Tight Passive Poker Strategy

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As always in poker, there are many situations that demand slight deviations from the rules. But learn how to grasp the basics first and then take it from there.

Keep It Tight

Sentence example: Overall, tight-aggressive is the most ideal strategy because the player chooses hands wisely and then places bets that can bring in big winnings. Part of speech: Adjective Definition: One of the four main types of poker players. Also known as The Rock or Nit. This is a warning sign that you are moving away from the aggressive strategy essential to winning at poker. Winning players have a tight gap between their VPIP and their PFR. A quick rule of the thumb is that the higher the PFR, the more aggressive a player is. The bigger the gap between VPIP and PFR, the more passive a player is. This may have been solid advice in the days of passive poker (played both loose and tight), but with so many players adopting a loose-aggressive poker strategy these days, you would be burning. Tight-Passive This type of player knows what starting hands to play and what not to play, this means that they play very well before the flop. Where this type of player sometimes fails is that they don’t always protect their hands. 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%). 20% VPIP is just the cutoff percentage.

There are 169 different starting hands in Texas Hold’em, but most of the profit comes from only a few of them.

Tight Passive Poker Strategy Tactics

Sometimes you will be dealt premium hands – pocket aces and the like – but more often you will get weak hands such as 10♠5♠ , or trash hands like 7♠2♦ . If you have a weak starting hand and your opponent has a strong one, you are at a significant disadvantage right from the start.

Even professional poker players aren’t able to make a long-term profit in these situations. It is therefore important to fold before the flop if you don’t have a strong starting hand.

This playing style is called “tight”, as you are very selective and only play hands where you think you have an advantage. At a table with nine players you should only play 15 to 20 per cent of the hands you are dealt, on average. This means you should fold before the flop in four out of five cases.

Some opponents won’t stick to this recommendation and play almost every hand, which is a style of play known as “loose”.

Stay aggressive

Aggression is good in poker. It describes a style that involves frequent bets and raises, and calling rarely, in order to influence the game in your favour. Almost all successful poker professionals play aggressively. It’s very important to bet consistently when you have the best hand so that the maximum amount of money goes into the pot.

You want your opponent to be calling if you have a hand that is favourite to win.

It is also profitable if all your opponents fold their cards, giving you the pot without having to show your hand. This is only possible if you are betting and raising a lot.

If you play passively (ie, the opposite of aggressively), then the pot stays small and you offer your opponent the chance of improving their hand.

They can check to see more cards, or to take the hand to showdown where you will be forced to show what you are holding.

EXAMPLE:

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.

Tight Passive Poker Strategy

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

Tight Passive Poker Strategy Rules

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.

Tight Passive Poker Strategy Games

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

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.

Characteristic #2: Quick to fold weaker pairs and draws because they see little value in these hands.

Tight Passive Poker Strategy

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.

Now it’s your turn to take action and Scooby-dooby-doo something positive for your poker game.

Support the Show

Tunisianking, Dayne Dice, Nathan Yamuder, Richard Cheason and Rosemont Tony picked up PokerTracker 4 (get it here to support the show), the best poker tracking software. I love it and use it everyday! In appreciation, I sent each of them a copy of my Smart HUD for PT4. With an ever-growing database of hands to study and all the helpful features, PT4 is the go-to software for serious poker players.

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