How to play against tight players
How to play against tight players is a strategy that is passive. You don’t want to get committed to playing a big pot without a big hand. If you can avoid tight players post flop it will be to your advantage. Most tight players will just fold to aggression before the flop because they don’t want to play weaker hands against a raise. If these players do make a call or a re-raise back to you this is a sign that they have a big hand. Players that are perceived as being tight will not play back at you without having cards to do so. If they make a big raise before the flop this is an obvious sign of strength, and you should lay down a hand that isn’t KK or AA. Sometimes QQ is alright to play with if they are deep stacked. If you make a set on the flop you can double through them or get their whole stack.
When playing against tighter players at the table you need to keep in mind how much they have and how much you have in front of you. If you have the same amount then you can see a flop with a pair, but avoid playing a big pot without a set. If you start to play hands like 1010 or JJ you can get in bad shape in pots with lower flops than your pair. You will maybe think that they have AK and sometimes they will have that hand, but a good portion of the time they will have a better pair. Most players don’t make re-raises without hands like QQ, KK, AA, or AK. That is a good range to look at when a tight player re-raises you. If a board comes with two aces on it a lot of the time regardless of your bet they will see the turn. They could be trapping you or have a hand like kings. Either way if a tight player is in the pot they will most likely not lay down their big pair.
Most of the tighter players also have the problem of calling off their chips with big pairs. The reason is that they wait so long to get the big pair that they don’t want to lay it down. Even though they are playing like a nit they will have trouble laying down a big pair in most instances. This can cost you the poker bonus money if you are bluffing at a tight player. Bluffing at a tight player is something that you will never want to do more than once. If you make a bet and they make a call then the hand should be just about over for you unless you can put them on QQ with an Ace on the board as a scare card. Sometimes it is correct to fire two shells at a pot to win it against tight players, but if they make a check raise all-in or put all the money in you have thrown away money. You can’t make loose calls or gamble against tight players because if they go all-in they will have the best hand a lot of the time if not every time.
