Too Tight?

One of my Dallas friends from a long time ago was Bill Smith, the 1985 World Series of Poker main-event champion. Bill always used to say, “In practice, there is no such thing as players who are too tight. They don’t exist.” I have to admit that it’s human nature to want to play a lot of hands, to be in action. It is certainly rarer for someone to err on the side of playing too few hands (rather than too many). However, one of my students sent me some hands and gave me his philosophy. I do not know if he actually follows that philosophy, but if he does, I think he is too tight. Here are some of the hands that he sent me and his comments in italics:

All of these hands were played during a single session. I played 600 hands while multitabling four nine-handed tables. The buy-in was $400, with a $2 small blind and a $4 big blind. Effective stack sizes were $400 unless otherwise noted.

I was a little unsure of these preflop decisions. I play very tight preflop, maybe too tight. I was hoping that you would take a quick look at these hands and give me a few words of guidance for each.

1. The under-the-gun player (UTG) raises. His range is tight and solid — for example, 10-10+, A-K, A-Q, A-J suited — and it is folded to me in the big blind. I fold 9-9. I feel it’s unlikely that I will stack him.

Bob Ciaffone: Size matters. You can call a small raise and try to flop a set. I would call a raise to $12 total, but nothing bigger. Use this math of calling a raise of triple the big blind, but no more than that, with any pair smaller than what the opponent figures to have.

2. An early-position player limps in. He has a tight, solid game. It’s folded to me in the hijack seat, and I fold A-J offsuit. I do not want to limp in, as I feel offsuit Broadways generally play badly in multiway pots. I think raising is an option, but given that the villain plays a tight and relatively balanced range from early position, it’s probably not going to be profitable.

Bob Ciaffone: You are too weak to raise. I would call. I do not like the hand, but you do have position.

3. The tight, solid UTG limps in, a weak early-position player limps, a weak middle-position player limps, and I limp with A-10 offsuit from the button. A-10 offsuit does not play well in multiway pots, but when two weak players enter the pot and I have the button, I decide to take a flop.

Bob Ciaffone: Fine. Position is very important.

4. A wild and aggressive early-position player raises, and it’s folded to me in the big blind with 8-8. I call solely with set value, with the intention of check-folding if I miss.

Bob Ciaffone: OK.

5. The UTG raises. I call with A-K from the hijack seat.

Bob Ciaffone: OK.

6. A tight, solid early-position player raises. A tight, solid middle-position player calls. I fold A-K offsuit in the small blind.

Bob Ciaffone: I would call, but fold A-Q.

7. The UTG and two middle-position players limp in. I fold J-10 offsuit in the cutoff.

Bob Ciaffone: I would call. You have good position and a playable hand in an unraised pot. I would have folded J-9 offsuit.

8. The UTG and the button limp in. I fold K-Q in the small blind.
Bob Ciaffone: I would call. K-Q is a good hand in an unraised pot, and you are getting in for half-price.

9. I limp in with 7-7 from early position. A middle-position player raises, and I fold.

Bob Ciaffone: Size matters. If he only tripled you, call; otherwise, fold.

10. A weak middle-position player limps in, and I limp in with K-J offsuit from the cutoff.

Bob Ciaffone: OK.

11. A tight, solid early-position player limps in, and I fold 6-5 suited in the cutoff.

Bob Ciaffone: That’s criminal behavior on your part. It’s a playable hand, for a cheap price, with good position.

We can see three places where I believe my student is or may be playing too tight.

First, he does not pay the admission fee when he has a pocket pair and someone raises. Sets usually win, no matter how good a hand your opponent starts with. Furthermore, a set does not play as poorly without position as drawing hands do. When you call with 6-6, you will have either a powerful hand or a non-contender when the flop comes down. If you call with a hand like a suited ace or suited connectors and hit, it is usually four-fifths of a hand, which needs position to be effective. With a pocket pair, I suggest that a call is automatic if the raiser has only tripled the bet and you are either in one of the blinds or have limped in and gotten popped.

Second, he regards suited connectors or larger unsuited connectors as too weak to call with even when he has position in an unraised pot. I would automatically call with hands like 7-6 suited or J-10 offsuit in that situation without any thought.

Third, I think he is too afraid of calling a raise when holding A-K. He treats that hand like I treat A-Q.

Why would a player adopt too tight a style of play? One possible reason is that he is playing for more money than he can afford, and is afraid to go home to his spouse with bad news. That is certainly not the case with my client, though.

My opinion is that he is not winning enough pots when he does decide to play. I told him, “Be a cowardly bully on the flop betting round. When they act weak, pounce. When they act strong, run away.”

It is hard to win enough money with ordinary starting hands if you win pots only when you make the best hand. One of the benefits of position is that you get to see whether anyone is interested in the pot before you act on your hand. When you see a worthwhile piece of property and no one else seems interested, consider putting in a purchase offer. Just being in the pot is worth something, because there are often stealing situations in which you can expect a high frequency of success at little risk. Remember, when an opponent checks, it is far more likely that the check is based on a bad hand with no interest in the pot than a good hand waiting to check-raise.

I am not from the “any two will do” school even when I have good position, but hands such as K-J offsuit, 10-9 offsuit, and 9-7 suited in the cutoff or on the button are net money winners if the pot is unraised. Even in the blinds, if you do not count the money that you have posted, there is no reason why you should not realize a net profit there, as well. It is my opinion that the few poker players who actually play too tight preflop are not winning enough pots without making a hand to appreciate the value associated with simply being in with a live hand.

Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert’s Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org.