Node Locking

Also known as: nodelocking, node-lock, locking a node, strategy locking

Forcing a solver to play a fixed (often suboptimal) strategy at a node, then re-solving to find the maximally exploitative counter.

Node-locking is the bridge from GTO to exploitative play inside a solver. You lock one player's strategy at a chosen node — fixing frequencies that mirror a real pool tendency — then re-solve. The solver, freed from the equilibrium constraint on that player, computes the maximally exploitative response to that exact (mis)play.

This is how you quantify exploits instead of guessing. Suspect the pool overfolds river to overbets? Lock their river fold frequency above MDF and re-solve — the solver will crank up your bluff frequency and show the EV gained. Suspect they never bluff-raise? Lock their raise range to value-only and watch your optimal response shift toward thin value and disciplined folds.

The power and the danger are the same: node-locking shows what's optimal against that specific assumed deviation. If your read on the pool is wrong, the counter-strategy can be worse than just playing the GTO baseline, because exploitative strategies are themselves exploitable. Lock conservatively, base locks on real sample-size data (player notes, HUD stats), and remember the equilibrium is your safety net when the read is thin.