How Nits SAVE Your Money 💸🐢
A nit is a person who will do everything to save you from losing your money to him and I mean it.
Resorts World Casino, Manila
1-2 blinds, 9-handed, I have 130bb and “The Nit” has me covered.
The cutoff limps (facepalm), the Nit calls on the button (facepalm), the small blind completes and I make it 7x from the big bind with A❤️K♣️.
The cutoff folds (facepalm), the button and the small blind both call.
Flop comes K❤️Q♦️2♣️.
The small blind, who is a recreational player from California, donks for 14 big blinds and that does not worry me too much.
He’d never overcall two limps and then overcall a squeeze with QQ+ and is not bad enough to have K2s or Q2s, besides there aren’t many combos of that left given the suits. Yes, he would occasionally have KQ or 22 here, but apart from that his donking-into-two-people range might consist of any queen, any king and any draw, and not only a strong one like J-10, by the way.
I am way ahead of him most of the time and hold one of his straight outs, so there is no point of raising him off his silly hand. I have the local straightforward nit left to act behind me and although, in his case as well, as it played out I am only realistically beat by KQ and 22, it’s good to see what he does (he’d fold a queen, call with just a king and raise with better).
Somehow, a nit shoves and the donk instafolds, which confirms my idea, that he was leading with something totally ridiculous. Even if he folded J-10 (which would be way too dumb, given the SPR), he‘d at least have considered his options.
Now the decision is on me.
Firstly, the local nits don’t bluff all-in. Especially into two people. Even more, when there was a preflop squeeze, then somebody lead into the raiser and a caller, living himself less than a pot-sized bet left behind, and a squeezer, a player with solid table image, called.
Secondly, on this rainbow board the only possible bluff hand is J-10. If the donk did not have it, the nit could have had it, but then what would he think we have? Him holding the J-10 would decrease a chance that the Californian rec donked with a draw, which leaves him with value hands that would ship the remaining 40bb in. Then there is me, having 100bb behind with a hand, that looks exactly like AK or AA.
I agonize for a minute, give him a credit for exactly KQ here and fold face-up.
“If you did that with J-10, congratulations, but I doubt it was the case”
Manila is an amazing place, where if you show, they show. A nit turns over a Queen and a minute later admits it was exactly King-Queen, and he was hoping I would call with aces. He probably put a donk on J-10 too, but to his disappointment the donk only had AJ and led into two people with a gutshot and an overcard 🤡
“I wanted to push her off the hand”, explained the Californian.
Yeah, and the button would also run away scared even if he hit.
Ok, let’s leave the donk alone and talk about the nit, who clearly missed value by his stupid huge shove, that looked like an nothing else but a VIP invitation to the Valuetown.
He did not give me enough credit for being able to fold one pair hand, which is probably because I am blonde. All right, let’s imagine any player, perceived as remotely capable of making a big laydown, sting in my shoes. Oh, maybe not in my shoes because they had high heels.
This was a perfect spot to slowplay. A donk would not fold an open-ender anyway and my hand seems to be holding at least one of his outs.
Had a nit overcalled, his hand would be heavily underrepresented and I’d believe he has a king with worse kicker. Imagine, that on a blank turn a donk bets small - or even shoves 40bb into 65bb - can I possibly fold? Imagine that a donk checks - would I not bet my top pair-top kicker for value?
A nit could have sandwiched me into a perfect trap, but lucky enough his only play was “All-in with the nuts”.
What would I do with aces, by the way? Only throw up in agony for a little longer before I fold. AK was not possible given his preflop line, and that would be the only value hand I beat, and my point remains that he’d never bluff all-in given the remaining stack size of a donk, likelyhood of him having an open-ender, and the strength I have shown.
CONCLUSION
Many people hate the nits, but I love them.
They will never 3-bet you light and spoil your happy loose living and bum-hunting at the table.
They will never bluff you off your top pair or rebluff your bluff.
They will fold to your bluff if it makes sense and they don’t have a huge hand themselves.
They play in such a way, that you should not be making any big mistakes against them if you just use your brain a little bit.
If they shove, the only option other than folding is instafolding.