Quote:
Originally Posted by hyperknit
Just because a hand wouldn’t be top of range in GTO doesn’t mean it’s not top of range for the hero.
Sometimes game dynamics force us to self-cap and then we find ourselves in a spot with a dusty range.
This isn't really aimed at you specifically but it's an example of an error people make; you ought to know how you're playing against a villain or in a given spot and stick to it.
If we're doing things like capping our range, having unbalance raising ranges, value betting thin, calling wider etc. etc. then don't get to the river and suddenly decide you need to be optimal. We've already decided earlier in the hand that we're not playing optimally and so your decision should now be about the immediate ev of the play vs this villain and not an appeal to GTO. For one, it's too late, and for two we already committed to the idea it was better not to.
If you get to a river and you're capped or have an exploitable range, just take a step back and ask yourself why you're in that spot. If it's because you were exploiting villain then keep exploiting them. It's good to exploit villains. Awesome in fact. You want to scoop up the chips from the weak players before someone else gets a chance to. If it's because you made a mistake on a previous street, that's fine, realise that and then don't make the mistake again.
But some people get stuck arbitrarily flipping from GTO to exploitable plays, and what they're really doing is just giving in to whatever they feel like at the time. Suddenly they're neither playing GTO nor are they exploiting villain. Really all they're doing is coming up with a totally ad hoc justification for whatever button they feel compelled to press.