[spoonitnow strategy] (Jul 26) The Anatomy of an Adjustment

The way I think about this is that you have mix up value betting and checking to trap and let people bluff, focussing on either of these strategies too much is going to cost you.

Originally Posted by jackvance

The way I think about this is that you have mix up value betting and checking to trap and let people bluff, focussing on either of these strategies too much is going to cost you.

I would completely agree that "focusing on either of these strategies too much is going to cost you," though it's probably for different reasons. Of the hands that could be +EV value bets in any situation, there is often a non-zero number of them that you would have to check to exploit your opponent as much as possible.

Exploiting your opponent as much as possible requires you to play each individual hand in the way that maximizes its EV (as per the definition of optimal exploitative strategy). There are some hands that are +EV to value bet but more +EV to check. The lower the EV of value betting, the better the chances are that it's better to check. This is the majority of the reason why we increase our checking range starting with the bottom of our value betting range, etc.