How to Identify and Exploit Weak Tight Players (Advanced Strategy)

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

In poker, it’s easy to spot recreational players because they usually play way too many hands.

But just because someone seems to play a reasonable number of hands preflop, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a good player.

While tight players usually won’t make as many mistakes as their fishy counterparts, you can still beat them fairly easily if you know what to look for.

In this article, you will learn how to easily spot and crush weak and tight players in your game.

The best part about these strategies is that you don’t even need to have a strong hand to pull them off, so you can rely on them even if the cards don’t seem to fall your way.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Steal Weak Tight Player's Blinds More Often

Tight players will usually have a hard time playing hands out of position.

This means you can get an immediate edge over them by stealing their blinds with a wider range.

To blind steal means to open-raise in late table positions (cutoff, button, and the small blind) with the intention of making the blinds fold and taking down the pot preflop.

Example:

You have K♥️J♠️ on the button and there are weak tight players in the blinds.

You should raise.

A lot of players at the lower stakes will usually make two distinct mistakes when it comes to playing in the blinds.

They will either play too many hands from the blinds, or they will not defend their blinds enough.

Players who play too many hands out of the blinds are usually recreational players who can be easily beat by a simple tight and aggressive strategy.

Overly tight players, on the other hand, will usually refrain from playing in the blinds because they don’t want to play the hand with a positional disadvantage.

When you’re playing in the blinds, you will always play out of position post flop.

The only exception is when you’re playing in the big blind against the small blind.

So tight players will usually overfold to blind stealing attempts, which means you can basically print money against them by just playing a wider range.

The beauty of this strategy is that your hand strength is often totally irrelevant.

For example, if your opponent is folding 8 or 9 out of 10 times to blind stealing attempts, you can blind steal with just about any 2 random cards.

Of course, it’s better to blind steal with hands that have at least some playability post flop in case you get called.

But even then, you will often have a positional advantage post flop, so you can keep applying the pressure on your opponents.

You should do most of your blind stealing from the button, because you will always play in position post flop in this seat.

If you have a very tight player on your immediate left, blind stealing becomes even more profitable.

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Why It Is So Easy (And Profitable) to Steal the Blinds Versus Tight Players

A tight player is less likely to 3-bet you preflop, meaning they’re less likely to punish your rampant blind stealing.

To 3-bet means to raise against another player's open-raise.

Also, a tight player on your left allows you to open-raise with a wider range in the cutoff (the seat before the button).

Again, this is because tight players are less likely to get involved in the pot with you, either by flat calling or 3-betting you on the button.

So which hands are best to blind steal with?

If your hand has any sort of playability post flop, chances are you can open-raise it on the button.

This can be as much as 40%, or even 50% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.

Of course, this is with the assumption that you have very passive players left to act in the blinds.

Here are a few example hands you can blind steal with: 

A♥4♣

J♦6♦

K♠3♠

T♦9♠

While hands like these can put you in a lot of trouble if you play them from early table positions or the blinds, they are perfectly fine to blind steal with on the button.

And if you get called, these hands are not totally unplayable, so you can either keep applying the pressure post flop, either by bluffing or by actually making a strong hand.

I actually discuss this more in my recent 5 under-rated poker strategies you should know video.

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2. Three-Bet Bluff Against Stealing Attempts From Weak Tight Players

Most tight and passive players will still play a wider range from late table positions (the cutoff and the button).

The positional advantage allows you to open-raise wider ranges, so even weaker players will usually loosen up in late positions.

However, they will still have a hard time reacting to aggressive lines, and will usually give up unless they have a very strong hand.

This is where light 3-betting comes into play.

To light 3-bet (aka bluff 3-bet) means to raise against another player’s open-raise with the intention of taking down the pot preflop.

Example: 

Weak Tight player raises from the button and you re-raise with 9♥️7♥️ from the big blind.

If another player raises against your 3-bet, this is called a 4-bet, then a 5-bet and so on.

Light 3-betting is an extremely effective tactic against weaker players for a few reasons.

Weaker players are likely to only 3-bet very strong hands, like Aces, Kings, Ace-King and so on.

So when they see you 3-betting, they will assume that you’re also doing so with a very strong range.

This means they will usually give you the benefit of the doubt and just “let you have it this time”.

Also, when you 3-bet against late position open-raises, you are attacking very wide and weak ranges.

And most hands in that range simply can’t stand the pressure of a 3-bet, so again, your opponents will often just let you have it.

Finally, the third reason you should add a light 3-bet in your arsenal has to do with the meta-game.

If you keep pestering your opponents with light 3-bets, not only will this irritate them, but may compel them to start fighting back against you.

This can really work in your favour once you actually do wake up with a monster hand.

Now your pocket Aces are much more likely to get action, because your opponents will stop giving your 3-bets so much credit.

In other words, you will always keep your opponents guessing, which makes them more likely to make mistakes when playing against you.

As for which hands you should light 3-bet with, the same principle applies as with blind stealing.

If your opponent overfolds to 3-bet, your hand strength is often not as important, but you’re still better off 3-bet bluffing with hands that are not totally unplayable.

But by far the best 3-bet bluffing hands are small suited Aces (A5s through A2s). The "s" by the way means that both cards are the same suit.

Example: 

A♦️3♦️

These hands have great nut potential, with the ability to make both straights and nut flushes.

They also have blocker power, which makes them ideal for light 3-betting.

A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces the number of strong combos from your opponent’s range.

For example, an Ace in your hand makes it less likely for your opponent to have strong combos like pocket Aces, Ace-King, Ace-Queen and so on.

Exploit Weak Tight Players Example Hand #1

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB 

You are dealt A♥2♥ in the SB (small blind). A tight and passive player open-raises to 2.5 BB from the CO (cutoff).

You: ???

You should light 3-bet to 10 BB.

This is a good spot to attack your opponent’s weak open-raising range and try to take down the pot right away.

Calling here can lead to a lot of awkward spots, because you will play the pot out of position, without the initiative, and with an easily dominated hand.

Worse yet, the big blind can go for a 3-bet squeeze and make it harder for you to win the hand.

You can check out my article on how to use the advanced 3-bet squeeze play to pick up a lot of dead money preflop.

If you 3-bet here, you will often win the pot right away, because your opponent will have a hard time reacting to your aggression.

And even if you get called, you have a great hand that can flop a lot of strong combinations post flop.

This means you have more than one way to win the hand: you can either make your opponent fold, or you can flop a strong combination and keep betting for value.

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3. Float the Flop With a Wider Range

Most players at the lower stakes will make a standard continuation bet on the flop, but won’t keep barreling on the turn unless they happen to have a very strong hand.

In other words, a lot of weaker players will play the turn very straightforwardly.

Against these players, floating the flop can be a very effective strategy.

To float the flop means to call the flop continuation bet with the intention of taking down the pot on future streets, usually with a bluff.

To float the flop, you simply call c-bets with a wider range than usual, then try to take down the pot with a simple half pot bet when your opponent checks to you.



This is why it’s important to float the flop when you’re playing in position.

While you can technically float out of position as well, floating in position is going to be a lot more profitable.

That’s because you get to see what your opponent does first on future streets.

For example, when your opponent fails to make a turn c-bet, it’s usually a sign of weakness.

That’s because most players at the lower stakes are just going to keep barreling if they have a strong hand.

They will usually be pretty bad at protecting their checking ranges.

To protect your checking range means to occasionally check with your strong hands so your overall checking range doesn’t become too weak.

If you always bet with your strong hands, but always check with your weak hands, you’re going to become fairly predictable to players who pay attention to your betting patterns.

But again, most players at the lower stakes don’t really think in these terms, so their betting patterns will usually be quite predictable.

Like with some other strategies on this list, your hand strength is often irrelevant when it comes to floating the flop.

That’s because you’re aiming to take down the pot before getting to showdown, and not by making the best hand.

Of course, it’s better to float with hands that have at least some chance of improvement on future streets, so you’re not drawing completely dead.

But what matters more than your hand strength is the playing tendencies of your opponents.

If you’ve already figured out your opponent is weak and passive, chances are you can totally dominate them with this strategy.

Exploit Weak Tight Players Example Hand #2

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB 

You are dealt 3♦3♥ on the BU (button). A tight and passive player open-raises to 2.5 BB from the CO (cutoff). You call.

Flop: T♥6♠2♣

Pot: 6.5 BB

Villain bets 2.5 BB.

You: ???

You should call.

Even though you missed a set in this spot, it doesn’t mean you should give up the hand altogether.

The flop is very dry here, so your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you did.

So if they check on the turn, it’s usually a good indicator they are ready to give up the hand.

When they check the turn, you can take a stab at the pot with a simple half pot bet, almost regardless of the actual turn card.

Also, there’s a slight chance you can spike a set on future streets, so you can sometimes win a massive pot if your opponent has some sort of an overpair, like pocket Aces, pocket Kings and so on.

If your opponent keeps barreling on the turn and you miss your set again, you can just get away from the hand without much of a loss.

These days, it's not enough to wait around for the nuts to be a profitable long term winner. 

You also need to look for edges in less than ideal circumstances, like when you miss the flop and you don't have the initiative.

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4. Double Barrel on Scare Cards

Double barreling is tightly correlated with the previous strategy about floating the flop, except this time the roles are reversed.

To double barrel means to bet the turn after you’ve made a continuation bet on the flop.

The pattern should be familiar by now: most weaker players at the lower stakes will have a hard time dealing with incessant aggression.

Just like most players will play the turn straightforwardly as the preflop aggressors, so too will they play when they are the preflop caller.

To put in another way, most players will give up their hand on the turn unless they have a very strong hand (which is usually not the case).

So what do you do on the turn after your opponent calls your flop c-bet?

The answer is: when in doubt, keep barreling!

Take this with a grain of salt, of course.

If you’re playing against a calling station, you’re better off not pulling any big bluffs.

But when playing against weak and passive opponents, this is exactly what you should be doing.

Most players will call the flop with a fairly wide range, but won’t have the fortitude to keep calling you down with marginal holdings on future streets.

So how do you know if it’s profitable to keep betting the turn as a bluff?

This depends on many factors, namely how likely your opponent is to fold to a double barrel.

Some other factors to keep in mind is how the turn card influences the board runout and both your and your opponent’s range.

For example, high cards like Aces and Kings will favour the preflop aggressor’s range, because they will naturally have more Ax and Kx hands in their range than the preflop caller.

Consider double barreling on these “scare cards”, because your opponent will have a harder time calling you down.

You should also consider double barreling when you pick up some equity, like some sort of a draw.

This way, you’re essentially semi-bluffing; you can either win the pot right away by making your opponent fold, or you can make a strong hand on the river and potentially take down an even bigger pot.

Exploit Weak Tight Players Example Hand #3

You are dealt A♦Q♦ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3 BB. A tight and passive player calls in the BB (big blind).

Pot: 6.5 BB

Flop: J♣6♥3♠

Villain checks. You bet 3 BB. Villain calls.

Pot: 12.5 BB

Turn: K♦

Villain checks. 

You: ???

You should bet 7 BB (double barrel).

This is a good spot for a double barrel for a few reasons.

First of all, you picked up some equity on the turn with a nut straight draw. 

The turn is also a scare card, meaning your opponent will have a hard time calling you down if they have some Jx hand like QJ, JT, J9, or some pocket pair like pocket Tens, pocket Nines and so on.

On the other hand, the King is a great card for your range, because you naturally have a lot of Kx hands in your range, like AK, KQ, KJ and so on.

This means you can credibly represent a strong hand and put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

Identifying and Exploiting Weak Tight Players - Summary

Tight players will usually make fewer mistakes than loose recreational players, but you don’t necessarily need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to beat them.

These players will usually play very straightforwardly, so you can absolutely crush them if you apply enough pressure at the right times.

To sum up, here’s how you can easily beat tight and passive opponents with a few simple adjustments to your game.

1. Steal their blinds more often

Tight players will often refrain from playing out of position, so they won’t defend their blinds as much as they should.

To steal their blinds, simply open-raise a wider range from late table positions (the cutoff, the button, and the small blind).

You should do most of your blind stealing from the button, because you will always play in position post flop in case you get called.

2. 3-bet bluff against late position open-raises

Most tight players will give 3-bets a lot of credit, and they will overfold to 3-bets.

To exploit this, try 3-bet bluffing with a wider range, especially against late position open-raises.

3. Float the flop with a wider range

Most players know by now that they should make a continuation bet on the flop most of the time.

However, this is where their aggression usually stops unless they have a very strong hand.

Against these “turn honest” players, simply call the flop with a wider range, then take a stab at the pot every time they check the turn to you.

4. Double barrel on scare cards

Firing a second shell on the turn puts a lot of pressure on many medium strength hands in your opponent’s range.

This means you can often make them fold on the turn, or put them in an awkward spot where they have to bluff catch with marginal holdings.

---

This article was written by Fran Ferlan

Poker player, writer and coach

Specializing in live and online cash games

For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at fran.redline@gmail.com

Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here

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How to Beat Tight Poker Players [Strategy Used by Pros 2026]

If you play low limit poker then you have undoubtedly encountered many tight poker players. They are also often referred to simply as nits.

A nit in poker is somebody who plays extremely tight. They only play very strong hands before the flop, and usually if they are betting after the flop, then they have something very good as well.

The best way to beat tight poker players is to play loose and aggressive against them. You do this by stealing their blinds often and CBetting, barreling and bluffing them after the flop. By applying this pressure against the tight poker players you will force them to fold and surrender many pots to you.

Now this is a bit of a simplistic assessment.

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But learning how to smash the nits is absolutely essential for your success in today's micro stakes games. And the reason why is because they will be your most common opponent by far.

Go load up any game at NL50 and under right now and you will see countless players folding like it is their job!

In fact, in my latest video I run a huge bluff against a tight player at NL50.

Now it must be noted right from the start that there is no way that you are ever going to turn a massive winrate against these types of players. And this is because by playing so tight they actually protect themselves from ever losing too much.

You can only ever expect to truly win big against the players who are making tons of huge mistakes and playing way too many hands (i.e. the recreational players). But that is a topic for another article.

However, there are several ways to exploit the tight players in today's small stakes games in order to make sure that you are at least earning a solid profit against them.

And I actually have a few bonus tactics that you will find at the end for how to put them on tilt and potentially get them to spew off ALL of their chips to you.

So let's get started!

1. Play Loose and Steal Their Blinds

The first way to start making a steady profit against the tight players is by playing loose and stealing their blinds more often. Now you may have heard this before. However, it still amazes me how many people fail to have a look at who is in the blinds before they raise preflop. 

When you see a couple of nits who are going to fold perhaps 80% or 90% of their hands when you raise, then you can profitably raise with an absolutely huge amount of hands.

This is especially the case when it is folded to you in late position (the cutoff or the button). I always cringe a little bit inside when I see regs folding so much from these positions when there are a couple of extremely tight players in the blinds waiting to give their money away.

This is especially the case if they are the kind of nits who do not fight back very much either. You can quickly check their 3Bet% on your HUD in order to make sure. If it is below 5, then you should literally be attempting to steal their blinds all day.

I would be raising something like the top 50% of hands. This means anything that is even remotely playable. Any ace, any king, any broadway, any pair, suited connectors, suited one gappers, heck even suited two gappers! You get the idea.

You only need to risk a small amount when attempting to steal the blinds, 3x or 2.5x the big blind is fine. Some people even just miniraise it.

For Example: 

You are playing NL2 online where the big blind is 2 cents.

• 3x the big blind = 6 cents
• 2.5x the big blind = 5 cents

And it is important to remember that every time you successfully steal the blinds you earn 1.5 big blinds in super easy and variance free profit. 

Since most people only win a few big blinds for every 100 hands that they play at the micros these days, stealing the blinds a little bit more often could potentially mean doubling or even tripling their winrate!

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Example #1

You are on the Button with:

8♧6♧

The small blind is a nit and the big blind is a nit.

You should RAISE!

Example #2

You are on the Button with:

K♡5♤

The small blind is a nit and the big blind is a nit.

You should RAISE!

Play looser overall at a table full of tight players and steal their blinds more often. Watch your poker winnings increase. Thank me later :)

2. Re-raise the Nits Before the Flop

Another way to abuse the tight players is to re-raise (3Bet) them frequently when they are clearly just trying to steal the blinds themselves. Just because nits tend to play really tight doesn't mean that they don't know about the profitability of stealing the blinds as well. 

Most nits these days will be trying to steal the blinds with as much as 30% of hands when it is folded to them in late position. Sometimes even more.

Here is an idea of what the top 30% of hands looks like:

Now the question to ask yourself here is how many of these hands is a nit likely to call with if you re-raise? Remember that this is typically a risk averse type of player who doesn't like to play a big pot with a weak hand. 

I think you already know the answer to this question. Not very many.

It is always a good idea to check the Fold to 3Bet% stat on your HUD first if you have any doubts. Many of the tight regulars that you will encounter at the micros will fold to a 3Bet 80% or more of the time. 

Therefore, you can once again make a variance free easy profit by simply re-raising them preflop a little bit more often when they are trying to steal the blinds.

The key is to do it just often enough to keep them guessing if you out of line or you just happen to pick up AA more often than everybody else. 

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3. Bet Again Frequently on the Flop

Sometimes you won't be able to shake the nits preflop though. Sometimes they will either call your preflop raise or call your preflop 3Bet. What do you do then?

Well, the easiest way to turn a profit against tight poker players like this is just to continue betting on the flop most of the time.

As Partypoker points out in a recent strategy guide, the simple math tells us that the odds of flopping a pair after the flop with a random hand is only about 1 in 3. So we know that 2 out of 3 times they won't have much of anything at all on the flop.

The other thing to note is that you only need to make your bet on the flop about 50% or 60% of the size of the pot. 

For Example:

The pot is 10 cents on the flop. You should bet 5 cents or 6 cents.

When you are betting such a small amount you only need to get a fold about 1 in 3 times in order to break even.

Pretty much any nit that you will encounter at the micros these days will fold versus a flop bet this often. Usually it will be much, much higher in fact.

Once again you don't need to guess though. You can simply double check this on your HUD by looking at the Fold to Flop CBet% stat.

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4. Float the Tight Poker Players When They CBet

One of my favorite methods for beating the tight players in today's small stakes games is to call them when they bet into me. This is also often called a "float" in poker. 

The reason why you want to be floating the nits frequently at the lower limits is because they often won't have the heart to keep betting on later streets unless they have an extremely strong hand.

You can double check this once again on your HUD by comparing their Flop CBet% with their Turn CBet%. If there is a gap of 20 or more points, then they are a perfect target for floating.

When they check to us on the turn this gives us a ton of different ways to take the pot away from them especially if we are in position.

And this is a crucial point that many people forget. It is important to remember that the entire point of a float in poker is to win the pot on a later street (i.e. the turn or river).

So if I float a tight player on the flop and he checks to me on the turn, then I am pretty much going to be betting 100% of the time. My cards literally do not even matter.

Now it is important to make sure that you always have some sort of equity or outs when attempting this play. You don't want to float people in poker with absolutely nothing because you are going to get looked up sometimes.

So you always want to have a little bit of equity in your back pocket. This gives you a chance to win the pot later on by simply "getting lucky" as well. 

So I will often call their bet on the flop with hands like:

• Middle pair
• Bottom pair
• A flush draw
• A straight draw
• An inside (gutshot) straight draw
• Two overcards

So as you can see I am calling the tight players on the flop with a wide variety of hands. Often they aren't the best hands right now (i.e. I am mathematically behind) but they have plenty of outs to win the pot later on.

And also, I am planning on pouncing on any weakness that they show me later on in the hand. So I will often win the pot without having to showdown the best hand anyways.

This float and take it away on the turn play can do absolute wonders for your redline or non-showdown winnings by the way.

And you can check out my complete guide to improving your redline for 8 more ways to take more pots away...without the best hand.

The bottom line is that you have to start getting involved more often versus the tight players (and all regs for that matter) if you really want to start turning a bigger profit against them. 

You simply can't expect to win big in poker by folding all the time. You just won't make hands often enough for this to be the case. So floating the tight risk averse players like this, especially in position, is a great place to start.

5. Raise Them on the Flop or the Turn

Another way to abuse the nits is to raise on the flop or the turn. Once again you want to do this with a wide variety of hands that aren't necessarily the nuts. In other words hands like draws, middle pair and so on. 

You certainly don't want to be doing this all the time. But sometimes you need to find more ways to apply more pressure against the tight players in order to win more pots against them. 

So here is an example of a situation where instead of calling I might consider raising from time to time. 

Example #3

You have:

T♢9♢

Flop

8♢5♤J♧

A tight player bets

You should RAISE!

This is a great spot to take a pot away from a tight opponent by making a raise instead of a call. We have an open ended straight draw (8 outs) and we also have a backdoor flush draw. It is important not to forget those backdoor outs!

We could just call here and we definitely should do that plenty of the time. But what do we do when the turn comes with another high card and they bet again? Fold?

You don't win at poker by folding. 

We could raise instead in this situation though and then bet the turn regardless of whether we make our hand or not. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on a tight player to show up with a real hand. 

And what's even better is that we still have the exact same odds of making our hand by the river whether we choose the conservative calling option or the aggressive raising option.

In other words sometimes we will still win the hand the old fashioned way by simply making the best hand. Try applying some real pressure on the nits like this more often when you have some sort of draw or reasonable hand. 

You might be surprised at how many more pots you start winning. And this is because you have given yourself more ways to win. You can make the best hand OR bluffing them out.

It is really important that you start learning some advanced poker strategies like this especially as you move up the stakes and start facing better players on a consistent basis.

6. Bluff the River More Often

Another great way to start turning a bigger profit against the nits at the lower stakes is to start bluffing the river more often. And the reason why this works so well is because one of the main weaknesses of tight poker players is not wanting to go to showdown without a strong hand. 

This is another reason why I recommend using a HUD so much at the micros. Because you can easily double check this as well by looking at the WTSD% (went to showdown) statistic. It basically tells you who you should bluff and who you shouldn't.

Here are a few rough rules of thumb for WTSD%:

• 26 or higher = calling station, don't bluff
• 23, 24, 25 = it's close
• 22 and below = risk averse player, bluff them frequently

So when I get to the river versus a nitty player who I know doesn't like to go to showdown without a strong hand, then I am frequently going to be trying to bluff them. I am specifically looking to do this on:

• Big broadway scare cards (ace or king especially)
• Draw completer cards (cards that complete an obvious flush or straight)

You can often bluff them out of the pot by betting on these cards and pick up some really easy profit. This works especially well if you have a relatively tight table image yourself. They won't expect you to be getting out of line.

Often they will think it over for awhile but ultimately decide to make the disciplined fold with their middle pair or even top pair. It is important to make sure that you never show them the bluff. Always keep them guessing. 

Advanced River Bluff Raising Strategy

Another relatively advanced way to win more pots on the river is to mix in some bluff/raises as well. 

This is especially effective when a really scary card falls. A situation where the board has one card to a straight for instance.

Flop

3♢4♧J♡

Turn

6♤

River

7♢

When a tight player bets into me on this river I know that they are often making when is referred to as a "blocker bet." This means that they have some sort of decent hand (such as top pair) that just wants a cheap showdown.

But what they probably don't have is the only hand that actually matters on a board like this, the straight. After all, how many 5's is a tight player likely to have in his range? Very few. They will fold almost all of them preflop. 

So you can consider putting in the bluff/raise in a spot like this to represent the straight and make them fold their top pair or overpair hand. Once again, make sure that you never show them the bluff.

7. Put the Tight Poker Players on Tilt

One of my absolute favorite ways to make a solid profit against the nits is to put them on tilt. When you can successfully put someone on tilt and get inside their head, this can cause them to start playing very poorly against you. Getting all their chips therefore becomes very easy.

So when I begin a new poker session I will often pick one or sometimes two tight players that I notice are on several of my tables. And I want to make sure that I have position on them as well. 

From there I will just go ahead and start re-raising them literally every single time they enter the pot. I am going to make it as obvious as humanly possible that yes, I am out of line. I am going out of my way to ruin their day at the poker tables.

How I picture them once I start raising them every hand

Now even though most nits these days are just auto-piloting on a bunch of tables while waiting for the nuts, when somebody starts re-raising the crap out of them, they are going to take notice. So it often won't take very long for them to start adjusting by calling me more or even re-raising me back. 

It is important not to let this deter you. You should still go ahead and try to bluff them out of the pot several times after the flop as well. Usually in the early going (before they are 100% sure that you are messing with them), they will still give you the benefit of the doubt and make the tight folds.

You can often pickup several pots by just straight up bluffing the nits like this before they realize what is going on and start calling you down. At this point you want to revert back to totally normal play and only show them strong hands.

The great thing about this strategy is that it causes many micro stakes regulars to tilt very easily. This is especially the case if you are running good and winning most of the pots. This can cause a tight player to come out of his shell and start making all kinds of terrible calls that he wouldn't normally make against you.

I recommend trying this strategy out at NL2 first if you have never done it before because the money is relatively meaningless to most people at this stake. Just pick one tight reg and start raising them every single hand. You might be surprised at just how easy it is to quickly put them on tilt.

8. Set Them Up for Future Mistakes

The other amazing benefit of this strategy is that it sets them up for future mistakes as well. This is often referred to as the "meta-game" in poker.

You need to remember that you are playing against many of these same tight players every single day at the poker tables. If you truly want to get ahead against them then you need to start employing some mind game tactics like this.

Poker is psychological warfare and the battle is won or lost over long periods of weeks, months or even years. What matters in a single session is not important.

However, in my lengthy experience of trying to tilt the regs at the micros I have often found that it takes them a very long time to forget that single session when I was totally out of line against them. 

I have gotten paid off months down the road in some cases because of this. There have even been a few occasions where they were so embarrassed by what they called me with that they felt compelled to explain their actions in the chat.

It was because I played like a total lunatic against them in some hand weeks or months ago that I barely even remember! They remembered it though, and they probably had a note on me that I am "crazy, love to bluff" etc.

And the other reason why this strategy works so well is that there are very few players at the lower limits who do it. You don't start seeing the regs radically changing their game from session to session like this until much higher limits.

So when you do it at the micros it will make you stick out like a sore thumb. They will be furiously taking their notes on you if you show up with even one crazy bluff.

This can pay off weeks or even months down the line when you pick up AA against them and suddenly you are getting all the action you ever wanted.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to beat the tight poker players in today's games is absolutely crucial to your success. And the main reason why is that they will be your most common opponents by far. But luckily there are still several ways to exploit their weaknesses. 

First off, make sure that you are playing loose and raising their blinds frequently in order to take advantage of the most obvious leak in their game, folding too much preflop.

Also, re-raise them before the flop a lot when it is clear that they are just trying to steal the blinds. They won't have a hand strong enough to call you with very often.

After the flop make sure that you are applying plenty of pressure as well. There are numerous ways to do this such as betting the flop, floating, raising and bluffing the river. 

You should also go out of your way to tilt some of the tight regulars from time to time. This is one of the easiest ways to get them to come out of their shell and finally start making some really big mistakes against you.

Lastly, if you want to read my entire "playbook" on how to smash the nits (and everybody else at the micros for that matter), then make sure you pick up your copy of my brand new book that was just released last week, The Micro Stakes Playbook.

I hope this article gave you some ideas on how to start beating all the tight players at the lower stakes. Let me know in the comments below what some of your best strategies are for abusing the nits!

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