Play style

NIT in Poker: Strategy, Stats & When to Use It

The definition, with context from real hands and how it connects to the rest of your strategy.

Quick answer

NIT: An extremely tight player who only enters pots with premium hands, around 10-14% of them.

In more detail

Nits exist at every stake. Their tells: fold instantly preflop, never bluff, only reraise with the very top of their range. The style is safe rather than strong: it loses very little, and good players simply stop paying it off.

Common questions

What does NIT mean in poker?

Nits exist at every stake. Their tells: fold instantly preflop, never bluff, only reraise with the very top of their range. The style is safe rather than strong: it loses very little, and good players simply stop paying it off.

Related terms

LAG
Loose-Aggressive: playing many hands, around 25-32%, and betting them hard.
TAG
Tight-Aggressive: playing few hands, around 18-22%, but betting and raising hard with them.
Small Ball
Playing many pots with small bets rather than few pots with big ones.

New to poker? Start with our preflop strategy guide and the free TAG cheatsheet.