No Limits Hold Em
Limit hold'em. There, I said it, and the world didn't fall apart.
Poker: Texas Hold'em (No Limit) By Masque Publishing. Play two face down cards and the five community cards. Bet any amount or go all-in. Your Gaming History. No-limit hold'em pot odds calculations are generally of the form 'I'm getting 2-to-1' (or 2.5-to-1 or 3-to-1) — numbers of that magnitude. Limit hold'em routinely offers prices like 10-to-1, 15.
I know that among a certain subset of the poker community, it's quite fashionable to treat fixed-limit hold'em as something like a polyester suit — it was fine a generation ago, but now is part of the past.
Is it just because you can't shove all in? Because you have to earn your money one pot at a time rather than in a couple of massive double-ups? Because you basically always have to play four streets of poker?
And there's this thing about profit — sometimes it's fun to make money at poker without working hard at it. That brings me to my story.
I was at a casino recently and thought I'd sit down and play a little poker. Wander into the poker room and they've got a game going.
Me: 'You got a seat?'
Room manager: 'Yes sir. $3/$6 limit hold'em. Are you familiar with that?'
Me: 'Yeah, I played it a time or two.'
Room manager: 'How many chips would you like?'
I sat down and built up my five perfect stacks of $1 chips. Unlike no-limit, with all its mixing and matching of colors, a good limit game has exactly one color chip in action. Everything's easier. But I digress.
Folks, as I watched and played this game, I realized I was seeing something that I hadn't seen in years — the most honest, transparent game of poker imaginable. They all limped in so they could hit a flop. If you raised, they called, because they wanted to see the flop. After that, they checked and called if they thought they weren't drawing dead. If they bet, my goodness, they were beating top-top and you simply had to evaluate your chances against a Very Good Hand.
A check-raise promised at least two pair. It was never on a king-high board, it was never a draw — it was the goods.
Furthermore, the average pot I played was far bigger than the average pot that I play in a $1/$2 no-limit game. That's because I'd raise after a handful of limpers, they'd all call, and we'd be off to the races.
And race it was, because when you make it $6 to go with after three limpers and they all call, you have to drag your kings through a minefield. But I'll tell you what — they stand up way more than their share of the time, and when they do, you drag a two-scoop pot.
And if you hit a Real Hand, with two (or three or four) people all calling a couple of big bets on the turn and river ('I have to call — look at the size of the pot'), then you've got a three-scooper and it's as big as any pot you see every 45-60 minutes in a $1/$2 no-limit game.
I'm telling you, sometimes it's fun to play poker without the giant peaks and valleys of unlimited betting. You just bang your bets out there when you have the best hand and hope it holds. You call when you have the right price to draw, which is almost always.
And friends, you pay attention when they bet, and don't play head games with yourself. Because I promise you that in that game, and ones like it, when they bet or raise, they mean exactly what they're saying, and in fact, it's usually an understatement.
Limit Hold'em Strategy
Your no-limit instincts will generally keep you in good shape when playing limit hold'em, as long as you remember pot odds. That specifically means:
- You are never getting anybody off a decent hand, nor should you try. Furthermore, it's not correct for anybody to give up a 'decent' hand when they can get to a showdown for a relatively low price. So don't try to 'represent' a hand better than top pair and think they're going to fold top pair.
- No-limit hold'em pot odds calculations are generally of the form 'I'm getting 2-to-1' (or 2.5-to-1 or 3-to-1) — numbers of that magnitude. Limit hold'em routinely offers prices like 10-to-1, 15-to-1 or even 20-to-1. At that price, you can do a lot more gambling — be sure to take that into account.
- Please don't make hero folds on the river with a decent hand in a big pot. Throw your last one big bet out there with the anticipation of saying 'Nice hand, sir/ma'am.' People are bad at estimating small probabilities; trying to decide if you're better or worse than 19-to-1 against is not most people's strong suit.
One of the beauties of poker is the variety of forms and fashions it offers. If you can play limit hold'em, sometimes you'll have the opportunity to make good money playing a fun game against transparent, honest, but eminently fun and enjoyable opponents. Our game is rarely better than that.
NB: With the Spring Championship of Online Poker coming up at PokerStars, you'll have ample opportunity to flex your limit hold'em muscles. Your SCOOP opponents won't be as honest or transparent as my friends at this small casino, but many of the same principles apply — and you might find you really enjoy the game.
Lee Jones first joined PokerStars in 2003 and has been involved in the professional poker world for over 30 years. You can read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones.
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Full Tilt
If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?
Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.
I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.
I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.
Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.
Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.
In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.
For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.
Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.
This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.
So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.
Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.
It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.
Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.
No Limit Hold Em Strategy Pdf
The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.
The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.
In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.
Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.
Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.
Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.
Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).
Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.
Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)
If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.
No Limit Hold'em Calculator
Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.
I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)
Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠
Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.