Question about GTOW High Rake Ranges
Probably a noob question, but I was looking at some of the higher rake ranges on GTOW
NL50 GG
NL25 2.5x
Both are 8BB Cap at 5%
They both mix in some cold calls in the HJ and CO which I found interesting because I always thought the advice in high rake environments was to play 3b/fold from those positions.
Is there a reason it's calling from these positions?
I also found it interesting how it likes to use a lot of suited Kx as 3bets in the NL25 ranges. This is HJvUTG
1 Reply
Great question!
The concept that GTO 3-bet/folds instead of cold-calling is largely a myth. If you give the solver the option to call HJ vs UTG, it's gonna call at some frequency, even at this rake structure. Raise/fold is a fine simplification. But it's just that - a simplification, not a law of game theory.
Back in the day, preflop spots were very hard to solve. Very few people had access to the type of computing power and tools necessary to solve multiway preflop. They quickly realized that eliminating cold calls lost negligible EV and was much easier to solve and implement in-game.
That said, I don't think cold-calling MP is a good strategy at low stakes. In practice, I think you'll go multiway much more often than the solver thinks you will, and pay a lot more rake as a result.
