You can start exploiting as soon as you sit at a new table by creating a false image for yourself.

I’m sure many of you have seen the film Maverick. In that movie, when Mel Gibson first sat at a table he ‘accidentally’ shows his opponents his cards. He then makes what were clearly ridiculously bad plays. He made himself look like a psycho. His opponents then started playing as though they were facing a psycho and he was able to rinse them. This is a great example of how this type of exploitation works.

From your very first hand at a new table you start creating an image for yourself, then, during future hands you take your profit from the villains reaction to said image.

If the villain sees that you limp for your first 3 hands he’ll start to think you’re a fish, then he’ll start playing against a fish. He’ll start betting big when he’s strong, folding to min raises or limp raises, etc etc. You could then improve your profit against him by making more plays like the limp-raise bluff, or you could save some of your losses by folding some weaker value hands/bluffs when he bets big.

Instead of limping, you could instead fold your first 20 hands and he’ll start to think you’re a nit. This will make him more likely to fold when you bet… You could bet/raise your first few hands and he’ll start to think you’re crazy… You could accidentally show your hands, or, you could show ridiculously bad plays.

There are an infinite amount of ways to exploit a player when you first sit at a table, you can even exploit a player in this way whilst using GTO: For your first few hands at the table GTO might dictate that you bet/raise. The players will then start to think you’re crazy and will start to adjust. You will then start to take extra profit even if you never adjust from your GTO strategy.

This type of exploitation doesn’t only work against new villains, you can always exploit in this same way. This is Level Three exploitative theory. At Level Two its impossible to exploit unknown opponents but at Level Three it is best to exploit unknowns. When creating an image for yourself it’s BEST to exploit players who know nothing about you, it’s when the villain knows everything about you that you are unable to exploit him in this way.

To exploit at Level Three accurately, all you have to do, is: Follow your image at the tables, and, predict how said image will change AFTER you make EACH decision.

Advanced Theory

Most of the GTO players reading this will be going mental right about now. Perhaps the main reason they use GTO is because they think; “It’s impossible to exploit an unknown opponent”. In a way, this is actually true! However, it’s also true that if the villain knows nothing about you, you can exploit them. It is true that the more you learn about the players the more effectively you can exploit them, however, it is also true that the less the players know about you the more effectively you can exploit them.

These pieces of theory do conflict! After many years of deliberation I’ve come to realise that the reason they conflict is because they relate to two different sets of universal laws.

The Two Universal Laws:

1. The entire universe in governed by causality; our current state is a result of the things that have happened in the past. It is the past that creates the present moment. Almost everything can be explained by causality. All the laws are solid and undeniable.

2. The entire universe is also guided by a completely different set of laws. Quantum physicians are currently baffled by this new set of laws as they seem to directly CONFLICT with the laws of causality. Game theory has led me to realise that these laws govern the infinite nature of all things. In contrast to the Laws of causality, these Laws seem to show that the present moment is created as the future is realised.

Causality is the result of all that is measurable. The other laws relate to all that is immeasurable. All things that happened in the past are measurable. All things that happen in the future are immeasurable. With the immeasurable future on one side, and the measurable past on the other, we humans sit on the fence and watch as these two sets of laws clash to create all existence.

How we interpret the two sets of laws:

We humans have developed the ability to rationalise using both sets of laws. We use our senses to measure the measurable things that have happened in the past, then, using our mind we both; analyse this information, and, anticipate the future. We make all our strategic decisions with a combination of both analysing the past and anticipating the future.

Creatures like ants only rationalise using the past. They remember what happened via instincts and then use this information to strategize in the present. We humans are more advanced because we can IMAGINE an infinite amount of things that haven’t happened. Unlike the ant, we can use our imagination to comprehend the immeasurable nature of the future. We can then imagine what might happen AFTER we take an action. This enables we humans to take control of our environment by predicting how external phenomenon will react to our actions. It also enables poker players to take control of their opponent’s reactions in the future. It enables you to exploit your opponents future plays.

In Poker, these two sets of Universal Laws are catered for by Level Two and Level Three of our exploitative thought-process:

- At Level Two we analyse the opponents based on what we’ve witnessed them do in the past.
- At Level Three we anticipate the opponent’s reaction to our actions in the future.

The Laws that govern Level Two are true, but so are the Laws that govern Level Three. To an ant, or to a Level Two poker player, it truly is impossible to exploit an unknown opponent. For the rest of us though, it’s easy to exploit an unknown opponent. All you have to do is estimate how they will react to your plays.

Creating a false table image is a pretty well known temporary exploit. Hell this probably dates back before supersystem. Though it's only profitable if your opponents adjust and gives you a chance to counter exploit. If they keep playing a balanced strategy you'll just be setting chips on fire.

GTO players don't care about this exploit because they mostly play zoom :P

The"two universal laws" section and downwards is irrelevant, misinformed, and it muddies your point. Just focus on the poker.

It's better if you don't entertain him with a response.

It's called hustling:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustling



All that to say: guess how the unknown player will react to our plays (although you did provide some examples of how some rational people who are good at the game may react to some initial actions of an unknown player and how that could be taken advantage of afterward).


Population reads can be used to try to do this. If it is live, you can try to use physical appearance and mannerisms of the opponent to guess. At large enough stakes or stakes with a small enough player pool, you may be able to just assume that someone you've never seen before probably isn't very good.

On the other side, if I saw a player sit down and post immediately and/or open limp 4 hands in a row, I would assume that he is not very good until proven otherwise.

But he knows how ants think...

He most be some kind of an ant 🐜 Whisperer

Hustling is pretending to suck, which is done using this type of exploitative theory. There are other things you can do with this theory too, you can pretend to be tight or loose. It’s not about pretending to be worse, it’s just about pretending to be something, and then you can exploit the opponents reaction.

That is all you ever do using level three... This is just Level Three theory.

I do apologise for my in-depth original post Lego, but I did have to defend against all manner of responses whilst stopping Rusty from closing the thread. I had to show that this theory is way beyond most readers, AND silence their arguments before they arose. That’s why I added the advanced theory.

The advanced stuff is all relevant and important... All Isaac Newton described is how an apple falls. On the surface this seems simple; but when you go deep into the logic you find it’s an extremely complex matter. It’s the same with game theory. The fundamentals are extremely simple and obvious, but if you understand them perfectly clearly you’ll understand all existence.

Lego, please consider this:

The first section of the op is old-school poker theory! Don’t you think it’s strange then, that if you asked 90% of regs:

“Why do you use GTO at a new table?”

They will tell you that:

“It’s impossible to exploit until you know something about the villain”.

If you google: “When to use GTO” it will tell you in 1000 ways that you need to use GTO until you have reads on your opponent. Which you and I both know isn’t true.

Don’t you think it’s strange that such a simple piece of exploitative theory would randomly be forgotten by masses of players???

What I’ve been saying for years now is that learning GTO causes cognitive dissonance, which then hinders a players ability to exploit. It literally makes them incapable of recognising unknown exploitative theory. Then, without any other options, they learn more and more about GTO making the problem worse and worse.

Cognitive dissonance only happens when information clashes in the mind. The reason we see a clash is because all exploitative theory is already built into your mind. You use it to make all your decisions through-out your day. When a player then learns information that conflicts with exploitative theory they suffer from cognitive dissonance. GTO basically conflicts almost everywhere with exploitation. If you learn GTO then your exploitative theory will become hidden behind a repressive cognitive barrier. Then, to support your wrong perception, you’ll encourage yourself and those around you to use GTO. You’ll put down anyone who disagrees with you. Etc etc.

You do know what happens to the game as a whole when players use GTO? The potential for profit is sucked from the game.

If I’m right, and everyone is suffering from this thing, just try to think of the effect that would have on our economy!!

Lego, you’re one of the only people from a forum who ever understood any of my theories lol. You even taught me that slow-playing was a pre-adjusted strategy! You are suffering from this thing a little, your inner struggle is pretty clear to see in your posts as you tried to find a reason to discredit my logic, but it’s also clear that you’re fighting it off way better than most people... Please do try to get your head around this. I’m getting sick of being the only person who realises what this piece of game theory means to the economic world.

We need to properly test for this under scientific conditions. It is insanely important!... The theorists here at 2+2 are literally in a position where they could save the entire planet from being sucked dry.

The advanced logic, about the two universal laws, is true. I worked it out by analysing our strategic thought-process. In a similar way to how you can learn about electricity by studying a computer, I studied the mind which revealed certain truths about our environment.

Let me lead you through the logic...

The “Levels of thought” are used to mark stages of a players exploitative development. You can’t learn Level Two theory about the opponents range before you learn Level One theory about the strength of your hand. A player must learn exploitative theory for their game in the specific order described by the levels.

Poker theorists before me thought there were 4 main stages of a players development, and so these stages became the first 4 levels. I discovered extra stages in a players development by splitting each Level into sections:

At Level 2 you consider the opponents range. You all know this much I’m sure. What I realised is that during a decision you analyse the opponents past plays to learn his current range, you need his current range before you can understand your future odds, which you need to understand before you can understand your implied odds.

Each Level is split into these same stages: At each Level a player must learn to incorporate the past, the present, the future and then the future-present (future decisions) into their thought-process. They need to learn it in that order.

(This is extremely important to anyone who wants to teach any “game”)

After another couple years sat with my head in these Levels I realised that at Level Two you can make a strategic decision without the need to analyse the future. You can cut off the learning process at the first stage of Level 2 and you will be able to make decisions. Therefore, the very first decision-making beings must have analysed what had just happened, and reacted to said information.

From there, bit by bit, I was able to piece together the development of all strategic beings. I realised that all we do when making decisions is change the future to our bidding. We do this by analysing time. It was all about time.

Eventually I realised that each Level pertains to a time-frame. Level 1 is the present moment. Level 2 we read the past. Level 3 the future. Level 4 the future-present. When a being acquires the ability to use Level 3, they enhance their Level 2 thought process, adding the next piece of Level 2 theory. When they learn Level 4 it enhances the levels that came before. In the end you have 4 levels, each with 4 sections.

After many more years I realised that the passage of time is actually caused by the realisation of information. And that information itself exists within tiers. You’ll then realise that the Levels of Thought are actually the highest tiers of knowledge. And that GTO exists at the very highest tier.

If you keep digging, deeper and deeper into your decision-making process, you’ll eventually realise that it was all just smoke behind mirrors. The truth is that Level 1, yourself, right now, in the present moment, is all you need to concentrate on to be the perfect strategist. The higher tiers are the demon’s zone: We use these higher tiers to make decisions, but eventually you’ll realise that making no decision works just as well as making any decision. Therefore, the only thing you can really gain from understanding decisions is the difference between good and bad decisions. You learn this by defeating the demons as you come to understand the fundamentals of “how to strategise”.