Poker as a Mind Sport: How Dynamic Board Coverage Strategy Is Changing the Game

By Armen Ambartsumyan – Poker.org, September 16, 2025

Poker has always been more than cards and chips. At the highest level, it is a sport of the mind, demanding calculation, preparation, and the ability to innovate under pressure. Over the years, I have worn different hats in the game: as a Global PLO Champion, as a Tournament Director shaping international festivals, and most recently as the creator of a new strategic framework for Pot-Limit Omaha.

That framework is called Dynamic Board Coverage Strategy (DBCS), and it is already transforming the way players and coaches approach the game.

From the felt to the director's chair

My journey in poker has taken me from the tables of major PLO championships to the organizational side of Poker Club Management (PokerCM), where I served as Tournament Director between 2021 and 2024. In that role, I worked to improve blind structures, player experience, and overall professionalism in festivals such as the SPF High Roller and the RPC Grand Final.

That dual perspective — player and organizer — gave me a unique view of the challenges players face. I saw not only how they competed, but also how they studied, trained, and tried to prepare for the most complex form of poker.

Why PLO needed a new framework

Pot-Limit Omaha is rich, deep, and brutally complicated. With four cards in every hand, the number of possible scenarios explodes compared to No-Limit Hold'em. While solvers have helped top players, most still lacked a practical framework that could guide them through the chaos in real time.

That is why I developed Dynamic Board Coverage Strategy (DBCS) — a structured approach to decision-making.

In simple terms, DBCS teaches players to:

Classify every board into clear families (connected, paired, monotone, etc.).
Use stack-to-pot ratios (SPR) to guide aggression or control.
Apply the Equity Realization Index (ERI) to judge whether their hand can truly perform.
Select value and bluff lines based on robust equity and relevant blockers.

From concept to adoption

I first introduced DBCS in a whitepaper and began teaching it in small study groups. The response was immediate. Coaches told me it gave them a new language to explain concepts. Players reported fewer costly mistakes and more consistent win rates.

In a pilot program with a group of cash game students, we measured improvements in bb/100, WWSF, and overall consistency. The results showed exactly what I had hoped: a strategy that makes the complex more manageable.

Today, DBCS is part of training modules in European and American poker schools, and its terminology is already being used by professionals in hand reviews and coaching sessions.

Looking ahead: poker as a true sport of the mind

The ultimate goal of DBCS is bigger than individual improvement. By providing a standardized framework, it pushes poker closer to other established mind sports like chess and bridge — games that have long had codified theories and schools of thought.

I believe the future of poker will be defined not only by champions but also by innovators who build tools for the next generation. With Dynamic Board Coverage Strategy, I hope to contribute to that future — one where poker is recognized as a discipline of skill, structure, and strategy at the highest level.