Tight Games

In a tight game semi-bluffs increase in value, and even pure bluffs can be profitable since tight players are more likely to fold. Paradoxically, though, legitimate hands don't have nearly the value in a tight game that they would have in an average or loose game. The reason should be obvious. When you bet a legitimate hand for value in a tight game, you will be called only by players who have strong hands themselves because tight players' starting requirements are higher. In a loose game an opponent with two small pair at the end will probably call your bet with aces up. But when you bet that same hand in a tight game - especially if both of your aces are showing - and you get called, you cannot feel too comfortable. The caller probably has you beat.
Many aggressive players fail to devaluate their legitimate hands when they sit down in a tight game. They steal money with bluffs and semi-bluffs, but when they get a decent hand, they wind up losing. Then they mumble to themselves, "If I just never got a hand, I'd be doing great because it's with my good hands that I lose." What they fail to realize is that in a tight game the value of a hand goes down because players who stay in the pot will have good hands themselves - better hands on average than players in a regular game would have.
In a tight game, then, you loosen up on bluffs and semi-bluffs, but you tighten up on your legitimate hands. Nor would you play as many drawing hands in a tight game, since you'd be getting pot odds sufficient to make it worthwhile less often, and when you did hit, you wouldn't get paid off as much as you would in an average or in a loose game.

Summary
Scrap the general notion that you play tight in a loose game and loose in a tight game and use the following guidelines instead. In a loose game you must tighten up on your bluffs and semi-bluffs, but loosen up on your legitimate hands. You bluff less, but you bet for value more. You also call with more hands and play more drawing hands. In a tight game you loosen up on your bluffs and semi-bluffs, but you must tighten up your legitimate hand requirements.

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The mathematical principle here is the same as the principle that governs bluffing against more than one opponent. See Chapter Eighteen.


You bluff more, but you bet for value less. You also call less and give up more quickly with drawing hands.
These guidelines can also be applied to individual players, as well as to games. When a very tight player with



raises in a small-ante seven stud game and everyone ahead of you folds, you would probably throw away a pair of jacks. You've tightened up your requirements because the chances are good your opponent already has you beat with a pair of kings. But when a very loose player raises in the same spot and everyone ahead of you folds, you might reraise with jacks, not as a semi-bluff but as a bet for value.
On the other hand, if you had



you might semi-bluff raise the very tight player who's betting a pair of kings since there's a decent chance that player will throw away the best hand, fearing you have aces. You wouldn't try that play against a very loose player, who is sure to call with kings.
To use all the poker tools at your disposal, you need to adjust your play according to the game and according to the individual players in the game.