Loose Play And Tight Play
Introduction
To any novice poker player, loose play and tight play are two of the more common poker terms that they’re likely to hear. Using the very simplest of definitions, a loose poker player is one who plays a high percentage of hands, whereas a tight player will be far more circumspect in choosing which hands to play and which hands to fold. Subsequently a loose player can be spotted as one who is quite happy to continue playing with weak hands and, in all probability, has a low expectation as to their likelihood of success. Having said that, the loose poker player is content to carry on playing, on the ‘off-chance’ of being able to pick something up from the hand at some later point. Conversely it’s as if a tight poker player almost expects to win every hand, quickly discarding those that either begin pre-flop as weak hands or don’t develop as the betting rounds occur. So, the question arises - who to play at poker?
The ante with loose and tight poker play
A player’s reaction to the ante, the amount of money in the pot before the hand begins, is usually the first indicator of whether an opponent is a loose or tight player. There’s a temptation for all poker players, whether playing online poker, home poker or in a casino, to play loose if the ante pot is a big fat one. Generally speaking you will find that the bigger the ante is - the more likely you are to play loose; if you think you’ve spotted a tight player, seeing their reaction to a swelled up ante pot can be quite enlightening as to just how tight a player they truly are. After all, even a tight poker player knows that they have better pot odds if there’s a load of money already in the pot and before anyone raises the betting. Of course the opposite is also true, if the ante pot is small and you have a poor hand - only players with really good hands are going to be bothered to place any bets. But, what about a normal, or to be expected, ante for the level of poker hands you’re playing? The ante is more often than not 10% of the average betting in a game’s hands. There’s a general belief that if you see someone playing loose that you should play loose - and vice-versa. With a normal ante just remember the simple definitions of loose and tight play given in the introduction. With those in mind a loose player is more likely to be looking to at least steal the ante by hoping other players will fold, which is exactly what the tight player will do; being resigned to losing the money they put into the ante on the majority of occasions. So it’s fine if you’re a loose player against tight players. However if you’re a loose player against other loose poker players - they’re more likely to call you, even if they too have weak hands, that is after all the essence of loose play. In the case of tight players against other tight players, someone will always be marginally looser - giving a way in for someone or other. However, just how should you play in a poker game that is dominated by loose or tight playing?
Playing in loose poker games
Playing in a loose poker game you have to expect, and be looking for, semi-bluffs. Loose players will be looking to apply the semi-bluff to win by one of the following methods. Ideally, as this saves them a lot of ‘sweat’, they like to see the other players fold when the hole cards have been dealt. Or, and this is another favored method, by picking up cards that turn a poor poker hand into a winning one at or after the flop. Then finally there’s simply hitting lucky, or rather unlucky for someone else, and a scare card occurring that makes the other player(s) fold later on.
Playing in tight poker games
Even playing in tight poker games the semi-bluff can be very effective, as the tight players are the ones that are going to fold most easily. In a tight game only the player(s) with the very strongest hands are going to call, so if you’re playing tight yourself - be wary, very wary, of the player that calls you. Another thing to remember here is that as the number of players in a tight game decreases, so too does the value of your hand considering how the poker pot odds will also be deteriorating.
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