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Top 10 reasons to play ‘Exploitative Poker’14 February 2022
While it’s a fascinating strategy to discuss, is it the best and most profitable way to play online? More importantly, is it suited for the average online player tackling low stakes games? Probably not, that’s why in this article we’ll be sharing 10 reasons to employ an exploitative poker style instead. 10. It’s more realistic Playing exploitatively simply means to take advantage of an opponent’s leaks and poor play. In contrast, GTO is about trying to find a perfect playing style that cannot be exploited (even if opponents know it). Without even going into deep analysis, one can clearly see that the first strategy is far more realistic to implement than something as advanced as playing perfect poker. But, to give a basic illustration, consider a post-flop bet that GTO dictates you should make 10% of the time. How are you going to determine which times to make it? Will you document the scenario and ensure you’re doing it the correct percentage in the future? It’s unrealistic to expect a player to implement this in real-time while computing and collating all the information at the table at the same time. ![]() Playing poker should be fun and adopting this style will achieve that. (photo by Flickr) Playing exploitatively can be a lot of fun, both online and live. You’re seeing the fruits of your labor quickly. Through observation and mentally noting your opponent’s failings, you’re cultivating moves in your head that will yield profit later in the session. This is extremely enjoyable when it works. For many recreational players, playing poker should be fun and adopting this style will achieve that. 8. It can be used in cash and tournaments Unlike some strategies, like push-fold poker, M ratio or deep stack strategy, exploitative poker can be used in both poker formats. Whether you enjoy tournaments or grind cash games, you can play an exploitative brand of poker. There’s no discrimination based on the game you prefer, which means there is a universal appeal to playing it. 7. Flexible The great thing about playing this way is the flexibility it affords. Other strategies may be rigid, monotonous or even boring. Playing to exploit your opponents is reactive and fluid. By adapting to your opponents, you’ll potentially playing differently every day of the week. It keeps you excited and interested in playing more poker. 6. More profitable This is a contentious point, but one that rings true for low stakes games. Players at low stakes have so many weaknesses and tendencies that can be taken advantage of, and exploitative poker is almost always going to be more profitable than GTO. So, if you want a decent win rate in poker, an exploitative style is certainly going to fare better in the lower stakes games where your enemies won’t be nearly as concerned about whether you have failings of your own to exploit. 5. Less work Playing game theory optimally is not a walk in the park. It takes a lot of hard work and study away from the poker table to understand. You’ll need to continuously learn and dedicate yourself fully to properly grasp and implement it. Playing exploitatively doesn’t mean forgetting about poker ranges or no work at all, but it is less work away from the table. Ultimately, it depends on your poker goals and how much free time you have. 4. Ideal for low stakes and live games Most readers of this article will be playing low stakes or live play. Fortunately, exploitative poker works well for both. As stated before, the low stakes cash games are rife with fishy opponents, some of whom are still playing a limping poker style. Why worry about playing a style that cannot be exploited when they don’t even know how anyway? Similarly, the live poker games are generally softer than online, so you’re going to face even weaker players who exhibit leaks like impatience before the flop and refusal to fold top pair post-flop. 3. Variety of opponents GTO poker is better when the player pool is small and you’re facing the same opponents all the time. In 2022, the best poker sites are running with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands online. Most of you will be playing in the evening or weekends. These are the peak times to play, just look at the numbers online in the poker lobby. Unless you’re playing in the highest games, you’re seldom playing against the same opponents and even if you are, you need to be playing with them constantly over a huge sample of hands for GTO to be better alternative. 2. Cheaper Who doesn’t like saving money? The exploitative poker method doesn’t require a heavy investment to learn. GTO, which, if studied correctly, requires both time and investment in range analysis software. Most of this software is charged monthly or annually and can be quite expensive. Many are great tools to have, but if saving money is important than you can do without most of them when you employ an exploitative way of playing. ![]() Even beginners can use this strategy at the table. (photo by Pixabay) The best thing about exploitative poker is that there is no entry requirements. In other words, even beginners can use this strategy at the table. Truthfully, this way of playing is as old as the game itself. We just have a fancy name with it. The best players often adapted their way of playing based on who they were facing. It was just smart poker and allowed them to win more. Even if you’re a beginner to Texas Hold’em that’s only read a poker cheat sheet, you can play this way. All you need to do is take notes on your opponents, observe what they do badly and find simple and effective counter strategy tactics to beat them. It’s that simple.
Top 10 reasons to play ‘Exploitative Poker’
is republished from Online.CasinoCity.com.
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