Balancing Between GTO and Exploitative Play in Tournaments

babyrosejr

babyrosejr

Rock Star
Platinum Level
Joined
Mar 26, 2025
Total posts
152
UA
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135
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the balance between sticking to a solid GTO approach versus making exploitative adjustments in tournaments. On the one hand, GTO gives you a foundation that’s hard to counter and helps avoid big mistakes. On the other hand, tournament fields are often full of players who make clear errors – and not adjusting can mean leaving chips (and EV) on the table.

For example, against opponents who over-fold to 3-bets, we can open up our bluffing range more aggressively. But when facing sticky players who love to call down with weak hands, pure GTO bluffs might just burn chips.

So my question is: how do you personally find the right balance? Do you lean more toward GTO as a baseline and then adjust slightly, or do you prefer a more exploitative-first strategy in softer fields?

Would love to hear your thoughts and examples from your own games.
 
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