
In this example it would for example be impossible to draw good conclusions from the experiment if you decide to both open more hands from the button and to c-bet the flop at a higher frequency. One of the most important aspects is that most of the time you should only change one parameter. This means you will formulate a hypothesis for the result you are expecting, define how you will do the follow-up (and when). In practice this means that if you for example have concluded that you believe you could be more profitable by adding more hands to your button opening range you should see that as an experiment. The approach is often called the Scientific Method and it basically means that you should make controlled changes, follow-up the result and use the feedback to continuously improve. When you are a solid winning player it is important to have a structured approach to making changes in your poker strategy.

Doing this kind of analysis with a GTO solver for interesting hands is a good way to analyze mistakes (or great plays) and learn more about GTO.
Equilab – poker equity calculator how to#
But in order to play optimally you will have to learn how to do it. In general, the advice is to aim to play GTO when you don’t have very specific reads on your opponent and play exploitative poker when you are confident you can outplay your opponent. Even if this is never true, it is great for learning.

The analysis with a GTO solver is similar to the analysis with an equity calculator, but usually you start with the assumption that the opponent is playing GTO poker, that is – they are playing optimally. Doing this for hands you have marked for review is really helpful in making you spot mistakes and evolve your understanding of hand ranges and equity. You can make assumptions about which hands a specific opponent will continue with and analyze the results and see how changes in assumptions lead to different results. With an equity calculator you can enter a range and a hand and analyze the equity (probability of winning) all the way from preflop to river. When you see the results you will be able to dig deeper and find what things are causing losses and which situations you are handling well. The opportunities when you have a lot of played hands in your database are almost endless. For example, you can analyze your profitability from each position to make sure it is over benchmark, analyze your results when 3-betting from the blinds or if you have any particular hand type or flop type that is challenging. It is amazing what you can do when you invest time on this. But to get the most out of a tracker you should also use it to analyze your and your opponent’s play. Most serious poker players use a tracker to track their results and to be able to see opponents tendencies through a HUD (Heads-Up Display).

These are the main approaches I recommend for poker analysis: If you are serious about learning poker, you will also need to spend quite a bit of time analyzing. For example No-Limit Hold ’em For Advanced Players by Mathew Janda, Play Optimal Poker: Practical Game Theory for Every Poker Player by Andrew Brokos or Modern Poker Theory: Building an unbeatable strategy based on GTO principles by Michael Acevodo are all good (but heavy reading). This is a mathematically sound approach to the game and even though our understanding of it is still developing, a lot of the foundation for GTO will not change over time. If you are an advanced player you can benefit from GTO (Game Theory Optimal) books. A book from 2015 is in many parts dated in 2022. It is a bit of a minefield though, since poker has evolved a lot over the years. If you prefer reading books, there’s a lot of those as well. Some of the poker training sites have dated content, so it is a good idea to do a bit of searching before signing up. If you are willing to pay to make sure you get access to high quality content, poker training sites are a better option. Some of it is good, but the nuggets can be hard to find. If you prefer learning from videos there is plenty of content on Youtube. Different people learn in different ways.

Very few strong players have become good by just playing a lot of poker and having natural talent.
