Benefits of Being Tight

Apart from protecting your stack and having steady chip increases, I've found that playing tight has had some added benefits.

1. Good players get out of your way. Anyone who has a poker IQ can spot a tight player. They fold a lot. So when a tight player is in a hand, the good players think twice about coming in. They also show serious respect for raises and bets from tight players. This eliminates competition against not-so-dominating hands like Ace-Queen or middle pocket pairs. The less competition these hands have, the more likely they will win. You don't want too much action from good players anyway. They're the ones who are most likely to beat you. You want the idiots in the hand.

2. Easier to know when you're beat. If you raise, and a good player calls you, or re-raises you, it is much easier to fold a hand like Ace-King or pocket Jacks. You just know you're beat if a smart player is going to re-raise a raise from a tight player like yourself.

3. Some people are morons and will give you too much action. Not so bright players will think that you'll fold if they push you hard enough. Sometimes this is true. A player can call a tight player's raise, bet the flop, and occasionally take it down. But he also runs a major risk of running into a monster. Many players foolishly equate tightness with weakness. This is dead wrong. A tight player can be weak, which is a bad way to play, but many players that are tight are smart enough to know how to be aggressive. In no-limit, all it takes is one major mistake, like bluffing hard into a monster, to lose all your chips. My motto is, "The poker table is my house. I'll let you push me around my house all day because eventually you're going to push me towards my gun rack and I'll blow you away." Perfect example:

A player raised under the gun to $7 at the $1/$2 table. I looked down at Aces so I re-raised quite strongly to $22. The button just didn't believe me or thought he could push me out. He re-raised me to $44. That's just beautiful right there. I went all-in and he called with pocket 7s. He didn't spike a set. God only knows what he was thinking.

4. Free cards. When a tight player is in a hand, especially if it's been raised, they will often get free cards out of fear. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a free card with Big Slick because people think I have Jacks or better.

The other day, this guy raised with tens. A few other people called. I had Ace-King so I called. The flop was four blanks. I watched the initial raiser as he viewed the flop. He seemed to like it, then he looked at me and his face dropped. He checked the flop. I checked figuring he probably had something and might call a bet. All I had was Ace high. The river was a King. Now, when he was beat, he decided to bet. I raised when it got to me to see where I was. I found out when he folded. Out of fear, he gave me the free card that allowed my hand to beat his.

5. People play with less strength when a tight player is in a hand. Again, free cards and chances to bluff at the pot are massive when you're tight. I've won with strong hands that were beat preflop and postflop, but because the other players were afraid, they don't bet the flop to see where they are.

6. Semi-bluffing is a potential gold mine. Bluff with a flush draw or straight draw, then get action, then hit, and nobody thinks a tight player like yourself could have possibly bet with anything but a made hand so they don't put you on a flush or a straight.

7. Bluffing is easier AND cheaper. Again, this usually only matters against good players who have noticed you're tight. But it is so much easier to take down pots with a bluff if you have a tight reputation. You also don't have to make big bets and risk a lot of chips to make effective bluffs, since any time you throw chips into the pot, it gets treated with respect.

8. Nobody puts you on anything but premium starting hands. Once and awhile, I'll play a terrible starting hand like Queen-Ten or pocket crabs, for the explicit purpose that no one will have any clue that I've hit.

9. You can win without going to the flop. This sounds like a bad thing, but it isn't. Sometimes you want action with hands like AA or KK, but you can't mind winning small pots. They add up over time and keep your stack high enough to play and make money. Also, preflop pots are rarely raked. Someone raises, you re-raise, you can take it down right there. It's nice to win preflop because that is the moment when you're positive your hand is the best.

10. Taking down medium sized pots without hitting. Hands like AK and AQ only hit 1 out of 3 flops. As tight player, your bets are so much scarier, that you can win pots without winning races on the flop. Those medium sized pots are very nice and seriously add up over time.