[poincaraux]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The FTOP is the underpinning of optimal play. Optimal play stems from it. If wasnt the starting point, the book wouldve ended with Chapter 1. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

The starting point to optimal play is correctly putting your opponent on a range of hands. From there you chose the course of action that maximizes your EV. I'd bet that's what you try to do when you play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. That's why, for instance, there are so many posts in this forum where the answer is "of course you had to call on the river with your king-high flush; villain's range included sets, smaller flushes, straights and 2-pair."

If you phrase the FTOP in terms of ranges, I love it. If you think of it in terms of specific hands, I've seen it cause all sorts of results-oriented thinking. I don't know what they call the game where the other guy shows you his cards and you have to figure out how to play, but it sure isn't poker*.

*online poker is rigged, and thus immune from this statement [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img].