There are many strategic elements to the game of poker, but few are as important or all-encompassing as the choice to play tight or loose in a particular game. This particular choice is the basic choice that a person must make and it is the choice that ends up determining all of the other choices that a player chooses to make. For that reason, it is a choice that one should consider carefully before making it, especially if you do not understand what they mean.
For starters, both of the terms refer to starting hand selection. A tight player will play a small percentage of excellent hands. Usually, this ends up coming down to the top 10% to 15% of starting hands in the particular poker variant in question. A tight player therefore usually enters pots with the better hand hoping that the better hand will hold up against their opponent at the end of the hand. Conversely, a loose player will play a much larger amount of hands and will care much less about the overall quality of the hands they choose to play. They are hoping to end up with a big hand at the end or to bluff their opponents out of a large pot.
Most of the better players do not actually subscribe to tight or loose play however, but rather vary their play depending on the particular circumstances at the table. Gus Hansen, a player that everyone knows because of his super loose style of play, is also a player that has been seen playing tight if there are a number of loose players at the table. A poker pro once colorfully stated that playing in a manner opposite to everyone at the table was the best way to go. This means that if you are with a number of tight players, you should consider playing loose and if you are with a bunch of loose players you should consider playing tight. It may seem counterintuitive, but you can not argue with success and players that utilize that strategy usually end up successful at the end of the day when the chips are counted.
Of course, starting hand selection and loose or tight strategy is not the only consideration you have to make when playing a game of poker. For example, you need to decide whether playing a particular hand aggressively or passively is a good idea on top of your decisions regarding tight and loose play. However, deciding whether to play tight or loose is the basic decision upon which all other decisions are built and that is why it is such an important one in the grand scheme of things.
One final piece of advice worth giving when choosing your particular starting hand strategy is to go with the type of person you are. If you are a high energy person that likes being involved in things all of the time, a looser starting hand selection might not be a bad thing. If you are a conservative minded person in real life however and do not like taking risks, playing tight is usually the way to go.
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