Exploitative play
Exploitative play is deliberately moving away from a balanced strategy to attack a specific mistake an opponent keeps making, accepting that you become more readable in exchange.
It is where most of the money is at anything below expert level, because most opponents do something too often. If a player folds too much, you bluff more, and no balanced strategy can beat that as thoroughly as simply doing it.
The risk is symmetrical. Every deviation opens a hole of your own, so an exploitative adjustment is a bet that the opponent will not notice or will not adapt, and it should be given up as soon as that stops being true.
an example
your cards
board
An opponent has folded the flop to a bet six times in a row. You hold ace high with no pair on a board that missed both of you. A balanced strategy checks some of these, and against this player you bet all of them.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find exploitative play in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
GTO
Game theory optimal play, usually shortened to GTO, means playing a strategy so balanced that no counter strategy can be ...
Bluff
A bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand that is unlikely to win at a showdown, so all of its profit comes from the ch ...
Table image
Your table image is how the other players believe you play, which decides how they respond to your bets regardless of ho ...
next
Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.