Many poker players come to PTO Poker understandably looking to increase their win rates. They ask about whether they need the newest poker solver or whether they need to learn more advanced theory before this is possible. Except for students playing in the highest staked games, my answer tends to be the same: You don't need the advanced, shiny new technology. You don't need a PHD in mathematics. And yes, the games are still very beatable in 2024. But you do need to clean up a few simple things that are likely holding you back.
Prioritize Mastering Poker Fundamentals Over Advanced Plays
One of my favorite quotes is the following:
"I don't fear someone who has practiced a thousand kicks once, but I fear someone who has practiced one kick a thousand times."
- Bruce Lee
This philosophy of truly mastering the fundamentals of poker rather than superficially dabbling in advanced concepts is a core tenet of my coaching as well as the following video. This video provides five tips that will help you make more money at the poker tables as efficiently as possible. If you have preflop leaks, miss good river folds, or are punting money in multiway pots and short-stack situations, this video is for you:
Stop Betting Huge in Multiway Pots
It's important to remember that in multiway pots, defense responsibility is shared among all the remaining players. Against a pot-sized bet, the field as a whole needs to defend 50% of the time (which means that each individual player is only responsible for defending roughly 50% of their range divided by the number of players defending). On a board like As - 7c - 8c, if your strategy is to bet the full pot with your AK against four players to "protect against draws", it's way too easy for each of those players to continue with the top 10-15% of their range and only call with 2 pair or better or a high equity draw. This kills the value of holding AK and makes the pot-sized bet a very ineffective strategy. A better approach would be to use a smaller bet size (potentially around 1/3 pot) or to range check with an active check-raising strategy. Small bets force the field to defend weaker aces while still denying equity effectively (because the players have to worry about the remaining players left to act behind them too). This size allows for more options on later streets because it is less committing, and it allows the bettor to bet the flop more often and protect their range with more board coverage. Quite often, it is more important to protect your range and your stack than to protect your individual hand.
Value Your Short Stack (Your Poker Win Rate Will Thank You)
Is it really that bad to wait in a cash-out line at the end of a poker session, or just stash one's chips into a storage bag for next time? One would think so if they saw what often happens at the end of many poker games. It is not uncommon to see players going all-in for their remaining stacks as though a cash game has become a tournament. These 50-100 big blind punts to "double up or send me home" are a leak that no serious poker player can afford to make, even on days where nothing is going their way. The games will still be there tomorrow, and often the only thing leading to this type of behavior is an unwillingness to sit on uncomfortable emotions and the temporary feeling of diminishment from losing in between sessions. Learning how to navigate these difficult nights is a big part of the mental game coaching offered through PTO Poker.
Stop Open Limping
If you find yourself in a game with a lot of open limping, you are usually in a good poker game. Another way of framing this is: Don't be the reason the poker game you play in is a good game. The problem with open limping is that you are putting money into a pot with no advantages. You are signing up to lose your positional advantage if another player behind you isolates you with a raise. You are agreeing to give up the initiative in the hand because you can't make a continuation bet if you open limp. And you are usually giving up card advantage because if you're like most players, you are open limping with a lot of marginal hands. Lastly, you are unable to access your skill advantage to the same extent when you open limp and end up without the initiative against an uncapped range from out of position. Limping behind other limpers on the button with a low pocket pair or suited ace can be situationally viable, but open limping almost never is.
Flat Call Less Raises (Especially from middle position and the big blind)
A close cousin to the limping habit is the flatting habit. It's another way of seeing flops with too many hands and not enough advantages. The positions at the table where this is most costly are from middle position and the small blind. From middle position, you often can't profitably see a flop after flatting a marginal hand and facing a squeeze behind you. From the small blind, you are similarly not closing the action combined with being in the worst position at the table post-flop. GTO Wizard agrees. Check out how it plays from the hijack against a lojack open raise at 100BB deep:
This is as cut and dry as it gets: Pure 3-bet or fold. In games that are deeper-stacked, or when profitable exploits exist, we don't necessarily need to play this exact strategy, but many players would be better off simplifying with this than flatting with their current bloated ranges.
Stop Paying Off in Under-Bluffed Spots
There are some poker players that simply never bluff, and you can fold any hand that loses to their value bets. But there are also under-bluffed situations that occur in both live poker and online poker where you'd be better off folding all your bluff catchers than trying to guess and find the one time out of ten or twenty that your opponent is actually bluffing. An example $2/5 NLHE hand might look something like this:
A tight under-the-gun opens for $20 and you call in the big blind with KsQh.
($42). The flop is Kh - Jh - 2c. Your opponent bets $30 and you call.
($102). The turn is the 4c. Your opponent bets $100 and you call.
($302). The river is the 9h. Your opponent goes all-in for $300. What's your play?
When most players look at this hand in a relaxed state, they say that it is an easy fold. But in the moment with money already invested, they look at their Qh blocker and start trying to talk themselves into a call because they "block the flush and block the straight." This type of lazy thinking is bound to cost you money in a typical $2/5 game against a typical tight UTG opponent. Most of these types of opponents will structure their range (that continuation bets large and pots the turn) as strong made hands like AK, KJs, KK and JJ and good draws like QTs, AhTh, Ah5h, etc. On this river card, the player's draws all complete and improve to beat you, and their value was beating your hand already. Their range is loaded with value and only has bluffs if they are more creative than expected. It's time to find a disciplined fold and save your $300.
These Poker Tips are Simple But Not Always Easy
These five simple tips will boost your win rate substantially more than any advanced, technical strategy. But just because they are simple does not make them easy to implement or consistently follow through with in the heat of competition. It is commitment to mastering these fundamentals and overcoming any inner obstacles that will ultimately allow you to achieve your full poker potential.
If you are struggling with any of these areas, or are looking for other easy-to-implement strategies that can dramatically increase your win rate, book a free consultation here. I'll make sure you leave with valuable resources and no regrets no matter what you decide.
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