Exploitative poker strategy focuses on and takes advantage of other players’ mistakes and shortcomings. It is the opposite of the GTO strategy, which doesn’t change regardless of other players’ actions.
A player utilizing an exploitative strategy will often use GTO ranges as the baseline but will then make adjustments or exploits based on what they observe.
For example, a hand like AQ could be a pure 3-bet in a certain scenario from a GTO standpoint. However, you’ve observed that the player who made the original raise has only raised a couple of times the entire night.
You decide to snap call to pot control and play a smaller pot in position against the said player instead of 3-betting, exploiting their tendency to open too tight. This is a very simple example, but it shows the main idea of exploitative strategy, where recognizing players’ tendencies factors into the decision-making process.
