than any human ever could. Not only are solvers better at balance they're better at exploitation.

That is of course true if nodelocking means what I once thought it meant. But then I asked whether that included something like having a player call an all in bet on the turn getting 2-1 odds and I was told it doesn't. Was that wrong?

I don't know. I've only heard about the insane rake.

Our casino isn't really ours, as I'm in Ottawa, but it's in the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec across the river (government owned and operated). It's about a 5 minute drive from the downtown core. We technically do have a Hard Rock which opened recently that's far out south in the city, but it's a much longer drive there, plus they haven't reopened their poker room since covid.

Has anyone read it and given a thoughtful review yet?

There are a couple of short reviews in this thread. You might want to find them and give them a look.

Mason