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Strategy: Fixed-Limit

Fundamental Theorem of Poker

by 6Wishmaster6

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1. Introduction

In this article

Avoid mistakes, while provoking your opponents to make them
How the Fundamental Theorem of Poker is relevant for your game

The renowned American poker player, theoretician and book author David Sklansky postulated what was, in his opinion, the most important theorem for the game of poker, his Fundamental Theorem of Poker (FToP):

The Fundamental Theorem of Poker

Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents' cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose.

Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose

This article comments on the implications and the conclusions of Sklansky's FToP and shows how it has an effect on the game itself and the choice of one's own playing style. It elaborates on different standard situations like the semi-bluff or the free-card raise and explains where the relevance and the usable application of the FToP lie in these situations.

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That's not the entire article...

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Strategy Sections

Article Contents

page 1
- 1. Introduction
page 2
- 2. The relevance of the FToP for your own game
page 3
- 3. Hand reading
page 4
- 4. Provoke mistakes from the opponent
page 5
- 5. Pot Odds and implied odds
page 6
- 6. Outlook and recap

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