As we all know, most of the money is made in poker when we play against recreational players. For that reason, we need to have a specific strategy to extract as much as possible when the opportunity occurs.
Compared to playing against regulars and using the GTO strategy mixed with some exploits, against recreationals there is no point of using the GTO strategy as we would be leaving money on the table. Recreational players will not play correct ranges, or do correct actions on other streets, so here are some strategies we can use to boost our win rate against recreationals.
Play Your Hand, Not the Range
Playing against regulars, we would like to c-bet board that we have range, nuts, and position advantage, but playing against recreationals, this might not be the best move. Since recreationals often tend to play their hand face-up, we can just check and let them show us what they have. Recreationals will also not think if it is logical for us to check on a certain board and will think of our check as a weakness, and they will attack and make mistakes. Always try to exploit!
Absolute vs Relative Hand Strength
Recreationals often forget that board drastically changes their hand strength, and they only see the absolute strength of their hand. For example, if they are holding pocket aces, and they flop a set, their hand will obviously be very strong, but what if they flopped a set on a monotone board with three broadway cards?
If the turn comes the fourth broadway card, the relative strength of their hand suffers, but recreational are not always aware of this.
We can see that pocket aces are still a bet on the turn but for very small sizing, also solver suggests lots of checking.
And after betting flop for small sizing, betting turn also for small sizing, solver is checking back top set on the brick river.
Don’t Make Big Reads on Friday Night
What we can expect from recreationals is that their play won’t be consistent as they base their game on feel and mood. This is the reason we shouldn’t try to put much logic into their play, as most of the time, this will vary. For example, if we are playing Rush and Cash, the player pool will be so different on certain days that the whole game will look like we are playing something else. If we are playing on weekend nights, we can often expect lots of crazy plays and opportunities to increase our bankroll.
Exploits to Use vs Recreationals
- Playing your hand and setting the rec for most mistakes he can make
- Block-bet the river when out of position to induce
- Being very aggressive as in position raiser with A-high and low pairs
