GTO vs. Exploitative Strategy
January 8th, 2025 Newsletter
Know a Game: 2-7 Single Draw
The only no limit game widely played besides hold'em is 2-7 single draw. It is a low ball drawing game with no community cards. Once considered to be the rising star in poker before hold'em took the world by storm. It is also known as Kansas City Lowball.
Best of luck to all of you in this new year! On and off the felt.
What in the Word......
GTO, or Game Theory Optimal, is a theoretical approach to solving problems that not only have a lot of variables but also vary based on prior activity.
Game Theory explores interactive decision making in which outcomes for the specific "player" depends on the actions of all. Simply put, strategy should take into account the likely choices of our opponents.
To say that my meager attempt at defining Game Theory above is simplistic would be an understatement. Please feel free to delve into how game theory affects everything from politics, to entertainment, to nuclear proliferation. For the rest of our work here, we will try to keep it to poker though.
For our simple poker brains, lets say that playing "GTO" should be the go to method when playing world class players who are unlikely to have many leaks or many exploitable tendencies.
There are a few problems with this eureka moment. The first one is that our minds don't have the capacity to play "GTO". While it is true that some top high roller pros like David Peters or Ike Haxton can implement a strategy that replicates GTO pretty well and these players understand the fundamentals of why the solver wants to play the way it does, replicating the game tree of NLH is simply impossible.
The second issue is that playing a GTO style isn't always going to bring you the best ROI in the game that you are playing. Remember, the solver is playing perfect assuming its opponents are playing perfect. Not throwing shade here but your opponents aren't playing perfect.
While it is true that a GTO strategy is unexploitable and WILL win against ANY opponent in the long term, it doesn't take into account the mistakes your opponent is making. When you know your opponent cbets too often, folds to a river raise too often, 3 bets too often from the small blind, cuts out his bet before it's his turn, or any other of the hundreds of major errors, it is more profitable to play exploitatively against that mistake than to play GTO and ignore these mistakes.
I hope that clears up a little of the GTO vs. Exploitative play conversation. If you aren't familiar with this debate, I hope it makes you curious and ask someone.
Or maybe watch Doug Polk explain it in our coach's corner below!
At the end of January, I will be announcing the annual prizes for the points race and how they will be allocated. Stay tuned to find out exactly what you are fighting for and what you need to do to get there!
This week's Tip of the Cap goes to.... Joe for winning a seat at his home casino's Tournament of Champions on Jan 11th after accumulating enough points through the year. We are all rooting for you Joe!
A secondary Tip of the Cap goes to.... Rex for taking the points lead. Wow Rex. What a run!
Follow results, get reminders of upcoming tournaments, and receive random poker news on Twitter by following me @FreezeoutPoker . If you have a result you would like to share with the group or find yourself playing cards in a notable location, please tag us @FreezeoutPoker to share it with this group.
If you haven't tried the Zoom group hosted by points leader JerzeJoe, you need to give it a shot. It's a load of fun and sometimes you can get an idea on what the other zoomers are thinking. Any information is good information right?
The ZOOM password is 432777
2025 Points Leaders
- Rex Bell 32
- Joe Schwenk 28
- Chris Lannoye 20
- Steve Usseler 19
- Michael Culpepper 18
- David Paukovitz 18
- Andrew Schultz 17
- Marty Kunz 17
Recent Results
- January 7th, 2024
- 1st - Rex B.
- 2nd - Marty K.
- 3rd - Chris L.
- 4th - Steve U.
Coach's Corner
Doug takes us through a lecture on GTO vs. Exploitative Strategies.
Level: Advanced
2025 Points Leaders
- Rex Bell 32
- Joe Schwenk 28
- Chris Lannoye 20
- Steve Usseler 19
- Michael Culpepper 18
- David Paukovitz 18
- Andrew Schultz 17
- Marty Kunz 17
Recent Tuesday Freezeout Results
- January 7th, 2024
- 1st - Rex B.
- 2nd - Marty K.
- 3rd - Chris L.
- 4th - Steve U.
Coach's Corner
Doug takes us through a lecture on GTO vs. Exploitative Strategies.
Level: Advanced
Venmo Addresses
Michael Culpepper - @Michael-Culpepper-14
Joe Schwenk - @Joseph-Schwenk
Jonathan Ayala - @Jonathan-Ayala-55
Have any questions or feedback for this newsletter? If so, please email me
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