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Playing in other Non-Standard Games

Playing in Extremely Tight Games

Extremely tight games actually can be quite profitable. In fact, they conceivably could be as profitable (per hour) as loose games. If they become very tight, the ante (even at the $15-$30 limit) is big enough that if you can start stealing it a lot, you can achieve an excellent win rate.

You should do a lot of raising when no one else is in yet, especially if you have one of the two highest cards showing. In fact, in some of these games, it is always correct to raise when your upcard meets this criteria.

However, if someone else raises, throw away hands that you normally might have played. For example, if an ace raises and you have

throw your hand away most of the time.

If you raise and get called, be less likely to push the hand any further. For instance, suppose you raise with

and the T♦ calls. Now you catch the A♦ and your opponent catches the (offsuit) 9♠ , you probably should check and fold if he bets. This is a better poker strategy (in these extremely tight games) than betting one more time, as you normally would in more typical games. Usually, you are being called with such a good hand that your opponent most likely is planning to stay all the way to the river.

In other words, be less likely to “push it” just because you caught a scare card. However, if you catch a very scary card, you can bet, especially since your opponents are playing extremely tight. But if you catch anything other than that, you should check and fold if there is a bet, unless you have a legitimate hand.

These extremely tight games do occur. The most common place is in tournaments, and the techniques just discussed are thus very effective in tournaments.