How far has NL poker come? How far do we have to go? (abstract/long)

[w_alloy]

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playing unexploitably is absolutely retarded and not the most profitable way to play, and its not even close. on the stt forum all they talk about is playing unexploitably, but who cares? all that matters is what is the most profitable. unexploitability is not it, even at the highest levels.

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I actually agree with most of this post, but I think this is only because play is still so bad. I think that as we feel the affects of the UIGEA more and more, and if we don't get any legislative aid, a five years down the road this could start to become a main issue.

I also think though that knowing ways to play less unexploitably than your opponents is the key to exploiting them. How are you going to know when people are deviating? How are you going to exploit play if you don't know what is unexploitable? How do you know what you are opening up yourself to without knowing how you yourself are deviating? I think a lot of people figure this stuff out intuitively without ever really verbalizing or maybe even realizing it. But I think talking about it can be productive (and people do talk about it).

I think it's also intersting that really good players playing exploitably (probably) furthers the PSC more than when they try to play unexploitably.

Honestly, when I play I almost always assume I am the best player at the table and I only try to exploit people. But I try to be concious of the adjustments I am making so that I am more prepared when players adjust to these adjustments.