Every beginner who is just starting to play poker is very attracted to the ABC strategy. What is the advantage of using this game algorithm? ABC poker is known for its simplicity: to master this strategy you do not need to spend a lot of time and buy expensive courses, it is enough to thoroughly study several materials on the Internet. Playing GTO and applying Nash equilibrium is a sure way to high results, but you need to start with the basic rules and strategies. Winning at micro limits is very simple, for this it is enough to place bets on value and make disciplined folds on time.

What is ABC poker?

ABC strategy is an algorithmic style of play that uses a minimally branched decision tree. Beginners who are just starting their career in poker practice ABC mechanically, many of the subtleties of the game remain incomprehensible to them. There is no big problem: skill comes with experience, and in the early stages it is worth playing as simple as possible and not trying to reinvent the wheel. If you carefully monitor your opponents during the game and analyze the distributions after the session, you will not have to linger for a long time at the ABC level and soon you will be able to move on to deeper poker strategies.

How does ABC poker show good results? Many opponents play very poorly at micro limits, they constantly make costly mistakes and may not even fully understand the rules of the game. In such conditions, for a positive winrate, you do not need to have an exorbitant skill: just take the value with strong hands and do not enter large banks with marginal ones. An ABC poker player participates only in those distributions in which he has a significant advantage in equity, other options are simply not interesting to him. The main action should be centered around the hobby players, while the regulars should not be “hacked” for no particular reason.

Variety of ABC Poker

The main advantages

The ABC strategy has a number of undeniable advantages that effectively lay the foundation for a future poker career. Understanding these characteristics will allow you to more meaningfully spend time at the tables.

  • Easy to learn. Learning to play Texas Hold'em is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance. Behind the external simplicity, this discipline hides complex calculations, and very few can quickly understand and internalize them. The ABC strategy, by contrast, is available to almost everyone who knows the multiplication table and has free time to study the theory.
  • Saves from tilt. Emotional instability often causes major losses to professional regulars, because they practice a non-standard game and, through negligence, can make a serious mistake. The ABC strategy protects against this fate, just follow the algorithm and protection from non-optimal actions will be provided.
  • Instills discipline. Poker beginners who play based on their own vision regularly fall into difficult situations due to the lack of a disciplined game. ABC strategy involves starting charts, consistent adherence to which will teach you to feel the ranges of opening, calling and 3-beta.
  • Lays the foundation. The player who succeeds in successfully mastering the ABC strategy and effectively using it at the tables for real money will not experience problems when switching to higher BSS and MTT strategies. Such a user has the necessary basis from which, like clay, you can fashion your own positive style of play.

As you can see, playing classic value poker remains effective even in 2018. Thus, the ABC strategy is a very important and necessary step in the career ladder of any poker professional.