What Are the Consequences of Employing an Exploitative Game Strategy?

888poker Ambassador Ian Simpson explains the consequences of exploitative lines and whether you should always stick to GTO game strategy.

I’m going to start this article with a couple of loose definitions:

• Game Theory Optimal, or GTO for short, is an unexploitable strategy. If applied consistently and over a large enough sample size, it will not lose money no matter what your opponent’s responses are.

• When I say exploitable, I mean taking a different decision with a hand than a GTO strategy might dictate. Our opponent’s tendencies may push us to find a play that will yield a higher expected value.