I heard this quote and I want your opinion

LEV1ATHAN · Oct 24, 2020

Hey I'm new to Poker and even more so tourneys. I was reading tournament forums and heard a couple times people saying "If you're only getting it in good you're calling too tight"

I would like to hear what more experienced players or even what new players think on this.

ps. I know this is vague but I'm not looking for detailed scenarios just overall mindset
Thanks, LEV

Collin Moshman · Oct 25, 2020

The quote is correct, particularly the slightly more general version: "If you're only getting it in good, you're playing too tight" (instead of just calling too tight). Of course, if you're getting it in bad all the time, you might be playing kind of kamikaze!

But good play requires things like:

** Shoving with weak hands because you only have 8bb in late position

** Calling river bets or pre-flop all-ins only because you're getting great odds

** bluffing because it's a great spot where your opponent will usually fold

Some of the time, these moves will inevitably get action from great hands and you'll be getting it in bad. As long as you were happy with the spot, don't worry that you had low equity (winning chances) when the money went in

angelamsmith05 · Oct 25, 2020

Collin Moshman said:
The quote is correct, particularly the slightly more general version: "If you're only getting it in good, you're playing too tight" (instead of just calling too tight). Of course, if you're getting it in bad all the time, you might be playing kind of kamikaze!

But good play requires things like:

** Shoving with weak hands because you only have 8bb in late position

** Calling river bets or pre-flop all-ins only because you're getting great odds

** Bluffing because it's a great spot where your opponent will usually fold

Some of the time, these moves will inevitably get action from great hands and you'll be getting it in bad. As long as you were happy with the spot, don't worry that you had low equity (winning chances) when the money went in

This is very helpful.

Joe · Oct 25, 2020

As Joe Stapleton likes to say; "if you only get it in good, you can never suckout"... :biggrin:

~EDiT:- Or words to that effect...

Amanda A · Oct 26, 2020

Yes true statement. Also, if other players know you are super tight and only get it in good, you won't get any action when you finally have a great hand.

Rob Hobson · Oct 27, 2020

Famous players say what they want, but not everything makes sense for all players or any particular stage or type of a game.

Poker Orifice · Nov 8, 2020

I believe the saying is "If you're not getting it in bad.... you're not getting it in enough!"

NWPatriot · Nov 9, 2020

To sum up Collin's examples: short stack, pot odds or fold equity. The answer lies in poker math.

Fold equity is the key concept if we are betting light. If we have some fold equity, then even when we have less than 50% showdown equity, we may actually have a 65% chance of winning the hand if we have great reliable fold equity. (Let me know if you need the formula to calculate total combined equity.)

If we are calling, then pot odds is the key concept. But for me, this is more of a cash game application, rather than a tournament application if we are going all-in. The pot odds tell us that given enough opportunities for a particular situation, we will win some and lose others, and this is fine in the long run of cash games. In a tournament, losing all of our chips is a disaster, and calling off all of our chips needs more thought than simple pot odds.

I am not sure if everyone assumes "getting it in good" is the same as "getting ALL our chips in good" (i.e. all-in), or if it just means we call a big bet when we may not be the leader. There is a huge strategic difference between an all-in and an overbet scenario.

Either way, Good luck and God bless.

elizeuof · Nov 9, 2020

Playing tight is the first tip that any poker player will find when researching poker, as a rule the game must starting tight and getting wider, according to the situations that are happening, be it getting closer to the end, opponents giving us the conditions to make more profitable plays if we play more loose, or when the aggressiveness of the opponents allows us to use a wider range and still gain an advantage.

It is not bad to start playing very tight, the bad thing is to stay tight even when the conditions of the game demand that we take other actions and open the game more.

Alizona · Nov 9, 2020

That quote is what finally convinced me that my "tight is right" playing style wasn't optimal.

I finally realized, after YEARS of being a nit (a very tight and stingy player at the poker tables) that I NEVER won bad beats. I only lost bad beat hands. When you only play AA, it is impossible to bad beat anybody! But you will lose a TON of them - about one in every five times we get AA we will lose the hand - just in general, AA has approximately 80% equity against 2 random cards, so while we'll win 80% of the time, 20% of the time we'll take a so-called "bad beat" and lose to an inferior preflop holding.

So... for years I did nothing but get angry and upset every time I'd lose a bad beat. The game seemed hopeless to me, how can anybody win at this darn game if the best hand in the game will lose 1 out of 5 tries? Sometimes it seemed my AA would lose 5 out of 5 times.

Well, after a lot of reading poker help books and doing a lot of thinking on my own, it finally hit me one day!!!! The reason I never won any bad beat hands is because I was playing WAY too tightly. And so, in an effort to even the scales on bad beats, I began to play a lot more loosely. Sure enough, I began to win my share of bad beats and coolers. And my anger also began to fade away as well. I started to really appreciate this great game and "embrace the variance". Today, I am a much different player than I used to be. I take more risks now - not stupid dumb risks, but calculated risks in situations where it seems profitable to take such risks. And I changed my preflop ranges dramatically, learning much from the whole "Game Theory Optimal" discussions that many players are having these days.

The bottom line is, that quote is a terrific summary of my own journey in learning how to become a winning poker player. As a beginner, I thought the object of this game was to only play the best starting hands... but years later I realized how I was doing it all backwards! If only I had heard that quote in the beginning, but perhaps I wouldn't have agreed with it and maybe I wouldn't have take the advice it offers. Probably not. Sometimes we just have to make the journey, bad beats and all, in order to learn. Best wishes at the tables!!

ADRI7HO · Nov 9, 2020

With a very tight game, you only win big if good cards flow all the way through. Which is why it doesn’t happen in a tournament too often.

bapfel · Nov 10, 2020

Thank you for sharing your development, exciting too read,..although I started too loose, we seem now to hit in the middle between, where you always search for the right balance in playing.

Alizona said:
That quote is what finally convinced me that my "tight is right" playing style wasn't optimal.

I finally realized, after YEARS of being a nit (a very tight and stingy player at the poker tables) that I NEVER won bad beats. I only lost bad beat hands. When you only play AA, it is impossible to bad beat anybody! But you will lose a TON of them - about one in every five times we get AA we will lose the hand - just in general, AA has approximately 80% equity against 2 random cards, so while we'll win 80% of the time, 20% of the time we'll take a so-called "bad beat" and lose to an inferior preflop holding.

So... for years I did nothing but get angry and upset every time I'd lose a bad beat. The game seemed hopeless to me, how can anybody win at this darn game if the best hand in the game will lose 1 out of 5 tries? Sometimes it seemed my AA would lose 5 out of 5 times.

Well, after a lot of reading poker help books and doing a lot of thinking on my own, it finally hit me one day!!!! The reason I never won any bad beat hands is because I was playing WAY too tightly. And so, in an effort to even the scales on bad beats, I began to play a lot more loosely. Sure enough, I began to win my share of bad beats and coolers. And my anger also began to fade away as well. I started to really appreciate this great game and "embrace the variance". Today, I am a much different player than I used to be. I take more risks now - not stupid dumb risks, but calculated risks in situations where it seems profitable to take such risks. And I changed my preflop ranges dramatically, learning much from the whole "Game Theory Optimal" discussions that many players are having these days.

The bottom line is, that quote is a terrific summary of my own journey in learning how to become a winning poker player. As a beginner, I thought the object of this game was to only play the best starting hands... but years later I realized how I was doing it all backwards! If only I had heard that quote in the beginning, but perhaps I wouldn't have agreed with it and maybe I wouldn't have take the advice it offers. Probably not. Sometimes we just have to make the journey, bad beats and all, in order to learn. Best wishes at the tables!!

ChickenArise · Nov 10, 2020

Yes there is a lot of truth to this statement but you say you are new to poker and as Eliziof suggested when you are new you should be playing tight. As your game progresses and as you move up in stakes you would explore the best spots to bluff and have good reason to.

It doesnt make sense to execute bluffs at the early stages of a micro tournament. You need to be playing against a thinking opponent to pull of many of the good bluffs.

Focus on having a solid tight game before you think about opening it up. Bluffing is more of an advanced tactic for when you understand range versus range concepts and blockers.

I have been coaching my son for 2 years now. He has developed a solid tight game and we are just now beginning to explore bluffing. There is no short cut and there is really no place to explore it without a proper foundation in place.

619Leafs · Nov 11, 2020

Here's my take, I tried playing looser than tighter, what happened is players kept calling my bets thus losing money then lost my stack. I didn't suck out rather I got a bad beat while shoving all-in.

Igor Popadyk · Nov 14, 2020

often amateurs and not only after winning a couple of hands with a successful play of their hand get excited and feel like the king of poker and start playing too many hands and very aggressively - which can lead to a stack loss - such is poker and variance

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I heard this quote and I want your opinion

LEV1ATHAN

Rising Star

Collin Moshman

Poker Expert

angelamsmith05

Rock Star

Joe

99.98% Kiln dried

Amanda A

Legend

Rob Hobson

Legend

Poker Orifice

Fully Tilted

NWPatriot

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elizeuof

Visionary

Alizona

Visionary

ADRI7HO

On the road...

bapfel

Legend

ChickenArise

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619Leafs

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Igor Popadyk

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