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If you spend any time playing small-stakes cash games or tournaments, you are certain to see some players playing an overly tight strategy, hoping to get paid off when they finally pick up a strong hand. While most people know to simply fold whenever these nits take an aggressive action, it seems like they still often find a way to get their aces called by one of their more oblivious opponents.
The easiest way to avoid set-up situations against the tight players is to simply never give them action unless you have the correct implied odds with drawing hands like pairs, suited aces, and suited connectors.
The Situation
Suppose a player who appears, acts, and plays tight raises to 1,000 out of his 20,000 stack from second position. It’s still early, but so far, he has only played one hand, which turned out to be K-K. Everyone folds to you on the button.
With almost your entire playable range besides exactly A-A and K-K, you should call. Not because you are afraid of your opponent or his hand, but because you want to play a pot in position against someone who will essentially turn his hand face up post-flop.
Evaluating The Flop
The dealer brings out the K♠7♦4♣. Your opponent bets 600 and you call.
If your opponent bets again on the turn, unless you have perhaps K-Q or better, you should fold. It is as simple as that!
If your opponent checks the turn, unless you know he’s capable of check-calling with a hand like A-A or A-K, you should bet the turn and the river to try to get him to fold hands like Q-Q and 9-9. This should be your default line against overly weak, tight, straightforward opponents.
If you think your opponent would bet most turns and some rivers with Q-Q, or if you think he would never fold Q-Q on a king-high flop, you should instead try to flop a strong drawing hand while getting out of the way when you fail to hit.
The Mistake
While this seems easy enough, I constantly see players call the tight player’s raise with a hand such as K♦J♣, flop top pair, and then call down when the tight player makes sizable bets on the flop, turn, and river.
Suppose the same action happened as before, but you do have K♦J♣. Folding preflop is likely best. If you decide to call and your opponent bets on any turn except a king or a jack, you have a fairly easy fold. Even though you have top pair, you must realize that when most tight players bet twice, they will have a range of exactly A-A, K-K, A-K, and possibly sets, making K-J an easy fold.
It’s important to always compare your hand to your opponent’s range, not the range you, or anyone else at the table, would have in that situation.
As long as you know how your opponent will play in most situations, you will be able to make excellent folds, saving countless chips in the long run. Just make sure you don’t mistake a loose player for a tight player!
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Jonathan Little is a WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT winner, and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with $9 million million in live tournament earnings. He is a best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and the 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your skills and learn to crush games, check out PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.
