| Limit Hold Em| Cash |
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Limit Poker is strictly for the patient player. However, if you have ever seen a limit table in action it might look more like “no foldem holdem”. Although these are tables that you want to look for when figuring out where to sit down, “no foldem holdem” eventually becomes just “no holdem” meaning you are left with no chips if you follow the crowd with loose play. Limit is a game where you don’t have to worry about a player putting you to a decision for all your chips in one hand. On the other hand it does require great patience and being able to analytically calculate pot odds constantly while playing the right hands in the right positions to be profitable in Limit Poker. Bank Roll Since you can’t go broke on any one hand why do you need to be concerned with bank roll management? Well, as in any game of poker there are swings that a poker player will go through, even the most stout poker player. If you play correctly, you can win most of the time but there still are times that the odds don’t play into your favor and a dent is put into your chip stack’s armor. This is why you should have at least 300 times the big blind. This means if the blinds are $.50sb/bb1.00, your bank roll should be $300 or more. Table Selection When selecting a table it is important that you look for live tables, those that exhibit large pots starting with pre-flop betting. This means that you need to look for tables where the average pot size won is at least 6 times the big blind to make it worth your while. Hand Selection/Betting (refer to our Hand Rank article for this discussion) When sitting down at a Limit Texas Holdem table it is important to remember to play tight/aggressive. Play and raising with hands from Group 1 is recommended with one exception. Even though it isn’t recommended to slow play AA in no-limit, it is recommended play AA slowly in early position while playing limit to maximize pot earning potential. If you raise with AA in early position and continue to do so after the flop you hand will be too suspicious that of which it is … you having a monster. If you are in middle or late position it is recommended to raise with AA. (for other Group Hand Holdings refer to our Hand Rank article) Make sure that you are always calculating pot odds. Sometimes it is worth chasing that flush draw and sometimes it isn’t. For example, you have a flush draw with 78d’s on the flop and a player raises in front of you. You call and a player in back of you re-raises. The player that was in front of you then re-raises for a third raise. In this case you should fold. There are two very important reasons for this. Your flush draw in this situation has a good chance of not being any good even if you hit. And even if it is, if you don’t hit on the turn the same sequence of raises and re-raises are bound to come forcing you to invest more than what is considered to be a correctly calculated pot odds investment. (refer to our pot odds article for more info on this subject) With that being said in Limit Poker flushes do pay dividends when pots are taken down from hitting them. This is providing that you have the best flush hand and the right amount of pot odds allowed you stay in the hand should you not have hit on the flop. It is also for this reason that we recommend you playing AX suited if you are able to invest minimally. However, if the board shows a pair draw cautiously for your Ace high flush could be trumped by a full house. Don’t bother stone cold bluffing nor chasing gut shot draws. Both of these practices land more limit poker players on the rail than anything else. Remember, if you have a hand bet it. If you don’t…don’t bet! Of course there is an exception to this bluffing rule. Semi-bluffing, for example, if you have a straight draw with a flush draw it is recommended to raise or even re-raise bets placed in this situation. The reason is that it builds pot value if you hit. Make sure that you don’t make the same bets in the same positions every time. You don’t want to be predictable especially when sitting down on a table for a long extended time. For the example, from the above mentioned when you are given AA. Maybe the first time you get this hand you limp in early position with it and then later you raise in the same position or vice versa. The same goes for semi-bluffing. Don’t semi-bluff every time you get a straight draw or flush draw. |