What is GTO in Poker

GTO stands for Game Theory Optimal: an equilibrium strategy that no one can exploit. The idea is to play so balanced that, whatever your opponents do, they can't win money from you long-term by taking advantage of a pattern in your play. It isn't "the play that wins the most," but "the play that can't be punished".

An example of the concept: if you only bet the river with good hands, an attentive opponent would always fold and you'd stop winning with your bluffs. If you only bluffed, they'd always call. GTO equilibrium mixes value and bluff in a specific proportion (tied to your bet size) so that calling or folding is break-even for the opponent: no response of theirs makes a profit.

The important nuance, especially if you play low stakes: GTO isn't always the most profitable. Against opponents who make big, repeated mistakes —calling too much, folding too much— you make more money by deviating from equilibrium to exploit that specific error. GTO is the solid, airtight baseline; exploitative play is what squeezes bad opponents. The ideal is knowing when to use each.

In practice, balanced preflop ranges are the first layer of a game close to GTO.

The open, call and 3-bet ranges in the range analyzer are a good balanced starting point, free and with no account needed.