Don't pay off the tight players!

Cash / Marcus Bateman / 18 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

Tight players are commonly referred to as rocks. Don't pay them off!

Tight players, once identified, are just as profitable to a good player as weak players. The money is made in a different way, but it is still made.

At all but the highest limits, you always have a genre of player who basically never bluff. They sit back, wait for big hands, and get steadily paid off by the very weak players. They make much less money than good observant players, due to the fact that they actually lose to good players because of their tightness and predictability - and are only making money from the very weakest players.

Identifying these players quickly is crucial to making money at the cash tables. Against players that never bluff your calling ranges have to be much tighter, and your betting frequency much higher. This is because these players always have a hand when they bet - which means you need something very strong to call. Because they are so tight, they will never make moves without a hand. This is a big mistake by them, as in poker you frequently do not have much, and as a result these players can be pushed off pot after pot by constant small bets. The minute you get any resistance from these players you need to slow down immediately.

Against good players, tightness soon fails as a strategy, as these players never win the big pots that they do against weak, unobservant players. They die a death of a thousand cuts when playing solid players, losing constant small pots and never winning anything big because their play is so predictable. It is absolutely critical to not ever pay off these players - if you start giving them action when they bet there style of play becomes profitable again as they win big the odd big pot.

Although it can often be frustrating folding hands like top pair to these players, it is essential that you are able to lay down hands that you would snap call big bets with against some players when confronted by big bets from this player type. Tight players, once identified, are just as profitable to a good player as weak players. The money is made in a different way (through lots of small pots instead of a few big ones), but it is still made, and it is essential that you learn to deal with these players in order to succeed at the cash tables.

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