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"In Spin & Go, a large part of your profits come from fish making mistakes."
Chapter 12: Exploiting 2 Common Mistakes from Recreational Players (Beginner)
We’re going to look at two major leaks and see how to take advantage of them to win the most chips possible.
Written by Gandalf, professional Spin & Go player and co-founder of Poker Sciences.
In this chapter, we’ll analyze two frequent mistakes made by recreational players. For each one, we’ll compare their actions to GTO theory. The goal is to understand these leaks better—and learn how to exploit them effectively.
📊 This is the first time we’re introducing this concept in the course: GTO (Game Theory Optimal) is a mathematical strategy that allows you to play in a balanced and unexploitable way, staying profitable against any type of opponent—even if you don’t know their playstyle.
Mistake #1: Recreational players tend to call too much once they’ve invested money in the pot
No matter the situation, recreational players struggle to fold once they’ve put chips in the pot (they become “calling stations”). This tendency appears in several spots:
Scenario 1: Villain limps, you isolate to 3x
Whether it’s SB vs BTN, BB vs SB in 3-max (see example below), or BB vs BTN limp + SB call, the response is the same: they defend way too wide.
You’re in the Big Blind. The Small Blind limps. You raise to 3x to isolate. They call...
Now let’s look at the difference in Small Blind’s calling frequency at 25bb deep compared to GTO:
Situation
Call frequency of recreational players
Optimal theoretical call frequency (GTO)
SB limp → BB ISO 3x
76%
35%
Recreational players call almost twice as often as GTO would suggest when facing an isolation raise. That’s a huge gap.
👨💻 The data from recreational players in these tables is based on over 1 million hands I’ve played in Spins over the years. The GTO frequencies are taken from solvers (notably GTO Wizard).
Scenario 2: Villain opens 2x, you 3-bet shove
Whether it’s SB or BB vs BTN in 3-max, or BB vs SB in Heads-Up, when you 3-bet shove over their open, they often make the mistake of calling too wide.
You’re in Small Blind in Heads-Up. SB raises. You shove. They call...
Let’s once again look, in this 25bb deep situation, at the difference between the Small Blind's (SB) call frequency compared to GTO theory:
Situation
Call frequency of recreational players
Optimal theoretical call frequency (GTO)
SB minraise → BB 3-bet all-in
65%
26%
Again, we see the same leak: recreational players call far too often against an all-in 3-bet.
⚠️ A deviation of just a few percentage points from GTO already qualifies as a profitable exploit. So imagine a gap of more than 30%...
How to exploit this mistake
Now that we’ve identified a recurring leak in recreational players, here’s how to capitalize on it:
Play value-heavy: Don’t hesitate to 3-bet shove your strong hands instead of just making small 3-bets.
Be aggressive with value hands: Iso-raise more often with good hands, even slightly dominated ones, because villains will overcall with dominated hands.
Limit your bluffs: Since they don’t fold enough, bluffing (ISO or 3-bet) won’t work — you won’t make them fold the part of their range you’re targeting.
Knowing a fish’s mistakes is only useful if you exploit them to win more chips.
Mistake #2: Recreational players don’t open shove enough
Another common leak is that recreational players underuse the open shove (OS). Instead of pushing chips optimally, they prefer to limp or minraise, letting you see flops cheaply.
📝 Definition: Open Shove (OS) simply means going all-in preflop directly.
Let’s look at some data comparing their open shove frequency to the GTO strategy:
Situation
Open Shove frequency of recreational players
Optimal Open Shove frequency (GTO)
BTN 9bb deep
15%
30%
SB vs BB 11bb deep
11%
38%
HU SB 7bb deep
21%
52%
HU BB vs SB limp 13bb deep
11%
16%
As you can see, recreational players open shove far less than they should, regardless of the situation.
How to exploit this mistake
Take advantage of cheap flops: Their tendency to limp or minraise instead of shoving allows you to realize equity with many hands. In a way, you don’t even need to do anything — just enjoy the passive play and see more flops for free.
Tighten your calling range vs their shoves: When they do shove, their range is often skewed toward strong hands (Ax, broadways, pairs). So it’s better to be more conservative with your calling range.
Be patient and wait for better spots: Since they’re giving you free flops, don’t feel pressured to fight for every pot. Wait for clear value opportunities.
