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192873645 · High Card Joined: 17 May 2006 Posts: 1

I wanted to give some insight on the key difference between limit and No limit. First in Nl games, the nature of the implied odds allows players to play a much wider selection of hands. NL games can often offer 10, 20, 50: 1 odds on certain situations, while Limit games are limited in this manner. for example, a hand like 67s can pay huge when making a set, two pair, flush or straight when up against a premium hand like AA or KK. this gives a particularily large edge to those players with good reading abilities, able to read there opponents for these huge hands and bet/raise accordingly. eg: the flop comes x67 and you are almost certain that your opponent has a large pair like AA. a smart player can lead out, almost guaranteeing a re-reraise, trapping opponents for a large or entire portion of their chips. a common misconception in these circumstances is that a slow play is the right move, when in actuality, leading out at the pot is a much more deceptive and powerfull move then waiting to make a big raise on the turn, which telegraphs your holdings and allows your oponent the opportunity to make a disciplined laydown later in the hand.

this concept is harder to apply in most Limit situations, as the potential for taking large bites out of the oponents stack are limited, and pots are rarely laying you these huge implied odds. this is certainly the case in tight games, and even more limited in tight passive circumstances where small pots are played against one or two oponents. in these games pot odds are also limited, creating circumstances where tight play is needed shuting out the profitability of drawing hands. this tight play is wining in all games, but is not ideal in all situations. In limit games where play is looser, some of the same concepts can be applied as in the NL situation described above. your preflop hand selection should become dictated by the number of opponents seeing the flop, and as the numbers increase, so too do both the pot odds and the implied odds. a common misconception is that in these games one should only loosen up in the proper position once three or four limpers have come into the pot. this notion is false on two accounts. first, it does not matter whether or not the action is one, two, three bets or capped. your decisions should reflect the number of opponents in the pot rather then the money to see the flop. the odds remain the same in all cases. this is a key adjustment, and realy helped me to take my game to a new level once i gained the confidence to call with 78s for three bets cold after four opponents. this is also a very profitable situation due to a rarely covered concept refered to as card bunching. once three to four players have come into the pot for bet, raise, reraise and cap, there cards are bound to be somewhat overlapped. this limits there abiity to improve their hands to sets, and straights. how many times have you been in a rasing war preflop, only to see two players turn over AK, and one turn kk? this makes 89s a very profitable situation, leaving you more "real" outs in the deck and skyrocketing your implied odds when you hit that two pair straight or flush. proper bankroll management helps with this, as you become less afraid to commit these chips in key situations. i cant count the number of times that this kind of play has worked wonders for me both wining me HUGE pots and tilting my opponents screaming "how could you come into the pot with a hand like that for three bets" when the decision is bang on for various reasons and leaves me chuckling at my desk and heading for the cashout area with their money. another BIG misconception in loose low limit holdem is that this kind of play is limited to the back positions. if you have seen six players per hand for the last two hours, what makes you think the next hand will be any different? go ahead, limp with those connectors from midle position and see a flop for the likely 6:1 and make an easy laydown on the flop, or punish your loose opponents calling you to the river with middle pair when you have the stone cold nuts. but remember to play those top pairs with no kicker with caution, they can burn you!

keep this differences in mind and always play a dynamic game. also, take this with a grain of salt, as good solid tight play is going to get the money 90% of the time, just make a few adjustments when you find yourself in a loose limit game.

cheers,

192873645

Pokit2s · Message Board Junkie Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 1261

I highly recommend "Winning Low Limit Holdem" by Sklansky and Miller. It is amazing how much strategy is involved in beating the microlimits. A word of caution though. Although this book is geared toward low limit players, it is an extremely advanced read. Unless you are planning on playing limits like 10/20 or larger, I would recommend using this book and only this book as your Limit Holdem bible.

Riddim · Moderator Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 8145 Location: Sweden

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