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Playing tight can keep you out of trouble—but play too tight, and you’re leaving chips on the table. Here are six signs your cautious style might be costing you more than you think.
You Never Reraise Without A Premium
This is the most common leak among players who don’t open up their game enough. Of course, you don’t want to reraise with 10-6 offsuit, but you do need to open up your game when the situation demands it.
There are some situations where three-betting is extremely powerful. If you have a tighter image in your cardroom, then your three-bets from the big blind will generally get respect. Your opponents assume you would flat with most of your hands given the reduced price, so they give you credit for a strong range whenever you do that.
You can also three-bet more in position whenever someone is raising too much ahead of you. If someone keeps trying to buy your button with a preflop raise, you can retake your steal spot by reraising and bringing the fight to them.
If you can make your stand when you have a suited-gapper, you can flop a lot of equity post-flop to keep bluffing with. If your opponent is the type of person who would four-bet preflop with a lot of their premiums, you’ll know they’re weaker right when they call you preflop.
You Never Get Caught Bluffing
There are many times in no-limit where you know your opponent doesn’t have their best hands. You can make some thinner but profitable plays versus these players.
Let’s say you raise preflop and your opponent calls you out of the big blind. Right there, you know they are weak. They likely would have three-bet preflop with their premiums. If the board comes with a flush draw and they just call your continuation bet, you know they’re weaker still. They likely would have raised with their best hands to protect themselves from the potential flush draw.
What does this mean for you? Your opponent likely has a pair that matches one of the cards on the board. If the turn card is bad for those pairs, you need to keep firing. If the turn is an overcard, you need to keep firing. If the turn completes the flush draw and you have a blocker, you need to keep firing. They don’t have the overcard or the flush a majority of the time. This is a fantastic time to apply pressure.
Now, does this bluff work every single time? Of course not. There is no sure thing at a poker table. However, if you bet the size of the pot on the river, how often does that bet need to work as a complete bluff? 50% of the time. What if you know your opponent is folding 75% of the time? Then, you have a massively profitable play.
That still means one time out of four you’re going to look like a horse’s ass when you table your bluff. You’re not playing for the win if you’re not willing to do that, because this spot is still profitable.
You don’t call a river bet and expect to win every time. Why would you feel shame if not every one of your river bluffs succeeds?
You Never Call With The Second-Best Hand
I used to have this leak. I started noticing how American poker players in particular didn’t bluff nearly enough. In fact, if you were to quiz the average American poker player about what hands they’re supposed to bluff with on a given river, they won’t actually have an answer. They don’t know what blockers are optimal or what hands don’t have showdown value.
Because I kept observing that most people didn’t know how to bluff effectively, I started folding too much when I had a bluff catcher. This was a massive overcorrection that caused its own issues.
The truth is “most people don’t bluff enough” doesn’t mean “everybody doesn’t bluff enough.” There are still some people who fire from the hip and don’t need much logic to do it.
If you have a loose cannon at the table who bluffs too much, you’re going to have to pick a halfway decent hand and call down. It’s not fun, but it is profitable.
You Instantly Fold When Someone Jams
This is a small point but it’s worth discussing. Many newer players assume all-in bets have a great deal of weight. They themselves wouldn’t move all-in without being certain of their hand’s strength, so they project how they play onto everyone else.
There are a number of people who know they have to jam their draws when the moment is right. There are many people who will continuation-bet bluff on flop or turn with certain hands. You can’t fold automatically fold to these people. You have to think through the hand.
You Never Overbet
The overbet is one of the most effective strategies you can use in this game. It’s called no-limit for a reason. You’re allowed to bet anything. If you don’t know how to bet anything then there is a tool you don’t have in your toolbox.
Let’s talk about that situation we analyzed at the beginning of this article. Your opponent calls you out of the big blind and then they flat you on a coordinated board. You know they would have raised with their best combinations. Their best hands are mediocre pairs.
An overbet is an extremely effective play to do versus this range. If you bet two times the size of the pot, how often does that need to work as an absolute bluff? It needs to work two-thirds of the time. That’s another way of saying if you bet two times the size of the pot your opponent needs to call with one-third of their hands.
Who in the hell is calling with one hand out of three when their opponent bets two times the size of the pot? Imagine how hard that is, especially on a scare card. “Oh, he bet two times the size of the pot? No worries. I have second pair with an eight kicker. I’ve got this.”
Be willing to use the overbet in the right situations. You can use it sparingly, but you can’t use it never.
You Fold, Limp, Or Call Whenever You Don’t Know What To Do
This is the motherload of bad tight play. If you fold every time you get confused, you will have a long career in the lower limits, but that tendency will eat you alive as you move up.
If you call or limp every time you’re confused, you’re going to lose all your money. When you limp or call, there’s only way to win. You must have the best hand and your hand must remain the best hand. If you’re betting there’s multiple ways to win. You could be getting value from a weaker hand or getting a better hand to fold. Calling and limping do not afford you these opportunities.
Even worse, when you just call or limp, astute poker players will know you don’t have your best hands. They will take advantage of that and keep bluffing you.
Be willing to get out of your shell and give yourself more ways to win. Your wallet will thank you.
Conclusion
A solid game is about balance, not fear. Loosen up in the right spots, and you’ll start turning missed opportunities into real profit.
Learn how to play A-K when it misses the flop!
Alexander Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and bestselling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist, and has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was the $250,000 Guaranteed on ACR Poker. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in Ignition tournaments while he listens to death metal. Free training packages of his are provided to new newsletter subscribers who sign up at PokerHeadRush.com