Been seeing a fair bit lately from coaching sites, streams, and tournament coverage where the chat is all about cleaner pre-flop ranges, smaller c-bets, and not getting too splashy out of position. Feels like even the lower-stakes crowd is starting to copy that stuff instead of just playing by feel.
The big shift, at least from what I’m reading and watching, seems to be tighter opens in early position, more disciplined blind defence, and less random hero business on turn and river. A few years back you could get away with heaps of loose calls in soft games, now it feels like more players have at least looked at charts and have some idea what they’re meant to continue with.
Not saying every local pub game or home game has suddenly turned into a solver war, far from it, but the general standard does look a bit sharper. Especially online and in small tourneys, where people are clearly pinching ideas from the high-stakes mob and trying to make them work.
Curious what everyone here reckons — are you adjusting by tightening up early and value betting harder, or do you still think exploitative play is miles better in the soft games? Keen to hear what changes have actually made a difference for you lately.