Playing against Tight players!

Hello!

I'm playing cash games on micros and noticed there are a lot of tight players (mostly at 9max). My HUD says after about 100 hands, that 7 player from 9 have a VPIP between 7-18. I think this is because everybody read that this is the optimal strategy for micros. And it is if you assume that there are a lot of loose players. But they disappeared nowadays.
So should I play loose then? What do you play when there are only tight players and maybe one loose (about 30 vpip)?

I don't understand one thing: if I suppose to play tight against a loose player because then I counter him/her, then why should I play loose against a tight player? He/She will counter me then. :hmmmm2:

I like playing against a tight player. You pretty much know what he has. If he raises, you can figure top 10% AK AQ JJ etc.
They over bet when the hit the flop, guess they are scared to be sucked out on.
So thanks for the raise. If the flop is Garbage or 88 4 I just bet as if I hit it hard and take their money. I like tight $$, it's yummy and good for you

You just have to be willing to open your game up when you're playing against tight players. Generally I try to play the opposite of whatever the table feel is.

Tight players can be annoying when they never call your raises when you have a strong hand. On the plus side, tight players should generally be more susceptible to blind stealing.

Play these hands... any pocket pair especially below pocket TT. 35s,42s,65s,76s,64s,8Ts,J10s,53o,j10s,Q10s (looking for two pair or better not pairs with this hand.) Your goal is to qualitatively crack them. When you flop hard get their entire stack in position bluff 60% flops and two barrel additional 10%. These players are easy to read and don't play these awesome lag hands hence are predictable.

If you are at a table full of tight "ABC" players run away from the table as fast as possible! There is more money to be found playing against loose weak players.
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If you are forced into playing against tight players that are passive both pre & post flop, take advantage of their capped calling range and raise them light. You'll get so many easy blind steals and you can easily fold if they're three bet range is super tight.

playinggameswithu said:

Play these hands... any pocket pair especially below pocket TT. 35s,42s,65s,76s,64s,8Ts,J10s,53o,j10s,Q10s (looking for two pair or better not pairs with this hand.) Your goal is to qualitatively crack them. When you flop hard get their entire stack in position bluff 60% flops and two barrel additional 10%. These players are easy to read and don't play these awesome lag hands hence are predictable.

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Sounds nice. I will try this sometimes Thank you for the answer!

If you are forced into playing against tight players that are passive both pre & post flop, take advantage of their capped calling range and raise them light. You'll get so many easy blind steals and you can easily fold if they're three bet range is super tight.

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How about 3-betting light? Do they usually raise with hands which they fold to 3bet?
I mean if they raise small-middle pocket pairs which is usually in their range they may fold it.

Tight players are a slow profit type strategy. By that I mean you won't gain a massive pot from them but chipping away at their stack with blind stealing, and flop betting on low boards is where to take the money from them. Their play is pretty transparent with preflop and flop bets giving you a ton of information, so you can adjust accordingly and save money on turn and river bets from them by avoiding it unless you hit gin.

Deedoox said:

He/She will counter me then. :hmmmm2:

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You don't want to overdo abuse, just some more so he can keep his natural style without losing faces. Even if you overdo and he tries to counter, you still have some kind of edge because he plays out of his element. BUT if he counters, he is not tight anymore, right?

Let say you win the blinds 2 times more in 100 hands than you should, your win-rate increases 3bb/100 which alone is enough to make break even player to a solid winning player.

play against tight opponents is not difficult! that's what I can share with my experience, maybe it will come in handy!

braveslice said:

You don't want to overdo abuse, just some more so he can keep his natural style without losing faces. Even if you overdo and he tries to counter, you still have some kind of edge because he plays out of his element. BUT if he counters, he is not tight anymore, right?

Let say you win the blinds 2 times more in 100 hands than you should, your win-rate increases 3bb/100 which alone is enough to make break even player to a solid winning player.

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It's true Thanks.
But on the other hand they say: -If the enemy is tight, then open up your range and play loose.
-If the enemy is loose, then tighten your range and play tight.

This sound like contradiction. One from those can be profitable, but which one?

Deedoox said:

It's true Thanks.
But on the other hand they say: -If the enemy is tight, then open up your range and play loose.
-If the enemy is loose, then tighten your range and play tight.

This sound like contradiction.

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Both are right and both are wrong. Both are more true than wrong.

Against tight player for example you don’t want to play loose post flop (usually), but widen your opening range and 3bet range. You can make tight player fold post flop too, so you have one tool more post flop essentially a loose tool, you mostly want to make a CB in non 3bet pot against tight player for example.

Against loose player, you want to 3bet for value, so you don’t really have 3bet bluff range, but wider value range, thus you are Much tighter compared what you play against tight player. Against tight you might decide to 3bet A2s, but against loose player you might decide to 3bet AT for value, but not A2s. Also against loose your main tool is to bet for value, thus your betting range post is tight, instead of firing CB with air against tight.

Very important concept is also if table is loose (both rules are actually build against tight table and loose table not individual players even though they also apply to HU situation.) When table is loose there is no point of opening wide because you get multiple callers and play hand out of position with marginal hand, compared to tight table where opening utg is read that you have a monster and players insta fold, or at most you get one caller who then folds his small pair to your CB.

Maybe like this, not totally sure...

Against tight:

• Your value range is tight but bluff range widens
• Your fold equity is high, but EQ low

Against loose:

• Your value range is wide but bluff range shrinks
• Your fold equity is low, but EQ high

And having high EQ is considered tight, and low EQ loose play style.

braveslice said:

Maybe like this, not totally sure...

Against tight:

• Your value range is tight but bluff range widens
• Your fold equity is high, but EQ low

Against loose:

• Your value range is wide but bluff range shrinks
• Your fold equity is low, but EQ high

And having high EQ is considered tight, and low EQ loose play style.

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Thanks Now I understand.
One dumb question (but I can't find it and I want to understand): what does EQ stand for?

I agree tight is fairly predictable

If Im playin against tight players my biggest key is to make sure I pace myself and show often that i'll fold, enough to not lose respect, but still betting often..If it's been 3 hands...it's time to raise...won the last 2 hands, maybe not even play A 10 Dmds..timing

Deedoox said:

what does EQ stand for?

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usually it's Eq meaning equity, meaning hero vs villain cards equity here and usually too, the same you get out from poker calculators.

When oponent is tight you should play more loose, and the same in the other side. When oponent is loose you should play more tight aganist him

You should play more loose because tight player more often will fold to your bets or 3-bets. And also if he 3 or 4bet You, than you should know that he representing his strong range

Cash games are a tough nut to crack for me. Some of the posts here have some good pointers which I intend to use. I`m always looking to get points and if I`m playing against tight players then money just isn`t moving around very much. In a loose game ..swirl ..swirl and the money will find its way back home but in a tight game its like driving in grid-locked traffic.

Hey. In the lobby settings, install special filters that look for tables with free players. Against tight players, play very aggressively both pre-flop and post-flop. Suppose, if he drops to 3bet more than 67%, then you can do 3bet with any cards. Also on postflop, you can often raise on the turn, as this is a strong line. Bet on the river (1.5PSB), they hate it.

It depends on what kind of tight they are. Are they tight aggressive or tight passive.

Tight aggressive is going to be hard to play against, if there are too many of them, just find another table. No one is going to make money.

Now tight passive, you can beat these players. They are going to let you take control of the pots, and drive the actions. You decide when to tax them, and when you want to take free cards. They are going to limp call with their monsters and let your out flop, turn and river them. Then they are going to pay you off to boot. These players play too tight pre-flop but often too sticky post flop.

Your going to want to stay away from the trouble hands like KQ, KJ ect. and play more suited connectors and pocket pairs.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Good luck! Happy grinding!