Why are tight poker players called nits?

What is Nit in Poker? A nit is an exceptionally tight poker player who only enters the pot with top tier premium holdings. Nits spend most of their life folding on the first betting round (preflop in Hold'em), but if they do start betting and raising, they nearly always have the nuts (or close to it).

888poker.com - Nit in Poker - Poker Terms

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In this guide we will learn:

How to Recognize a Nit at the Poker Tables? A nit is a player who only enters the pot with extremely strong holdings. If we notice that one of our opponents is hardly playing any hands and mostly folding preflop, there is a good chance that our opponent is a nit.

Is Playing a Nit Style Profitable?

Nits are not generally great poker players. If they were, they’d play a looser style. Having said that, there is a lot to be said for simply playing a tight strategy in poker. There is still a chance that playing a nit style might be profitable in softer games and it doesn’t require anywhere near as much skill as a more loose aggressive brand of poker.

How do we Beat Nits in Poker?

There are two key techniques to playing against nits. 1) Steal very aggressively on earlier betting rounds, especially preflop. 2) Be ready to make big folds when the nit seems interested in the pot, especially if the nit starts betting and raising.

What is the Difference Between a Nit and a Rock in Poker?

Both rock and nit are terms used to describe overly tight players. Although some sources attempt to explain the difference between rocks and nits, the explanation varies quite widely. It’s probably safer to assume that ‘rock’ and ‘nit’ are terms that can be used interchangeably in a poker context.

What VPIP and PFR do nits usually have?

In the context of a 6 handed game, a nit is a player who has a VPIP of less than 18%. This would still be a relatively loose nit however since many nits have a VPIP of 12% and lower. Since nits enter the pot with such a tight range of starting hands, they frequently enter the pot by raising so the VPIP/PFR gap will often be small. For example, a nit might have a VPIP/PFR or 10/7.

Final Thoughts

The key takeaway when facing nits is to not pay out too wide when they are betting and raising. Since nits nearly always have a hand that is close to the nuts when they are betting/raising, we should be comfortable making big laydowns with strong but non-nutted holdings. This is one reason why playing a nit style will not be profitable in a tough game, none of the experienced players will give the nit action when the nit makes a big hand. Check out this article for more information on playing vs nits along with a discussion of the different player types.

What are cowboys in poker?

What is Cowboys in Poker? Cowboys is a nickname given to pocket Kings in Hold'em. It's the second best starting hand in Hold'em is generally considered strong enough to stack off in the majority of preflop scenarios (unless the stacks start becoming very deep).

888poker.com - Cowboys - Poker Definition | 888poker

Explanation of Cowboys

It’s common in poker for players to assign nicknames to different types of hand. One of the most common nicknames for pocket Kings in Hold’em is “cowboys”.

Other names for pocket Kings in Hold’em -

Ace Magnets

Gorillas

Kangaroos

Kevin Keegan

King Kong

The name “Ace Magnets” is a reference to the fact that villain always seems to have pocket Aces when we pick up pocket Kings (which of course, is statistically not true). Example of Cowboys used in a sentence -> First hand at the table we were dealt cowboys in the big blind.

How to Use Cowboys as Part of Your Poker Strategy

Pocket Kings is the second best starting hand in No Limit Hold’em. As such it is nearly always good enough to play for stacks with preflop. There are exceptions however -

1. If the stacks become noticeably deeper than 100bb.

2. If villain is overly tight and won’t give action with worse holdings. These are exceptions however, and we should usually not feel bad going broke with the cowboys even if villain occasionally shows up with pocket Aces. Knowing the nicknames is presumably not important, but we may occasionally find ourselves feeling left out of a poker discussion if we aren’t familiar with them.