Moving From No Limit To Limit

I couldn't believe it when I heard it. The guy who runs the home game I usually play in decided to spread a game of limit Hold 'em, and ten of us sat down to game of 4-8 with a half kill. As the table talk started, I soon discovered that only three of us had ever played any serious limit Hold 'em. The rest were exclusively no limit players, and all but one or two of them went home losers.

Only a few years ago, it was assumed that when you said "Texas Hold 'em," you meant "limit Texas Hold 'em." (Back then, we called it "Texas Hold 'em" to distinguish it from "Omaha Hold 'em." Now it's either "Hold 'em" or "Omaha," but not both.) The better limit players would sometimes play in tournaments, which were generally no limit. But nobody would ever dream of starting their poker journey with no limit. They'd have to be a few candles short of a birthday cake. But not anymore.

With so many players developing an interest in poker from watching tournaments on TV, lots of players are coming into the game knowing only no limit. These players don't want to play for structured limits. They want to play big bet poker. They want to slow play their monsters. They want to go all in on a bluff, and then show it to everyone at the table. ("Do you know what I'm sayin'?") And they want to beat players with their guts, rather than their cards.

So, when a limit game breaks out, either at a home game or at a casino, these players are not prepared for the differences between no limit and limit Hold 'em. If you are one of those players, and you've ever found yourself in such a game, you have probably found it frustrating. Maybe you've been outdrawn on the river a few times, or had your aces cracked by 10-J or pocket eight's. Maybe your preflop cutoff raise had six callers, or your check-raise bluff got called on the river by the second pair. You've vowed to give up limit hold 'em for good, since you cannot believe that anyone could make any money at it.

But the fact is, people do make money at limit, and more pros play more limit than no limit, even now. They understand that limit is a different game, with different moves and requirements. If you are a no limit player who wants to exploit the differences, rather than fall victim of them, this is the article for you. Here are some things to think about:

You'll Have To Show Your Winners

In limit poker, especially low limits where there are lots of callers, bluffs don't work nearly as often. The reason for this is that in limit poker, your bets have to be so small that your opponents will have the odds to call you, even if they don't have the best hand. If you're heads-up in a raised pot with A-K, and the flop comes down 9-8-2, you can toss in a pot-sized bet and probably take it down if your opponent hasn't hit. Not so in limit poker. First of all, you probably won't be heads up on the flop. There will likely be at least two or three others in there with you, even in a raised pot. Secondly, the chances of none of them having a nine or a straight draw are not nearly as good, since low-limit players will limp in with nearly anything. Finally, even if nobody hit, somebody might call you with just two overs, thinking that they already have two or three bets in the pot, what's one more?

There is a situation where I like to bluff, and that is where the flop is checked around to the last player, who bets. Sometimes, I like to check-raise here, thinking that the bettor is making a move on the pot by betting. If I raise, I can usually get everyone to fold, either on the flop or on the turn. But otherwise, a single bet or raise is not usually enough to make bluffing viable, especially late in the hand.

Bad Beats Are Going To Come

Bad beats are a part of poker, and the sooner you accept that you're going to get your share, the better off you'll be. But the bad news is that in limit, there are more of them. In the average low limit game, for example, the chances of winning with pocket Aces are less than 50%. In a no-fold 'em situation, the chances are only 31%. So if you are expecting your aces to hold up, and if you get cheesed off when they don't, you will have a frustrating session playing limit.

But remember that it goes both ways too. You cannot protect a good starting hand in limit, but neither can your opponents. Everyone will get pocket aces, kings and queens with the same regularity, and everyone will get them cracked with the same regularity. In fact, one of the things that separates good limit players from bad ones is the ability to know when you're big starting hand is beaten, and throw those pocket pairs into the muck.

Know Your Drawing Odds

This is a skill that even regular limit players cannot seem to master. When drawing to a straight or a flush on the flop or the turn, know how much there has to be in the pot in order to make your draw profitable. With a flush draw, you have nine outs, so you need at least five bets in the pot in order to call one. With an open-ended straight draw, you have eight outs, so you need almost six bets in the pot to call one. With an inside straight draw and two overs, you have ten outs, so you need 4.7 bets in the pot to call one. If the pot isn't big enough to call a draw, then don't. The small pots you win won't pay back the bets that you will lose.

But usually you will get the odds that you need. And so will your opponents. With an ace in your hand and an ace on the board, you may wonder why there are four players seeing the turn. After all, they can't all have an ace, right? Well, the others are in it for the draws, and by betting, you are making their calls mathematically sound. (Not that you shouldn't bet. Giving the drawing hands a free card is like leaving the keys in you car at the ballpark.)

In limit, there's no way to avoid these guys drawing out on you. Just keep in mind that the cards come both ways.

Kickers Matter

With more players in the pot, every flop is likely to leave somebody with top pair. If the top pair is Aces, Kings, Queens, or even Jacks, it is likely that there are two or three of you with top pair. And who breaks ties? The Rockettes, that's who. If you have K-8, and the flop come K-7-2, you can bet. But if you get a caller, you might very well be beaten. You are better off checking here, and see if anyone else likes their hand. Of course, your best move would have been not to have played K-8 in the first place.

Another thing you have to watch out for in limit hold 'em is the check around. Normally, when it is checked around, it means that nobody has top pair or better. But there may be somebody lurking out there with top pair and a weak kicker, who will call you down and trap you if you try to bet your second pair on the turn. I used to lose money consistently in this scenario. I don't anymore, and neither should you.

The lesson here is that if kickers matter, you should only be seeing the flop with two big cards (or suited connectors or suited aces). Big-little is a loser, and the more you play these, the more they will lose for you. Stay away from them whenever possible.

Slow Play Only In Fast Company

One of the most useful moves in no limit is the slow play. To hide out in Checksville and let your opponent build up a pot trying to push you out. Then you push back on the river with a pot-sided bet. It's a thing of beauty when it works. But in limit, there's no pot-sized bet at the end. There's a bet, sure, and if you are in position, you might be able to push in a raise. But there's no big payoff for all of that risky slow playing, except for the satisfaction of seeing the look on your opponents face when you show him your cards. But you cannot spend that look; you can only spend the chips you get from him. In limit hold 'em, good players make money on every street, not just on seventh.

There is slow-playing in limit poker, but it is not as useful as in no limit. I will slow play if somebody else is raising for me, or if there are lots of callers and I believe that they are drawing dead to me. I might also slow play on just the flop, and put in my raise on the turn after the limits double. In this case, I will lose surprisingly few callers. But I'll rarely slow play two pair or trips to the river if there's a straight draw or flush draw out there. To me, that's like giving away free cards.

If You've Got A Chance, You've Got To Call

Finally, there is the question of calling the river when you think you might be beaten. In no limit, this is usually a no-no, unless your opponent makes it cheap for you. (And even then, you might be better off raising than calling.) But in limit holdem, when your final bet is a fraction of the size of the pot, calling even if you don't believe that you have the best of it is often mathematically wise.

When I teach new players to play poker, I focus carefully on the first two rounds of betting. I make sure my players know exactly what hands to call and raise with before and on the flop. Then, for the last two rounds of betting, I leave them alone. The reason is, if you've gotten to the turn with a the best hand or a decent draw, there are much fewer bad calls on the turn and especially on the river. By this point, the pot is normally so big that folding is going to cost you more than calling most of the time.

When you are deciding whether to call a river bet, or raise, don't think to yourself, "do I have the best hand," but "what are the chances that I have the best hand?" Count up the bets in the pot, and make that your guide. If you think that you have one chance in three of winning the pot, and there are ten big bets in there, then yours is an easy call. The benefit of being right far outweighs the price of being wrong.

But be realistic here. If you missed all of your draws, your chances of winning are zero. If you have a two pair and the fourth diamond comes on the river, your chances of winning are zero. Don't use the money in the pot to justify Hail Mary calls. But you can make marginal calls when there is enough in the middle to justify it.

I certainly don't recommend that anybody start playing poker with no limit hold 'em. If you're new to poker, I strongly advise you to start with low limits and move over to no limit when your limit game is consistently profitable. Read Lee Jones' book on Winning Low Limit Hold 'em, and the articles by Rune Hansen on ThePokerForum.com. But if you've already made the mistake of trying to run before you can walk, there's no reason not to play in a good limit game. There is a lot of money to be made there. You just have to know how to get it.

© The Poker Forum.com, all rights reserved