WPT GTO Trainer: Heads Up Play

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Most players don't get the chance to practice heads up play until they are already at the final table battling it out for the title.

Since the majority of the prize pool is at the top, you should be prepared when the big money is on the line.

​That is why we are very excited to announce our brand-new Heads Up tournament scenarios for the WPT GTO Trainer!

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The new Heads Up scenarios give you the ability to train different stack depths and alternate positions after each hand.

Members can access these scenarios by clicking the filter below "What you would like to train today?", select Heads-Up, and choose from the list of available training scenarios.

Heads Up Training Scenarios are normally only available to LearnWPT.com Platinum Members. For a limited time we're providing exclusive access to this sample pack for everyone to test their skills by clicking the link below.

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The Heads Up scenarios from the WPT GTO Trainer allow you to train and drill millions of hands and learn optimal strategy for heads up play, gain valuable experience, be better prepared, and have the advantage when it matters the most...

Sitting across from your opponent with the title on the line.

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Ready for more?
Join LearnWPT.com for just $5 your first month of Membership to play more GTO hands (and as often as you like) to find YOUR leaks and start seeing true stats for YOUR play!

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[FREE VIDEO] Tony Dunst $100 Buy-In Large Field Online MTT

Watch This FREE Strategy Episode From LearnWPT Instructor Tony Dunst!

LearnWPT Instructor Tony Dunst has been a model of consistency on the live poker scene, including most recently his deep run in the 2019 WPT Tournament of Champions.

Tony's online poker resume is no exception and we're excited to share this in-depth look at a recent deep run in a 1,000+ person online tournament.

Tune in as Tony shares his thought process as he navigates unknown opponents at the Final Table and identifies key adjustments for managing pay jumps and applying pressure to less-skilled opponents.

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This video is part of the LearnWPT Exclusive On Tour with Tony Dunst Strategy Episode series. Join Tony for a behind the scenes look into the most thought provoking hands he plays from real WPT events and teaches strategies and concepts you can use in your game.

Click here to learn more about Tony's extensive poker accomplishments and more importantly, how he can help improve your game.

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We'll see you online,
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Chip Leader with K♠T♦, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT:
You are in the money and the table chip leader in a multi-table Tournament where blinds are 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. It folds to you on the Button with K♠T♦ and action is on you. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing a tournament where we just got in the money and we are the table chip leader with 1.6 million chips (160 big blinds) at 5,000/10,000 blinds with a 10,000 big blind ante. We are dealt KsTd on the Button and it folds around to us.

We are now in a very interesting tournament spot that can come up quite often, especially if we have a decent stack and there are a lot of players left in the tournament who have what is referred to as "reshove stacks". A Reshove stack is between 15-20 big blinds. The best move for players with this stack size is to look for spots where opponents have a wide opening hand range and then shove all-in over the top when the opponent raises first into the pot. This move is used to induce a fold and leverage their stack to pick up chips.

In this spot, we are on the Button with a hand that we would normally raise first-in with. The potential problem here is if we open, our opponents have great stacks to reshove with. If an opponent reshoves we will be in a very precarious spot because against aggressive players they will likely have hands like JTs and A4s here in their range of which we either dominate or have great equity against. However, we don’t really want to play a 30+ big blind pot with these hands.

Traditional poker logic often says that with and against reshove stacks we shouldn’t raise any hands we wouldn’t call a shove with, but that logic is flawed. If we only raise hands we will call with then we miss out on a lot of opportunities to utilize our big stack here to accumulate chips. We do have another option though.

Continued below...

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Against players who resteal aggressively with these stacks (which is often appropriate) we can also move all-in. At first glance it may seems like a large overbet.

However, sometimes when we hold certain hands that we may have to call versus a shove we actually reduce our overall variance by just shoving first. This way we make them fold some hands with which they may have shoved against a small open-raise.

Our opponents will still call with the hands that dominate us, but they would have shoved with those hands anyway, and we may have had to call those shoves.

Against more passive players who don’t reshove appropriately, making a minimum raise and folding here is definitely the superior play. When facing players who are capable of reshoving a very wide range in this spot, open-shoving into these two stacks is slightly higher EV and lower variance than both raise/folding and raise/calling.

Moving all-in is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!



Transforming your game with immersive training from LearnWPT is now easier with our brand-new 2-Day and 3-Day Digital Training Events all from the comfort of your home on your favorite device! Check out our newest events...

2-Day Digital Lab

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  • Day 1: You'll start off with a private single table tournament on ClubWPT.com with great prizes for top performers
  • Day 2: Tournament action will be recorded and Nick will analyze the action for students with all cards face up on a Zoom call


Due to the hands-on nature of this event tickets are limited to a Single Table Tournament.

3-Day Digital Strategy Workshop

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  • Day 1: Learn advanced tournament concepts as part of a brand-new curriculum with Nick Binger via Zoom
  • Day 2: Play an online tournament on ClubWPT.com with great prizes for top performers
  • Day 3: Join Nick Binger and Tony Dunst via Zoom for real-time analysis of your ClubWPT tournament play with cards face up


This is your chance to get professional feedback from 2x Bracelet Winners and a
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Have Questions about our Digital Events? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help!


9♠9♣ on the Bubble, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT:
You are seven-handed on the Tournament bubble with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and no ante. It folds to the Cutoff who goes all-in for 115,000 and both the Button and Small Blind fold. Action is on you in the Big Blind with 9♠9♣, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are seven-handed on the exact bubble of a smaller multi-table tournament. The payout structure is $980 for first and $130 for sixth with a fairly standard escalating structure in between. The blinds are currently 5,000/10,000 with no ante and we are dealt pocket nines in the Big Blind. It folds around to the Cutoff who shoves all in for 115,000 chips. All other opponents fold and action is on us.

At first glance having pocket nines with 4 big blinds behind seems like a very standard call. However, looking around the table there are 4 other players with 4BBs or less which puts tremendous ICM pressure on us.

If we were to fold here it is highly likely we make the money but very unlikely we face a situation where we have this much of a chip equity edge again. Folding in this spot sacrifices what is likely one of our best chances to build a stack much more capable of a top finish.

Continued below...

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When we run this spot in a computer simulation assuming optimal play from all players, we find that the Cutoff should be shoving 100% of hands in this spot with these stacks. The ICM pressure on the three remaining shorter stacks is very strong meaning a vast majority of the time the Cutoff just wins the money in the middle.

This same computer simulation suggests our calling range should consist of 66+ A8s+ ATo+ KTs+. In the real world you will run into many players who won’t shove 100% of hands in the Cutoff’s position and against this player type your calling range is likely to start shrinking very fast depending on how narrow their shoving range becomes.

If the Cutoff were only shoving 50-60% of hands then pocket nines could easily become a fold, that’s how powerful the ICM pressure is in this spot. Assuming our opponent is able to recognize the situation at hand, they should be shoving more than enough hands to make this too good of a spot to pass up even if some percentage of the time we bust out on the bubble.

Calling is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!


LearnWPT Pros Winning Big!

CONGRATULATIONS to not 1, but 2 LearnWPT Instructors for each taking home their 2nd illustrious Gold Bracelet in the past week!

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LearnWPT Lead Instructor, Nick Binger won his 2nd gold bracelet by outlasting a massive 2,408 entry field and scored a $133,412 1st prize during the WSOP Event# 24 8-Hand No-Limit Hold'em Tournament.

LearnWPT Instructor and WPT Commentator, Tony Dunst grabbed his 2nd gold bracelet outlasting another massive 1,361 entry field and scored a $168,342 1st prize during the WSOP Event# 21 $777 buy-in 6-Hand No-Limit Hold'em Tournament.

Let Nick and Tony help improve your game! Click the button below and join for just $5 your 1st month...


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5♣5♦ on the Flop, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT: In a Tournament where blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 Big Blind Ante the Under the Gun player folds and you raise to 2,500 from Early Position with 5♣5♦. The Button is the only caller. The flop comes 9♦8♥T♣ and action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing the middle stages of a tournament with a 50BB effective stack size and a 1BB big blind ante. It is folded to us UTG+1 and we raise to 2,500 with pocket fives. This is a fairly standard open at an unknown table given these stack sizes. Action folds around to the Button who flat calls. The Blinds fold and we’re off to the flop.

The flop is 9d8hTc and action is on us. One of the first things we want to analyze on the flop is who has the range advantage and who has the nut advantage. In this spot our opening range is slightly narrower than the Button and includes more overpairs. That said, the Button's range can include 76s and it is very unlikely that our range does.

Our opponent may reraise with pocket tens preflop, however they still have slightly more nutted hands than we do. While we have a slight range advantage, our opponent likely has a slight nut advantage on this particular board.

Continued below...

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Next we want to evaluate if our hand would benefit from equity denial. While we could potentially get a hand like pocket sixes to fold here, we benefit most by getting folds from hands in our opponent’s range that contain overcards and at least a gutshot draw such as hands like KJs/AQs.

Against good players we are unlikely to get these hands to fold with just a single bet. Aside from a five or perhaps an ace we can represent on the turn, there are very few good cards for us to turn barrel here.

Since we are out of position and at a slight nut disadvantage, we are unlikely to get folds through aggression and deny equity to the overcard plus gutshot combos in our opponent's range. We are also unlikely to be able to fire again on many of the turn cards with any degree of confidence, so this is a spot where we can just check.

Against an opponent who plays extremely fit or fold or would call with a much wider range than is standard preflop, we could make a case for a different line. It feels bad to open in early position and then just check the flop, however this is one of the spots where doing so against a tough player makes sense.

Checking is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!


“Did I play that hand right?”

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It’s that fundamental question that, as poker players, we all ask ourselves on a regular basis…

Get clear answers to all of your questions with the popular LearnWPT Ask a Pro Feature!

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Find out what’s it like to have a professional poker coach help you improve your game by trying out your first month of Membership at LearnWPT for just $5.



Introducing LearnWPT Instructor Vanessa Selbst

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We are excited to announce the newest Instructor to our team, Vanessa Selbst!


Vanessa Selbst is one of the most respected and accomplished poker players in the world. With over 10 years of teaching experience and one of the original creators of poker training videos, Vanessa has coached some of the top poker players in the game today.

Vanessa surprised the poker world in 2017 when she announced retirement from playing professionally on the circuit.

However, it didn’t take long until her love for the game brought her back to the WPT felt. Like a true champion she quickly returned to form and made deep runs in the September 2019 WPT Borgata Poker Open and WPT Falls View Main Event in February 2020.

Vanessa's Accomplishments:

  • 3 World Series of Poker Bracelets
  • Multiple World Poker Tour Final Tables
  • Nearly $12 Million in Live Tournament Winnings
  • Highest Earning Female Poker Player

We are excited to bring Vanessa's aggressive winning style and championship mindset to our LearnWPT Members through upcoming Strategy Videos.

Click below to get a sneak peek at what Members of LearnWPT.com can expect from Vanessa.

P.S. Join now for $5 and gain access to Vanessa's complete strategy video, normally only available to Monthly or Yearly Members!


Vanessa’s dominance, dedication to her craft, and incisive thinking make her both a formidable opponent at the table and an enormous asset for LearnWPT Members.

Help us welcome Vanessa to the team!
-LearnWPT


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LearnWPT.com Monthly and Yearly Members can review insight and analysis from our Instructors through upcoming:

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WPT GTO Trainer: Small Stakes Cash Play

You've said Game Theory Optimal play is difficult to apply to your small stakes $1-2 and $2-5 games.

We listened and we are now making it easy for you to practice, play, and drill hands using the WPT GTO Trainer.

Introducing the brand-new WPT GTO Trainer Small Stakes cash game scenarios to prepare you to dominate the games you play in!

  • How do you respond to aggressive players in your game?
  • Are you betting large enough to fold opponents out of a hand?
  • Have trouble with opponents who seem to call every preflop raise, no matter what the size?

Now you have a tool to drill the spots that occur most often in low stakes games and dramatically improve your play through practice.

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We've also made it easier for you to customize the WPT GTO Trainer to change how you get instant feedback on your play while training!

Click the SHOW STATS % button and switch between specific EV Loss and % Played Percentage Stats for each action to a simplified response that indicates if the action you chose is correct or not recommended.

This feature is perfect for players who are just starting to study Game Theory Optimal Strategy.

GTO-Trainer-Small-Stakes

Members can click "What you would like to train today?", select the Small Stakes filter, and choose from the list of available scenarios to start training.

Click START NEW SESSION and begin! Practice these new simulated Small Stakes situations to gain valuable experience, be better prepared, and have the advantage the next time you sit down at the table.

Not a Member? Play through 5 FREE solved random hands from the WPT GTO Trainer Small Stakes Packs by clicking below and see how close you are to GTO play...


Ready for more?
Join LearnWPT.com for just $5 your first month of Membership to play more GTO hands (and as often as you like) to find YOUR leaks and start seeing true stats for YOUR play!

Get real time feedback on trouble Spots and Ask the LearnWPT Pros with one click.


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Think Like a Pro

Q♣Q♥ From the Cutoff, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT:
You are in a 100 BB deep cash game against tough opponents. The action folds to you in the Cutoff with Q♣Q♥ and you raise to 3 big blinds. The Button and Small Blind both fold and the Big Blind calls. Your opponent checks the K♠8♣J♠ flop and action is on you. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: This hand comes from the WPT GTO Trainer and involves a cash game scenario where we are 100 BBs deep and it folds to us in the Cutoff with pocket queens. We raise to 3 BBs and it is folds to the Big Blind who flat calls and we’re off to the flop.

The flop is Ks8cJs and the Big Blind checks to us. Since this is a GTO opponent (all opponents in the WPT GTO trainer play game theory optimal ”perfect” poker) we know that they will be appropriately defending against what is a very wide Cutoff opening hand range.

One of the first questions we want to ask when deciding if we should bet the flop with a made hand is “how many streets of value is our hand worth?” In this particular case even with us opening a wide hand range and our opponent defending with a very wide range, if money goes into the pot on all three streets it is very unlikely that second pair to the board is the best hand.

Another question we want to ask is “does our hand benefit from equity denial here?”. While there are some obvious draws on this board, we are unlikely to fold out any flush draws and we block all the straight draws with our queens even if we choose to bet.

Continued below...

We would potentially fold out some ace high hands that could improve on the turn, however in this spot a GTO opponent may continue with even ace high. In this situation our particular holding doesn’t benefit much from equity denial and it is not strong enough to bet, so we really don’t want to start building a huge pot.

This hand is an excellent candidate to balance our checking range and induce some value from hands like Jx or 98s or even induce bluffs from a GTO opponent. Keep in mind that against some “real world” opponents who are either very loose/passive or extremely fit or fold postflop, taking a more exploitative line here by betting the flop may be more profitable than checking.

However, against a GTO tough opponent though who may be capable of check-raising us with a variety of bluffs and backdoor draws, checking here to keep the pot small and get to a controlled showdown versus a wide range is the most profitable play.

Checking is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!


THE WPT GTO TRAINER
The Fastest Way to Learn GTO Strategy

The WPT GTO Trainer allows you to Play and Train against True GTO Opponents and get real-time Feedback and Analysis on Your Actions.

Choose from Cash Game and Tournament scenarios and receive immediate feedback on YOUR play compared to GTO including EV (expected value) Loss, Percentage Played, and the Ideal Action.

Click the button below and play the WPT GTO Trainer for free....


Join LearnWPT.com for just $5 your First Month of Membership and play through hundreds of solved hands per hour (anytime, anywhere, and as many hands as you want) on the WPT GTO Trainer!


WPT GTO Trainer: Practice Final Table Play

All of the big prizes and money in a Tournament are at the Final Table. Whether it is your local daily or a WPT Main Event, understanding the unique strategy adjustments for Final Table play is vital to finishing strong.

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Are you prepared
to put pressure on a short stack and do you know how to respond when the pressure is on you?

Do you consider ICM (the estimated dollar worth of a stack size) and how to adjust when there are pay jumps?

We are excited to announce the brand-new WPT GTO Final Table Play scenarios to help better prepare you to make the most of your next Final Table!

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Members can click "What you would like to train today?", select the Final Table Play filter, and choose from the list of available scenarios to start training.

Review the payout structure before you begin by clicking the Payouts link. These numbers represent the percentage of the prize pool for each place.

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Click START NEW SESSION and begin! Practice these new simulated Final Table situations to gain valuable experience, be better prepared, and have the advantage the next time you are in position to win.

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Play through 5 FREE solved random hands from the WPT GTO Trainer Final Table Scenarios by clicking below and see how close you are to GTO play...

Your goal is to select the action for each individual hand that is as close to 0.00 EV as possible.

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Not a Member?
Join LearnWPT.com for just $5 your first month of Membership to play more GTO hands (and as often as you like) to find YOUR leaks and start seeing true stats for YOUR play!


Get real time feedback on trouble Spots and Ask the LearnWPT Pros with one click.


A♠A♥ Facing a Flop Check-Raise, what do you do here?

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DECISION POINT: In a live $1-3 game with a $6 Under The Gun straddle, the UTG+1 player calls and it folds to you in the Hijack. You raise to $25 with A♠A♥. The Button and UTG call and UTG+1 folds. UTG checks the 3♠3♦5♣ flop and you bet $35. The Button folds and UTG check-raises to $70. Action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are dealt pocket aces in the Hijack seat in a $1-3 cash game with a $6 straddle from under the gun. UTG+1 calls the straddle and it is folds to us. In this spot it is standard to make it 3x the straddle amount plus the call amount, or $24.

In most common live games players in the UTG straddler tends to be “stickier” than other players. Making an UTG straddle is a bad play, and people do it to either create action or gamble. Because of those reasons the likelihood of UTG folding goes down significantly. In addition, if we make our raise too small the UTG+1 player is likely to call as well, and taking a multiway pot with pocket aces isn’t what we want to do. This is a spot where we should probably make it $30+ but in the moment we elect to bet $25 instead and get called by both the Button and the UTG straddler.

The flop is 3s3d5c and is one of the better flops for us that doesn’t contain an ace. UTG checks and action is on us. Given the dryness of the board and how our hand performs versus our opponent’s ranges, we don’t need to bet very big here. Something in the neighborhood of 35-40% of the pot is perfectly fine, especially given that the stack to pot ratio (SPR) is around 3. The Button folds and the original straddler min-raises to $70.

Continued below...

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This is a spot where some players often see monsters under the bed. The very small raise does make it less likely that our opponent is bluffing, since they can reasonably expect us to call with most of our range. That being said, their range here is much wider than just 3x/55. Our opponent could easily have other overpairs, or could be setting up a big turn semi-bluff with a hand like A2s/A4s/46s/76s. Villain could also be overvaluing a hand like 77/88 or even A5s in this spot. Sometimes our opponent will have 55/3x and we will be crushed.

When we consider all the hands UTG's range we are way ahead, especially once we factor in that our opponent is straddling UTG preflop. Straddling from UTG is a very negative expectation play typically used by people who are looking for action rather than a tight aggressive strategy.

Given the overall wide range UTG can have in this spot and our position, if we move all-in now it gives our opponent the opportunity to get away from some of their semi-bluffs and even A5s type hands fairly easily. If we proceed by calling we give UTG additional opportunities to pot commit themselves on future streets with bluffs and worse value hands, which is very good for us.

Calling is the best play.

How would you play it?
Share your answer in the comments below!


WHAT IS A LEARNWPT STRATEGY EPISODE?

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We started LearnWPT to make it easy for everyone to improve their game in their spare time.

That’s why we present our Members with poker “lessons” via Strategy Videos so they can elevate their games by watching a short video on a phone, tablet, or personal computer.

Strategy Episodes are presented in short, easy to digest segments (usually 10-15 minutes) that focus on introducing and reinforcing specific aspects of the LearnWPT game plan.

Join LearnWPT.com for just $5 your first month and start improving your game with our on-demand library of over 450 game-changing strategy videos and access to all of the LearnWPT Membership Features!


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