Pitonealal
Rock Star
Platinum Level
Hey guys,
I wanted to share something a bit different today. Most of the time on poker forums we talk about hands, bad beats, or strategy. But recently I went down the rabbit hole of reading about John Nash, and I think his story—and his work—has a lot to do with how we understand poker toda
Who Was John Nas
John Forbes Nash Jr. was an American mathematician, born in 1928. If you’ve seen the movie A Beautiful Mind 🎬, that was about him. He was brilliant, but also struggled with mental illness (schizophrenia). Despite those struggles, he developed ideas in game theory that changed economics, politics, biology… and yes, even poke
Nash became famous for the concept of the Nash Equilibrium. In simple words, it’s a state in a game where no player can benefit by changing their strategy alone, as long as the other players keep theirs the same. Basically, if everyone is playing optimally, nobody can “outsmart” the system by just tweaking their own move
Why Does This Matter for Poker?
Poker is a perfect example of a game that fits Nash’s ideas. It’s a competitive game with incomplete information, where each player’s choices affect everyone else’s outcome
Think about short-stack tournament situations. You’ve probably seen push/fold charts that tell you when to shove all-in with 5–15 big blinds. Those charts are based on Nash Equilibrium solution
Example: You’re in the small blind with 8 BB. Nash charts can tell you exactly which hands are profitable to shove versus the big blind, no matter how perfectly they call. The beauty of this is that if you follow Nash ranges, your strategy is unexploitable in the long run. Opponents might win a battle here and there, but they can’t consistently beat you if you stick to equilibriu
The Gap Between Theory and Reality
Now, poker isn’t played by robots. Most people (especially at low/mid stakes) don’t play anywhere near Nash optimal. They call too wide, fold too much, or shove too tight. That means while Nash ranges are a solid baseline, you can often make more money by adjusting and exploiting weaknesse
For example: Nash might say you should shove K7o with 7 BB on the button. But if you know the blinds are total calling stations who never fold, maybe you tighten up. On the flip side, if they’re super nitty, you can shove even wider than Nas
So in practice, Nash isn’t the “answer to everything,” but it gives you a foundation. You can start from equilibrium and then adap
Nash’s Legacy and Poker Today
What blows my mind is that a mathematician working in the 1950s—long before online poker, solvers, or even Texas Hold’em being popular—created the tools we still use toda
Modern solvers like PioSolver or GTO Wizard are basically high-powered machines running equilibrium calculations. They take Nash’s ideas and apply them to every possible poker spot. Without Nash, we probably wouldn’t even talk about “GTO poker” the way we do no
His work also reminds us that poker is more than just luck or “gut feeling.” It’s math, logic, and psychology blended together. Every time you think about whether to bluff, fold, or call, you’re basically running a mini version of Nash’s equilibrium in your head 🤯
Final Thoughts 💭
For me, learning about John Nash was inspiring. Here’s a guy who faced massive personal struggles, but still changed the way the world thinks about strategy and competition. And now, decades later, we’re using his ideas at the poker table. Pretty wild, rig
So I’m curiou
👉 Do you guys actually study Nash push/fold charts and try to memorize ranges
👉 Or do you mostly play by feel and adjust to opponents
👉 And do you think modern poker is becoming too “robotic” with all this GTO talk, or is Nash’s theory the key to surviving in today’s games
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
😎???s—ht?
---.w.y.🃏---t.h.s.😅---m.s.s.🎯---s.r.h?---y.ng in today’s games?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! 😎
I wanted to share something a bit different today. Most of the time on poker forums we talk about hands, bad beats, or strategy. But recently I went down the rabbit hole of reading about John Nash, and I think his story—and his work—has a lot to do with how we understand poker toda
Who Was John Nas
John Forbes Nash Jr. was an American mathematician, born in 1928. If you’ve seen the movie A Beautiful Mind 🎬, that was about him. He was brilliant, but also struggled with mental illness (schizophrenia). Despite those struggles, he developed ideas in game theory that changed economics, politics, biology… and yes, even poke
Nash became famous for the concept of the Nash Equilibrium. In simple words, it’s a state in a game where no player can benefit by changing their strategy alone, as long as the other players keep theirs the same. Basically, if everyone is playing optimally, nobody can “outsmart” the system by just tweaking their own move
Why Does This Matter for Poker?
Poker is a perfect example of a game that fits Nash’s ideas. It’s a competitive game with incomplete information, where each player’s choices affect everyone else’s outcome
Think about short-stack tournament situations. You’ve probably seen push/fold charts that tell you when to shove all-in with 5–15 big blinds. Those charts are based on Nash Equilibrium solution
Example: You’re in the small blind with 8 BB. Nash charts can tell you exactly which hands are profitable to shove versus the big blind, no matter how perfectly they call. The beauty of this is that if you follow Nash ranges, your strategy is unexploitable in the long run. Opponents might win a battle here and there, but they can’t consistently beat you if you stick to equilibriu
The Gap Between Theory and Reality
Now, poker isn’t played by robots. Most people (especially at low/mid stakes) don’t play anywhere near Nash optimal. They call too wide, fold too much, or shove too tight. That means while Nash ranges are a solid baseline, you can often make more money by adjusting and exploiting weaknesse
For example: Nash might say you should shove K7o with 7 BB on the button. But if you know the blinds are total calling stations who never fold, maybe you tighten up. On the flip side, if they’re super nitty, you can shove even wider than Nas
So in practice, Nash isn’t the “answer to everything,” but it gives you a foundation. You can start from equilibrium and then adap
Nash’s Legacy and Poker Today
What blows my mind is that a mathematician working in the 1950s—long before online poker, solvers, or even Texas Hold’em being popular—created the tools we still use toda
Modern solvers like PioSolver or GTO Wizard are basically high-powered machines running equilibrium calculations. They take Nash’s ideas and apply them to every possible poker spot. Without Nash, we probably wouldn’t even talk about “GTO poker” the way we do no
His work also reminds us that poker is more than just luck or “gut feeling.” It’s math, logic, and psychology blended together. Every time you think about whether to bluff, fold, or call, you’re basically running a mini version of Nash’s equilibrium in your head 🤯
Final Thoughts 💭
For me, learning about John Nash was inspiring. Here’s a guy who faced massive personal struggles, but still changed the way the world thinks about strategy and competition. And now, decades later, we’re using his ideas at the poker table. Pretty wild, rig
So I’m curiou
👉 Do you guys actually study Nash push/fold charts and try to memorize ranges
👉 Or do you mostly play by feel and adjust to opponents
👉 And do you think modern poker is becoming too “robotic” with all this GTO talk, or is Nash’s theory the key to surviving in today’s games
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
😎???s—ht?
---.w.y.🃏---t.h.s.😅---m.s.s.🎯---s.r.h?---y.ng in today’s games?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! 😎
