Weak-Tight

What is weak-tight?

Top-notch poker author Mason Malmuth defines weak-tight play with these four characteristics:

The weak-tight player:

- Plays fairly tight (not a lot of hands)
- Plays in very predictable patterns
- Has the ability to fold marginal hands
- Bluffs very little

Why not weak-tight?

If you look at the above criteria, you will notice that they add up to one theme: An aggressive and tricky player will kill the weak-tight player. So we can see that the weak-tight player is certainly following the wrong strategy in games that will feature several tricky opponents.

But what about loose low-limit games, where the beginner should be starting out? Typically these games are filled with loose opponents that do not think about what you are holding. In these games, weak-tight play is a surprisingly good strategy, especially if the game is also fairly passive. All the top poker authorities will agree that in the loose, multiway pots that these games frequently feature, your strategy should be:

- Play fairly tight preflop, but play hands that have a small chance to develop into huge hands, such as small pairs, suited connectors, and suited aces
- Play to maximize your chances of winning the big pots, not to win a couple of extra bets through deceptive play
- Devote little effort to disguising your hand since the opponents aren't thinking about what you hold anyway
- With marginal hands, you should usually fold unless you are getting favorable pot odds to draw, since with so many opponents, someone probably has you beat
- Virtually never bluff since you will be called too often to make it a profitable play

Notice how closely this correlates with the principles of weak-tight play listed above. Malmuth does not go into how aggressively the weak-tight player plays, but I would say that if you follow the weak-tight player's basic strategy and add that you play aggressively with the best hand (and this includes the best draw in a very loose game), along with other basic poker skills (considering the size of the pot, reading hands, adjusting your play to your opponent), you will do very well in loose games, especially if your opponents are passive players that play predictably.

(Note: I think it is very possible that authors are trying to imply that a weak-tight player plays the way he does because he does read hands well and thus assumes he is beaten whenever you are aggressive and he holds a marginal hand. Reading hands is one of the most important skills in the poker player's arsenal (and you should work hard to develop it), but it is not as effective against the loose-passive player, because he could be holding almost anything. When he raises, however, you can figure him for something very good.)

So what's the catch?

The catch is that in order to make decent money, you will have to move up to a reasonably-sized limit. I believe a good player can make $20/hour or more playing three tables of 3/6. But at 3/6 (and to a greater extent at 5/10 or higher), your opponents are not as soft as they will be at 1/2. They will be playing tighter and more aggressively, and will try to put more moves on you. Of course you can't always call with a marginal hand when you are faced with an unexpected raise, but you must use your hand reading and player reading skills to make an educated guess as to your opponent's hand, then make an informed decision.

Even if you stay at 1/2, you will run into players who are aggressive and try to pull tricks to steal pots from you. In order to maximize your win rate you must know who these players are and counter their plays by calling (or raising) them much more often than you would against more typical players. This is the primary reason that you must pay attention to who your opponents are, and how they play.

However, that does not mean that playing in a weak-tight manner is always wrong. You will still encounter plenty of situations where you are in a six-way pot, the pot has become very big, or all the players in a pot with you are loose-passive "calling station" types that tip the strength of their hands by the way they bet. In these cases, the weak-tight play is likely the correct one. Disguising your hand loses its value in all of these situations, so why bother?

The bottom line

In conclusion, weak-tight play will make you a winner in very loose poker games. If you are just starting out at a low limit online or find yourself in these loose games often, do not be ashamed to play a weak-tight style. When your poker arsenal is still fledgling, weak-tight strategies are the quickest way to a small profit. However, while you are playing in these games, work on developing your other poker skills so that you can beat the bigger games for more money.

By the time you are ready to make some "real" money at 3/6 or higher limits, remember that you will be in trouble if you continue to play weak-tight, unless you regularly find yourself in loose-passive games that are characteristic of limits like .50/1 and 1/2. The more tricky and aggressive opponents you are up against, the more you must stray from a weak-tight style in order to become a big winner at poker. But don't worry; with enough experience, you can do it.