GTO
also called game theory optimal
Game theory optimal play, usually shortened to GTO, means playing a strategy so balanced that no counter strategy can beat it in the long run, rather than one aimed at exploiting a particular opponent.
The idea comes from game theory: in a two player game where one player wins what the other loses, there is a strategy that cannot be beaten no matter what the other side does. In poker that means mixing value hands and bluffs at frequencies that leave an opponent indifferent, so nothing they do gains on you.
Unbeatable is not the same as maximally profitable. Against a player who folds too often or calls too much, deviating from the balanced strategy wins more, and giving that up costs money. GTO is best understood as the baseline you deviate from on purpose, not as a script.
an example
your cards
board
You missed your draw and the pot is 100. A balanced river strategy bets this hand as a bluff some of the time and gives up the rest, in a ratio set by the bet size. Bluffing it always, or never, is the part an observant opponent can start to beat.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find gto in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Range
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Blocker
A blocker is a card in your own hand that reduces the number of strong hands your opponent can hold, because you are hol ...
EV
Expected value, or EV, is the average result of a decision if you could repeat it many times: every outcome multiplied b ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.