Tight play vs. Loose play

I have mostly played a tight aggressive game, however with my new discovery of deepstack MTT's, I have been experimenting with playing 75% of hands vs 20%.
My father in-law plays like that and does pretty good.
I have argued with him about the dangers of such play, but after 2-3 dozen deepstack games playing loose, I have discovered that I can really build a stack quickly. I am having more fun playing more hands as well and I am able to trap more often. The cons are only that my stack fluctuates quite abit and others try to trap me.
All in All I would say that both styles are about equal in the long term. But!
My superstition, alot of you like to call it, is this: I believe that a Tight aggressive player is rewarded if he doesn't play many hands. I call them folding credits.
Where as a loose player is likely to be set up with a bad beat for playing too many hands.
Call me crazy, but you all have seen it often with your own eyes.
comments welcome

Agreed loose play in MTTs s defiantly helps a lot. I suck at cash games and I believe it has to do with my agression, the same agression that makes me continually make the money in tourneys. From what I've noticed seems like most ppl in MTTs play pretty tight.

welcome to the dark side ringo...lol......how you "arrrgggg" at my play......it really is finding what fits and know the pitfalls of both styles and try to side step them. I think the true mastery comes by a mix of both. Every move we make is a gamble AA preflop IS a gamble. Hey free congrats in LL ...You da Man!

woohoo sue said:

welcome to the dark side ringo...lol......how you "arrrgggg" at my play......it really is finding what fits and know the pitfalls of both styles and try to side step them. I think the true mastery comes by a mix of both. Every move we make is a gamble AA preflop IS a gamble. Hey free congrats in LL ...You da Man!

Click to expand...

Thanks Sue
I do think you got it figured out:boxing:
and congrats on your 3rd place finish

To be playing 75% of hands I'm guessing you're doing a lot of calling pre and switching from TAG to loose passive which just won't be as profitable (any decent player will just rip you apart once they realise you're playing bad). Also you have to be an absolute beast post-flop to make playing a shit load of hands profitable. If you want to switch it up to more loose I generally for for around a 33/30 (6-max) type stat where I can still keep up aggression pre and post but without being too spewy.

woohoo sue said:

...it really is finding what fits and know the pitfalls of both styles and try to side step them. I think the true mastery comes by a mix of both...

Click to expand...

I'm with this... It's good to be proficient at both when it comes to different stages in MTT play as well as being able to use a style of play that is opposite to what the table majority is using sometimes (ie. tight table - loosen up and steal, maniacs - tighten up and crush eventually...) helps to throw players off... I like experimenting w/ both depending on the table and stage...

I agree with sue in that, you don't need to understand the advantages of playing a looser game as much as you need to know how people try to combat these styles once you have established your table image. Early on its easy until the rest of the table figures out your style and thats when you have to know how to spot a trap and avoid losing big portions of your stack by getting caught in bad positions by mixing up your play

For me it really depends on the table I'm sitting at.

For the first orbits I'll play a standard tight game taking notes on opponents tendencies and adjust to what I see.

I think playing 20% of hands is loose. Ideally; I'd love to call or raise in at least once in late position/button but cannot justify it, and if blinds are raised early they often need folding. To play both of those positions on a 10 player table would be 20%, ....add in the small blind and that's 30% add in one halfway decent or good hand out of position 40-50%.

Watch some replays and see what kinds of hands are dealt in 10 player every hand. Usually someone has a pair and someone else has an ace-face rag. Challenging them too often can be harsh.

This style of play you must commit to shoving for 2nd highest pairs which can cause damage.

I would not be this loose in high stakes or any stakes that attracts seasoned players. I love seeing an ultra loose player with a stack. I go in with a monster call, call, check raise their stack.

These rules do not apply for tables with 4-6 peeps though. Shorthanded tables is more about protecting your blinds more and being looser (but not insanely).

I'll take the tight play, because in a 4 hour tourney you'll be looking at a lot of bullets straight in the face as it is without going looking for them.

I treat most of my opponents as if they have pocket Kings and feel them out. I only take my hand seriously if I am in late position with no feelers or with minimum 2 pair (no shared pair).

I do play aggressively actually, but I have reservations about 75% of hands.

:turtle:

different stages of the MTT are different kind of play for me ,

early stages when the blinds are very small compare to my stack - i like to play small ball kind of style , making small raises and checking out many flops with big variety of cards , mostly suited connectors etc and playing mostly post flop , it's great to trap big pairs like aces and kings with straights , sets etc .

at this stage i am building up my stack and preparing myself for the later stages when the big blinds and antes kicks in.

medium and final stages - here it's time for different play , you can not go into a big % of pots without killing your stack quickly since the blinds are so big , also making small raises wont work here with speculative hands since many times short and medium stacks will go all in with you pre flop and will steal away the chips your worked so hard to get.

so yeah - small ball poker wont work at this stage when all hell break loose, it's more about stealing the blinds , going for meduim stacks players and ideally not playing other big stacks and short stack players who will take you all in many times.

you need to be much more selective on the hands you play and be ready for coin flip all in at least a couple of times , ideally your stack size is bigger then the other guy so losing that wont mean your tourney life.

So OP, what are your thoughts on this post now it's 9 months old?

passive tight is good for me

I don't think there is anything wrong with having a wide range if you know what you're doing. I agree, you can build up a big stack pretty quick. On the other hand, you can lose that big stack just as quick. As for the folding credit and the loose player being set up for a bad beat, I think that's nonsense, especially if you are playing 75% of hands. It's as simple as this to me, you can look at a lot of flops and hit a lot of small pairs. If you're doing it right, then you're also going to be using bluff and bluster to take down pots when see the types of flops that you know aren't going to hit a tight players hand and they don't have a clue whether you hit or missed because your range is to wide for them to put you on a hand. But when your wide range has you playing a lot of weak hands and my tight range has me playing a few good ones, and we both hit our hands, my hand is all but certain to have your's beat. And yes, I am going to set a dragon trap for your ass when it happens. You may call them bad beats, but I say I don't care if it was striped, polka dotted or suited, that's what you get for messing around with J-2 against me.