3 Postflop Exploits
Although there’s no substitute for playing fundamentally sound poker with a great default strategy, there’s also nothing like a good, old-fashioned exploit. After all, it’s one of the greatest joys of poker. Not only does it feel great to find our opponents’ weaknesses and use them against them, but its also a great way to build your stack.
Let’s talk about 3 different postflop exploits you can use to crush weaker opponents.
Exploit 1: Overfold the River
Weak players don’t bluff enough, especially on the river. If you’re playing against a nitty, passive, or tight player, and they make a big bet on the river, chances are you’re up against a good hand. So, even if you have a hand like top pair and the GTO strategy is to call 40% of the time, just fold it out.
One of the keys here is that there’s a lot of run outs that make it very difficult for even good players to bluff often enough. If there’s 3 to a straight or flush, then people aren’t going to bluff that often because they’ll be afraid that you’re holding the nuts. However, if they do bet, then they probably have it, and you can fold as an exploit.
Exploit 2: Attack Wide Ranges
On the other side of the poker player spectrum, we have maniacs, or loose-aggressive players who play way too many hands. If they play something like 60% or more of all
their hands, that means they have tons of garbage in their range.
Let them stay in the pot early, and then, once you get to the later streets and they realize that they’re not going to end up with anything close to a reasonable hand, stage your attack. Make big bets and turn up the pressure.
Since weak players have a hard time defending when they have a wide range, you’ll be able to push them off the pot and scoop up the chips.
Exploit 3: Attack Capped Ranges
Similarly, we also want to be aggressive against people who have capped ranges. A capped range means that they could have marginal hands, but they don’t have any nut hands. For instance, they could have a top pair but it’s nearly impossible for them to have a flush or straight based on what’s come before.
This is a great opportunity to blast them because they’re always going to be afraid that they’re against better hands. These medium hands want to play small pots, not large ones. That’s why we can exploit them by making big bets.
