Nit
A player who folds nearly everything and only puts money in with the top of a range. Predictable — and beatable by stealing relentlessly.
You open the cutoff with K-9 suited and the player in the big blind folds. You open the next hand and they fold. Twenty minutes later you have taken their blind eleven times and they have played one pot, which they won with kings. That is a nit: someone whose VPIP sits in the low teens or below, who folds everything outside a premium range and who is genuinely comfortable doing it for hours.
The style is not stupid. A nit rarely puts money in behind, and against opponents who pay attention badly they can grind out a small profit for years. The problem is that everyone else at the table gets to fold when they finally bet. Their range is so narrow that a raise from a nit is close to a face-up announcement, and pots they win are small because nobody has a reason to pay them off.
The counter is mechanical and it works. Open their blinds with anything playable, because they fold too often to defend. Give up immediately when they show real resistance, because they are not bluffing. And stop value-betting thin against them — a nit who calls the river has a hand that beats second pair, whatever your read said a street ago.
The trap is becoming one without noticing. Folding is comfortable, it never feels like a mistake in the moment, and a losing session of nothing but folds looks disciplined on the scoresheet. The blinds are what quietly eats the stack: at six-handed you pay a blind and a half every orbit, and a range that only plays premiums cannot possibly win them back.
FAQ
What is a nit in poker?
A very tight player who folds almost everything and only commits chips with the strongest part of their range — usually a VPIP in the low teens or lower. The term comes from nitpicker: someone who finds a reason to pass on nearly every hand.
How do you beat a nit?
Attack their blinds relentlessly, because they fold far too often to defend, and give up the moment they show aggression, because they are not bluffing. Do not try to bluff a nit off a hand they have already called with, and do not value-bet thin against their river calls.
Is playing like a nit bad?
It loses slowly rather than quickly. A nit's range is so readable that their strong hands stop getting paid, and the blinds keep coming around whether they play or not — at six-handed that is a blind and a half every orbit, which a premium-only range cannot win back.