In this lesson we're going to focus our attention on how to play against tight poker players. Being tight or loose doesn't necessarily refer to how somebody plays their hand, but merely the selection of hands that they play. Tight poker players tend to be very selective with the starting hands they choose to play and unless they have learned how to change gears, these players are often predictable to play against. But ultimately it's their level of aggression that is going to dictate how you play against them.
- Tight Passive Poker Strategy Cheat
- Tight Passive Poker Strategy
- Tight Passive Poker Strategy Tactics
- Tight Passive Poker Strategy Games
This poker playing style can also be referred as ‘a rock' or ‘a nit'. Tight passive poker personality will only play a few hands, rarely bet and will almost never raise. Most of the times they will just call pre-flop when they find a good hand. If you find yourself playing a loose passive style, the first thing you must do is tighten up your starting hand requirements. Less than 5% of online poker players play anywhere near too tight. The odds are that if you are reading this you should be playing a tighter pre flop strategy. This alone will improve your game over time. Playing the Tight Passive Poker Player While you may laugh at the idea of tight passive poker players, they're more common than you know. If you, somehow, don't know what one is, a tight passive player maintains a tight starting hand selection, but their play is weak after the flop.
In our earlier lesson on poker playing styles we discussed the two main types of tight players you will encounter, which were:
- Tight-passive (weak-passive)
- Tight aggressive.
We're not going to focus on the tight-aggressive players in this lesson, since you should generally stay out of their way unless you have a strong hand. They are capable of being bluffed, but it is infrequent enough where trying to look them up isn't profitable.
Instead, we're going to focus on the tight-passive players, who are much easier to play against.
Playing Against Tight-Passive Players
Tight-passive players don't play many pots and will often just call pre-flop. If they do raise pre-flop, they often check it down if they missed with over cards, such as when they're holding a hand like Ace-King. They will often raise the minimum with marginal hands for fear of losing chips if they get beat and will frequently fold to scare cards. Above all, they play with a fear of losing and will only stay in a pot if they have a strong hand.
Let's examine some strategies for those times when you're involved in a hand with a tight-passive player.
If They've Not Been Aggressive, Then Bluff
You can bluff them at will – because weak-passive players are the easiest players to bluff. As mentioned, they play with a fear of losing. If they limp pre-flop, or even when they bet a small amount, you can raise with a wide variety of hands.
Bet Scare Cards and Represent Monsters
If there's an Ace on the board then you can bet it, and they'll fold if they haven't made a hand. Likewise, you can bet scary boards like made flushes – and you can also use scary bet sizes that represent monsters – this could be overly small or big bets. Of course, it will depend on the individual tendencies of your particular opponent.
Call and Outplay them on the Flop
You can even call raises from weak-passive players when you are in the blinds, and subsequently bet at the flop. Let's take a look at an example hand to illustrate.
- No Limit Hold'em Tournament Play
- Blinds: 100/200
- You and your opponent both have 4,500 in chips.
Your opponent sitting four seats to your right hasn't played many pots, but in the ones he has played he has usually folded to a bet. In two others he raised pre-flop and when someone did call them, he checked all streets when he didn't pair his AK and AQ. Your table image is pretty solid and there is no reason for him to think you are playing overly aggressive.
Pre-Flop
It folds to your opponent in the cut-off seat who raises to 600. Since you know he is a tight player, he likely raising with a narrow range of hands here. The button and small blind fold and you are in the big blind with XX (XX = any two cards). Should you play this pot?
Figure 1
On the surface, it might look like the answer is an obvious no. Why would you want to get into a pot with someone who is only playing premium cards? But let's look at the hand again. It folds to a player who has been tight, but has also played passively. We can use his passive tendencies as an opportunity to bluff him out of the pot. Just because he's raising doesn't mean he has AA or KK. He is in late position, so his range of raising hands probably includes AT – AK, KQ (maybe KJ) and pocket pairs from 66 – AA.
So if you are going to play this pot, should you re-raise or call? Re-raising is certainly an option since we would be representing a big hand, but we don't really have enough chips to make that play without committing ourselves on the flop and we aren't short enough to push all-in pre-flop without it being an overbet (meaning it is high risk for little reward – we are risking our whole stack to win 900 chips). It's best to play small ball, risk less chips and look to outplay them on the flop. In this situation, calling is also better because we know he likes his hand now, but he plays the flop passively and that will give us the best opportunity to take the pot away.
The Flop
The flop comes . After your call there is 1,300 in the pot and our opponent has 3,900 left. Against this type of player, that Ace represents a good opportunity to bluff:
Figure 2
Since our image is tight it is going be easy for us to represent having an Ace and we should know if he has an Ace or not depending on how he plays the flop. I would bet about 800-1,000 chips. Not only does that introduce doubt in our opponent's mind, it is also a tough bet for him to call because it represents about 25% of his stack. He can't stand another bet on the turn and he would have to commit most of his stack to raise you here, forcing him to take a huge risk for all his chips.
If we were playing a more aggressive player I wouldn't suggest a 'probe bet' like this. It can look weak like we are trying to see where we stand and an aggressive player will often raise on a bluff here. But against a tight/passive player it would be really hard for them to make a play unless they did have a strong Ace like AQ or AK. You bet 900 and your opponent folds showing .
Conclusion
Our example hand is just one method of how you can take advantage of a tight-passive player – and although it was a tournament example, the same strategy can be used in a cash game to good effect. Remember that timid players are often paralyzed with fear and won't take shots because they tend to play with a fear of losing. If you're an observant player, which you should be, then be on the lookout for these weak, predictable players. And when you find them – lookout for the situations within the game that can be exploited.
Let's finish with a note of caution about all these poker strategies – and that is to stay out of their way if they show strength in hand. If they are betting or raising strongly then you should steer well clear unless you have a very strong hand yourself. Also, while you should be bluffing more often against these types of players, make sure that you are mixing up your game enough so that your aggression does not become predictable.
Related Lessons
By Donovan Panone
Donovan started playing poker in 2004 and is an experienced tournament and cash game player who has a passion for teaching and helping others improve their game.
Related Lessons
I help you categorize your opponents into their respective player types based on stats and tendencies. I also give some easy-to-use exploits against each.
Listen to this podcast episode #289:
You MUST Understand Player Types
'The money available to a player winning long term comes from other players' willingness to put money into the pot with bad hands that a perfect player would not play.'
– Ed Miller in his incredible book, The Course
This is exactly why we must understand player types and assign each of our opponents to one of them.
When you're profiling your opponents, you're looking for weaknesses. When you see those weaknesses, you know exactly how to play against them to earn their chips. You can also selectively target the weakest players who are most likely to give you their chips.
'Attack weakness, avoid strength.'
– Ed Miller in his incredible book, The Course
You're looking to play more hands versus weak players and avoid hands versus strong players. Battling good players can kill your profits. We're all playing this game, at least in part, to make money. Since it's easier to make money versus the weak, that is who you MUST go after. The key to going after them is to understand and spot each of the weak players around the table.
You must become an active observer when you're not involved in the hand:
- If a player just open-raised from the Hijack, and it's the first hand he's played in 3 orbits, he's likely a tight player who only plays the best hands.
- Maybe another player makes her 4th limp in a row… she's likely a Fish.
- Now a different player 3bets then triple-barrels down the streets with J8s after flopping TP. Wow! You found a loose and aggressive player.
Because you're paying attention, you're able to categorize each of these players and now you can use some basic exploits against each.
The 4 Common Poker Player Types
We use two different tendencies to put players into one of the 4 player types.
Tight versus Loose
A tight player plays few hands (VPIP < 20%), and a loose player plays a lot of hands (VPIP > 20%). 20% VPIP is just the cutoff percentage. Of course, players can be ultra-tight at 5% or ultra-loose at 95%.
Passive versus Aggressive
A passive player doesn't raise preflop that often (PFR < 15%) and an aggressive player raises a lot (PFR > 15%). Again, 15% is just the cutoff with the ultra-passive player having a PFR of 1% and the mega-aggressive player at 45%.
Loose-Passive
LOOSE = Plays lots of hands; PASSIVE = prefer making checks and call; they love to see flops; they stay in way too long with weak hands and draws; #1 targets at the table; if they raise post-flop, WATCH OUT!
AKA: Fish or Calling Stations
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 22/6, 28/5, 45/9 (Mention video in show notes detailing VPIP & PFR)
Color Coding: Green
Characteristic #1: Passively plays very wide & weak ranges. Not positionally aware.
Exploit: Play ranges that dominate theirs and isolate them (as limpers or in the blinds) whenever +EV.
Tight Passive Poker Strategy Cheat
Characteristics #2: Generally losing players.
Exploit: Target them and play as many hands as possible in +EV spots!
Loose-Aggressive
LOOSE = Plays lots of hands, AGGRESSIVE = prefers bets and raises; can be a high variance loser; they use the power of position yet they might not be that positionally aware when it comes to starting hands; capable of spewing chips in bad bluffing spots.
AKA: LAG, Donk or Maniac
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 24/18, 36/24, 55/35
Color Coding: Orange
Characteristic #1: Too much aggression with weak ranges. Open-raises, iso-raises and calls too much preflop.
Poker offline and live holdem mod apk. Exploit: Play with hands at the top of their range, and strive for IP play.
Characteristic #2: Constantly applies pressure.
Exploit: ALWAYS gauge how well the board interacts with their range. Be willing to call wider with 2nd and 3rd pair when they can be bluffing worse.
Tight-Passive
TIGHT = Plays mostly strong hands, PASSIVE = prefer checks and calls (but sometimes they're aggressive with few calling hands); quick to fold post-flop; beware their bets and raises.
AKA: TP, Rock or Nit
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 11/9, 11/2, 7/3
Color Coding: Red
Characteristic #1: Strong hand selection & positionally aware. Folds too often preflop and raises only strong hands.
Exploit: Play a wider but still strong range when IP. Call their raises with hands that play well post-flop and can crack big hands (good playability).
Characteristic #2: Doesn't often fold to 3bets and 3bet = the nuts.
Exploit: 3bet and 4bet with the best hands to get value from his tight range.
Tight-Aggressive
TIGHT = Plays mostly strong hands, AGGRESSIVE = prefers bets and raises; can be winning regs; multi-tabler; quick to fold most marginal spots post-flop and when OOP.
AKA: TAG, ABC or Reg
Tight Passive Poker Strategy
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 12/10, 18/13
Color Coding: Yellow
If there's an Ace on the board then you can bet it, and they'll fold if they haven't made a hand. Likewise, you can bet scary boards like made flushes – and you can also use scary bet sizes that represent monsters – this could be overly small or big bets. Of course, it will depend on the individual tendencies of your particular opponent.
Call and Outplay them on the Flop
You can even call raises from weak-passive players when you are in the blinds, and subsequently bet at the flop. Let's take a look at an example hand to illustrate.
- No Limit Hold'em Tournament Play
- Blinds: 100/200
- You and your opponent both have 4,500 in chips.
Your opponent sitting four seats to your right hasn't played many pots, but in the ones he has played he has usually folded to a bet. In two others he raised pre-flop and when someone did call them, he checked all streets when he didn't pair his AK and AQ. Your table image is pretty solid and there is no reason for him to think you are playing overly aggressive.
Pre-Flop
It folds to your opponent in the cut-off seat who raises to 600. Since you know he is a tight player, he likely raising with a narrow range of hands here. The button and small blind fold and you are in the big blind with XX (XX = any two cards). Should you play this pot?
Figure 1
On the surface, it might look like the answer is an obvious no. Why would you want to get into a pot with someone who is only playing premium cards? But let's look at the hand again. It folds to a player who has been tight, but has also played passively. We can use his passive tendencies as an opportunity to bluff him out of the pot. Just because he's raising doesn't mean he has AA or KK. He is in late position, so his range of raising hands probably includes AT – AK, KQ (maybe KJ) and pocket pairs from 66 – AA.
So if you are going to play this pot, should you re-raise or call? Re-raising is certainly an option since we would be representing a big hand, but we don't really have enough chips to make that play without committing ourselves on the flop and we aren't short enough to push all-in pre-flop without it being an overbet (meaning it is high risk for little reward – we are risking our whole stack to win 900 chips). It's best to play small ball, risk less chips and look to outplay them on the flop. In this situation, calling is also better because we know he likes his hand now, but he plays the flop passively and that will give us the best opportunity to take the pot away.
The Flop
The flop comes . After your call there is 1,300 in the pot and our opponent has 3,900 left. Against this type of player, that Ace represents a good opportunity to bluff:
Figure 2
Since our image is tight it is going be easy for us to represent having an Ace and we should know if he has an Ace or not depending on how he plays the flop. I would bet about 800-1,000 chips. Not only does that introduce doubt in our opponent's mind, it is also a tough bet for him to call because it represents about 25% of his stack. He can't stand another bet on the turn and he would have to commit most of his stack to raise you here, forcing him to take a huge risk for all his chips.
If we were playing a more aggressive player I wouldn't suggest a 'probe bet' like this. It can look weak like we are trying to see where we stand and an aggressive player will often raise on a bluff here. But against a tight/passive player it would be really hard for them to make a play unless they did have a strong Ace like AQ or AK. You bet 900 and your opponent folds showing .
Conclusion
Our example hand is just one method of how you can take advantage of a tight-passive player – and although it was a tournament example, the same strategy can be used in a cash game to good effect. Remember that timid players are often paralyzed with fear and won't take shots because they tend to play with a fear of losing. If you're an observant player, which you should be, then be on the lookout for these weak, predictable players. And when you find them – lookout for the situations within the game that can be exploited.
Let's finish with a note of caution about all these poker strategies – and that is to stay out of their way if they show strength in hand. If they are betting or raising strongly then you should steer well clear unless you have a very strong hand yourself. Also, while you should be bluffing more often against these types of players, make sure that you are mixing up your game enough so that your aggression does not become predictable.
Related Lessons
By Donovan Panone
Donovan started playing poker in 2004 and is an experienced tournament and cash game player who has a passion for teaching and helping others improve their game.
Related Lessons
I help you categorize your opponents into their respective player types based on stats and tendencies. I also give some easy-to-use exploits against each.
Listen to this podcast episode #289:
You MUST Understand Player Types
'The money available to a player winning long term comes from other players' willingness to put money into the pot with bad hands that a perfect player would not play.'
– Ed Miller in his incredible book, The Course
This is exactly why we must understand player types and assign each of our opponents to one of them.
When you're profiling your opponents, you're looking for weaknesses. When you see those weaknesses, you know exactly how to play against them to earn their chips. You can also selectively target the weakest players who are most likely to give you their chips.
'Attack weakness, avoid strength.'
– Ed Miller in his incredible book, The Course
You're looking to play more hands versus weak players and avoid hands versus strong players. Battling good players can kill your profits. We're all playing this game, at least in part, to make money. Since it's easier to make money versus the weak, that is who you MUST go after. The key to going after them is to understand and spot each of the weak players around the table.
You must become an active observer when you're not involved in the hand:
- If a player just open-raised from the Hijack, and it's the first hand he's played in 3 orbits, he's likely a tight player who only plays the best hands.
- Maybe another player makes her 4th limp in a row… she's likely a Fish.
- Now a different player 3bets then triple-barrels down the streets with J8s after flopping TP. Wow! You found a loose and aggressive player.
Because you're paying attention, you're able to categorize each of these players and now you can use some basic exploits against each.
The 4 Common Poker Player Types
We use two different tendencies to put players into one of the 4 player types.
Tight versus Loose
A tight player plays few hands (VPIP < 20%), and a loose player plays a lot of hands (VPIP > 20%). 20% VPIP is just the cutoff percentage. Of course, players can be ultra-tight at 5% or ultra-loose at 95%.
Passive versus Aggressive
A passive player doesn't raise preflop that often (PFR < 15%) and an aggressive player raises a lot (PFR > 15%). Again, 15% is just the cutoff with the ultra-passive player having a PFR of 1% and the mega-aggressive player at 45%.
Loose-Passive
LOOSE = Plays lots of hands; PASSIVE = prefer making checks and call; they love to see flops; they stay in way too long with weak hands and draws; #1 targets at the table; if they raise post-flop, WATCH OUT!
AKA: Fish or Calling Stations
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 22/6, 28/5, 45/9 (Mention video in show notes detailing VPIP & PFR)
Color Coding: Green
Characteristic #1: Passively plays very wide & weak ranges. Not positionally aware.
Exploit: Play ranges that dominate theirs and isolate them (as limpers or in the blinds) whenever +EV.
Tight Passive Poker Strategy Cheat
Characteristics #2: Generally losing players.
Exploit: Target them and play as many hands as possible in +EV spots!
Loose-Aggressive
LOOSE = Plays lots of hands, AGGRESSIVE = prefers bets and raises; can be a high variance loser; they use the power of position yet they might not be that positionally aware when it comes to starting hands; capable of spewing chips in bad bluffing spots.
AKA: LAG, Donk or Maniac
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 24/18, 36/24, 55/35
Color Coding: Orange
Characteristic #1: Too much aggression with weak ranges. Open-raises, iso-raises and calls too much preflop.
Poker offline and live holdem mod apk. Exploit: Play with hands at the top of their range, and strive for IP play.
Characteristic #2: Constantly applies pressure.
Exploit: ALWAYS gauge how well the board interacts with their range. Be willing to call wider with 2nd and 3rd pair when they can be bluffing worse.
Tight-Passive
TIGHT = Plays mostly strong hands, PASSIVE = prefer checks and calls (but sometimes they're aggressive with few calling hands); quick to fold post-flop; beware their bets and raises.
AKA: TP, Rock or Nit
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 11/9, 11/2, 7/3
Color Coding: Red
Characteristic #1: Strong hand selection & positionally aware. Folds too often preflop and raises only strong hands.
Exploit: Play a wider but still strong range when IP. Call their raises with hands that play well post-flop and can crack big hands (good playability).
Characteristic #2: Doesn't often fold to 3bets and 3bet = the nuts.
Exploit: 3bet and 4bet with the best hands to get value from his tight range.
Tight-Aggressive
TIGHT = Plays mostly strong hands, AGGRESSIVE = prefers bets and raises; can be winning regs; multi-tabler; quick to fold most marginal spots post-flop and when OOP.
AKA: TAG, ABC or Reg
Tight Passive Poker Strategy
Common VPIP/PFR Stats: 12/10, 18/13
Color Coding: Yellow
Characteristic #1: Plays multiple-tables, so they're selective, patient and they choose the best starting hands (small & value intensive range).
Exploit: Play strong hands against them, but speculative hands can crack their strong ranges.
Tight Passive Poker Strategy Tactics
Characteristic #2: Quick to fold weaker pairs and draws because they see little value in these hands.
Exploit: Bet and raise to earn post-flop pots, make sure your size hits their 'pain threshold' so often at 2/3 pot or more.
Here's my challenge to you for this episode: While you're playing your next session, set a timer to go off every 10 minutes. When it does, pick a table and think about each player there and describe all you know about them – player types, weaknesses, how to exploit, etc. This will train you to profile your opponents and it's a great way to test that you're paying attention.
Java gui programs. Now it's your turn to take action and Scooby-dooby-doo something positive for your poker game.
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Tight Passive Poker Strategy Games
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