GTO vs FTGO - finding the right balance
GTO has a hard time holding up in low to mid-stakes poker.
There’s no shortage of advice, information and coaching around poker tournaments and if you keep your eyes and ears open long enough, some of it sticks. You’ll also hear how all of that coaching and strategy goes out the window while playing low to mid-stakes poker. That’s also where you’ll most likely find yourself throwing GTO play out the window and adopting an FTGO game plan.
In a few short weeks, I’ve found myself abandoning my normal, selectively aggressive game in a nightly event after busting a couple of bullets. My ire gets the best of me, and I shift gears, hoping for personal revenge, and I start playing to Fuck That Guy Overtly.
Now, this doesn’t happen without cause – it comes when that guy cracks aces with 6 7 suited, or when that guy announces his bets through hot dog burps or it can even be the way “Bill the Farmer” pronounces “dayumn” with three syllables.
Last night, a player seated next to me smelled like a sweaty sock that farted through a dirty ashtray. Nearly gagging, I pulled my hoodie over my nose and called every open he made, just hoping to catch some trash on a flop and bust him.
Then there’s the dude that wins a big pot, immediately gets moved to another table and hits you with, “Thanks for your chips, bud,” as he racks up. Blinding, white-hot rage bubbles up, I can feel my face getting flushed and all I managed was a flubbed South Park quote, “I’m not your buddy, guy.”
Occasionally, you can spot that guy on the wait list before you even see him. Names like “KingDave”, “Toothpick” and “TeddyBSmooth” are a sure sign that at least one of them is walking around with an open beer at 1 pm on a Wednesday.
In Tunica, I was one table away from that guy when he wouldn’t make change for the dealer. He ignored a second request for change and the dealer scolded him, “Sir, you have to give change when you’re the only one at the table that has it.”
That guy still didn’t want to give change and only changed his tune when the dealer called for a floor supervisor.
That guy usually has two friends who stumble into the room loudly, hover too close to the table, and offer unsolicited advice on how to play the flop.
Or it’s the max late-reg guy, who sits down and raises four hands in a row to essentially double up in short order. Now, it’s possible he got dealt four bangers in a row, but it’s more probable that he’s buried in makeup and can’t see past the last Monday of the series.
Away from the table, I’m a pretty loud, extroverted guy who genuinely enjoys my line of work. In contrast, while at the table I’m normally quiet, electing to mostly observe the game. But FGTO clouds the mind, you internally scream to fold pocket fours after a three-bet but somehow your dumb hands toss in calling chips out of position.
Set-mining, firing three shells with ace king on a ten-high board and “feeling the flush” are all cardinal trademarks of FTGO strategies. Because, famously, what do we hear from players in the hallways on the phone? – “What is that guy calling with?” or “How do you call there?” or “I had the best hand preflop.”
To many, all this simply sounds like tilt – I disagree. Tilt affects each process while playing, while FTGO is playing poorly to simply target the clueless dipshit that eats chicken wings at the table.
Unfortunately, FTGO isn’t profitable when trying to land a revenge beat on that guy. But most of the time, that guy takes your money the rest of the night because the Poker Gods decided that’s how it would go.
But there is nothing more satisfying than when FTGO eliminates that guy and becomes profitable right in his face. My smug smile, singsong humming while stacking that guy’s chips and texting my buddies to tell them how I went runner-runner flush.
Wait, did I just become that guy?
Images made by Google AI.