GTO Poker: What It Means and What You Can Compute Yourself
GTO poker stands for Game Theory Optimal: an equilibrium strategy your opponent cannot exploit, even if they know it. Part of it can be computed by hand: in the simple river model, a pot-sized bet contains 33.3% bluffs, and the caller has to defend 50% of their range. The rest, the full ranges for every spot, takes a solver.
K♣T♣ facing a river shove
In the big blind with K♣T♣, you check the river on K♦ 8♠ 4♥ 3♦ A♣. The button shoves 45bb into a 22bb pot. Fold or call?
See the answer
In the simple model of a polarized range:
| What is computed | Formula | For 45bb into 22bb |
|---|---|---|
| Equity needed to call | bet / (pot + 2 × bet) | 40.2% |
| Bluffs in the shove at equilibrium | bet / (pot + 2 × bet) | 40.2% |
| Share of your range to defend | pot / (pot + bet) | 32.8% |
The first two lines are equal: at equilibrium, the button bluffs just enough that calling and folding earn K♣T♣ the same. If the button bluffs more than 40.2% of its shoves, the call wins; if it bluffs less, the call loses. The site's answer, written by the author, is the call.
The model's numbers by bet size
| Bet (share of the pot) | Bluffs in the bet | Share of your range to defend |
|---|---|---|
| 33% | 19.9% | 75.2% |
| 50% | 25% | 66.7% |
| 75% | 30% | 57.1% |
| 100% | 33.3% | 50% |
| 150% | 37.5% | 40% |
The bigger the bet, the more bluffs the equilibrium holds, and the less the caller needs to defend.
Keep going
- How much of your range to defend: minimum defense frequency.
- The price of a bluff, from the bettor's side: how often a bluff must work.
- The two shapes of range: polarized vs merged range.
- What a solver does, and what it does not: poker solver vs trainer.
- Solver tools without paying: free GTO Wizard alternatives.
- Calling the river with a medium hand: river bluff catcher.
- One spot every day: the daily poker puzzle.
- The opposite: adapting to the opponent's mistakes, exploitative poker.
Sources
- Every number is an exact result of the polarized river model, computed with the app's modules and checked on October 11, 2026.
- The answer to the spot follows rules written by the app's author; it does not come from a solver.