Grinding Down Weak-Tights

The guy I was watching bought $600 in chips, a small initial buy-in for the $30-$60 hold'em game in which he was about to play at Bellagio. People who buy in small create interesting possibilities. The game was tighter than most normal Vegas games, as many "weak-tight" players were in it. Games filled with mostly weak-tight opponents can be much more profitable than they initially appear. However, in order to get a big edge, you need to know how to play them.

Our new opponent took his money from his wallet secretly and carefully, in an effort to make sure nobody saw how much money he had. His clothes were drab and bland. As he sat down at the table, he made sure not to make eye contact with any other players at the table, as if he hoped to slip in unnoticed. He waited for the blind to pass, made no effort to watch the play of any of the other players, and posted behind the button.

Whenever a new player enters the game, I try to get a psychological read on him. In Vegas, you often play against opponents you have never seen before. The tourist climate of the town makes playing poker somewhat different from that in cities in which you're up against the same locals on a daily and weekly basis. In Vegas, it is important to be able to size up your opposition quickly in order to avoid situations in which you have little information on a player; without key data to process, you won't know how to play hands against your opponents. When you play against the same people day after day, as is the case in many hometown games, you often get to know how they react to situations better than you know your own family.

I was in middle position with the 10 9. This is the type of hand with which I like to make preflop deception plays on occasion, especially against opponents who have trouble making decisions, or who are afraid of the stakes. If you hit the flop solidly, your opponents will have a hard time reading you and will likely pay you off. If the flop comes with big cards, you have many hands that you can represent. That strengthens the value of an aggressive play. However, I generally do not like to make those types of plays when a makeup blind has position on me. Yes, the price the pot is laying me is greater, but I too often find myself out of position with a player to act behind me after the flop, since makeup blinds are much more prone to call. However, with an extra blind, I tend to raise more hands for value, although the value of an aggressive play in those types of situations is lessened.

The current situation had some positive variables. With the way the new player had acted upon entering the game, not wanting to be confrontational or bring attention to himself at all, I was pretty sure that he was not looking to get involved in lots of pots. I had observed previously that both of the blinds were weak-tight players. I wanted to make an impression on this new player. I knew with a fair degree of certainty that he was a weak-tight player playing a short bankroll. I wanted to create the impression in his mind that I was going to be a force to deal with in this game, thus creating future opportunities for myself later in the session. The fact that he had not bothered to watch the game while he was waiting told me that he had a designed playing strategy set in his mind, and he wouldn't vary his play based on his opponents. When I am facing opponents who "play by the book," I like to make unconventional plays against them in order to confuse them. When a player loses confidence in his rote strategy, it is usually all over for him. Confusion and emotional instability soon follow. Putting your opponent on tilt can create many profitable opportunities.

I chose to raise the pot and won the three blinds without opposition. This is perhaps not the most exciting story of my poker career, but it represents important concepts. I read a player entering the game, profiled him, and adjusted my play based on that information, creating a play that netted me $80 and set up future moves. Heck, that is enough to take my wife out to dinner. Small winning situations can add up to large amounts of money over time in poker.

Poker games come in many textures, and playing against weak-tight opponents effectively is important to your overall win rate. Many players avoid playing in such games, seeing them as boring and unprofitable. However, a good player who can adjust to these games can make as much or more over the long haul as he can when playing in fired-up games. And for those who like the mental challenges of poker, there can be many interesting decisions to make.

When playing in weak-tight games, you seek to create your edge by outplaying your opponents with aggressive and confusing play rather than by playing better starting hands. Since they play tight, you will have looser starting requirements than they will. You will regain your edge by bluffing, blind-stealing, folding, trapping, and playing your hands more effectively overall because they are very easy to read and you are going to confuse them. You will not have big swings up or down in games like this, but you should be able to grind your way upward slowly but surely. Most of the pots you win will be small. You need to accept that fact and not let yourself get bored or frustrated.

In weak-tight games, you have many more opportunities to play hands cheaply, because of the lower propensity of your opponents to raise before the flop. Since you are capable of both reading your opponents' hands and outplaying your opponents, you should not play these situations very tight. By playing lots of hands cheaply, you will give yourself more opportunities to create situations in which you can outplay your opponents. You should get aggressive preflop in situations in which you are likely to fold most of the field and the opponents who call are very prone to fold their hands after the flop. Be careful if you get strong action after the flop. Furthermore, I am not proposing that you do this with junk starting hands. Select hands based on the same concept as the 10-9 suited hand described earlier. By raising preflop, you are giving yourself a better price on your bluffs and you can always make a hand and win a bigger pot.

You should raise often when in position and take free cards, because weak-tight opponents are more prone to check to the raiser. You should make more blind-stealing plays, as your opponents are more likely to give up before the flop and after it. You should tighten up on your value betting (particularly on the river), as weak-tight opponents have a smaller range of hands with which they will call you. You should trap more with your good hands because the pots are generally smaller, thereby lowering the price risk of a free card, and the frequency of callers is greatly reduced. You should loosen up on your bluffing plays.

The player entering the game lost his $600 slowly but steadily. He pulled out $400 more and blew that, and then $200 more before going broke. He played in such a predictable and nonaggressive manner that he had almost no opportunity to get any value out of any hand he made. He had virtually no chance of booking a winner in the game. In contrast, players who play too loose and too aggressively at least have opportunities to book monster wins. Our busted opponent walked away from the table muttering about his bad luck, believing he had played tight and, therefore, well. He did not understand that playing tight does not make it right. There is much more to poker than that!

Editor's note: Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas – please see his ad below.