Poker Strategy: Learn Call Ranges to Avoid Costly Mistakes

Improving your poker game involves more than just learning complex strategies; it also requires identifying and eliminating costly mistakes. Jared Tendler, a renowned poker psychologist, advised focusing on the C-game to identify and eliminate the most costly mistakes. This approach involves finding your most glaring errors and working on their elimination, as these mistakes are the most expensive and easiest to spot.

In the era of solvers, Dara O'Kirni showed how to sort mistakes by EV (Expected Value) using solvers. This method allows players to understand which types of errors are the most costly and focus on correcting them. By knowing the EV of your decisions, there are no excuses for not working on the most expensive mistakes.

GTO Wizard is a tool that can show the cost of errors in big blinds. For example, the expected value (EV) of each hand is shown in a matrix, making it clear which hands are profitable and which are not. The article provides examples of how small deviations from the optimal range can lead to significant losses over time. For instance, opening with A9o instead of ATo can result in a loss of 0.14 bbs, which adds up to 14 bbs/100 over the long term. Similarly, calling with A9o instead of AJo can result in a loss of 0.49 bbs, which is a significant loss over time.