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When Up Against Players Who Rarely Bet

There are poker tables which are dominated by players who seem to fold more often than other players. What happens is that when the poker players at the early position decide to fold, most of the players after that also fold. In other words, these players are extremely cautious about their money. They really would not want to risk their bankroll.

However, these same poker players never make a raise or a bet on their own. They do call bets, on rare occasions, when they have strong hands. Other than that, there is no reason to call bets. And they seem to forget the option of raising.

These poker players belong to a type of players called "tight-passive". When the poker table is dominated with tight-passive players, the whole atmosphere at the table also becomes tight-passive. And two major results occur. First, the pots are small. And second, there are too few showdowns.

With small pots, any winner of the hand will not expect to get a lot of money. Pot odds will certainly remain unfavorable. And making these players call or raise just to increase the amount of money in the pot is just like pulling teeth.

Yet, at the same time, a poker player will also have a small chance of losing a lot of money. Unless, of course, a poker player takes on a strategy that places him on a direct path to financial ruin against such opponents. Therefore, what is the best strategy when one is up against opponents who are tight-passive?

First of all, one must be cautious in raising when they call bets. Their general betting pattern tells that they call bets when they have a strong hand. Unless one has a strong hand, too, one should not raise. But this does not mean that one should be like these players who will never raise until one gets a strong hand.

Against such opponents, one can bet and raise even when one is holding marginal cards. That is, these cards are not too bad, but these are not too good either. The reason for betting and raising when one has these cards is to make such opponents fold. These opponents can be intimidated out of the hand. And usually, there will be no showdown.

To make a profit in a poker table of tight-passive players, one must need to win as frequently as possible. This is because the pots are too small and winning once will not make a significant increase on one's bankroll. The aim, then, is to win as many small pots.