In Limit Hold'em, it's crucial to understand the importance of a single bet, and how the bet affects you and your long-term results.
Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make is that they play far too many hands. When you're just starting out playing poker, you want to play poker, and that means staying in hands that aren't very good just to be part of the action. Despite having way-the-best hand, we’re only going to win 36% of the time. Isn’t limit poker fun? So in a way he bluffed them with the best hand. And that’s great! Fixed Limit-ed Opportunities. A lot of limit players tend to play extremely straightforward and predictable, failing to take advantage of situations that will earn them extra bets. A lot of limit hold’em players will limp in pre-flop rather than raise. If you’re in a passive game and have a hand like J-Ts then you might want to limp because you’re looking to get as many people into the pot with you as possible in anticipation of flopping a big hand like a straight or flush—and making money from a large number of.
- Here are some painful lessons from the bottom end of the poker food chain: low stakes, fixed-limit hold'em. Last time I discussed some of the reasons I enjoy low limit hold'em (i.e, $4/$8.
- Spread limit games are similar to fixed limit poker. You’ll have a range or spread – say $2 to $5 – that you can choose from for your bets and raises. It’s not a popular betting limit, based on the fact that we don’t see it online (much) and when you Google the phrase the results are scarce. But these games do run.
Players who primarily understand No-Limit online poker may completely miss out on the concept of how important a single big bet is in Limit poker.
In a game of No-Limit, playing 200+ big blinds deep, a single big bet is relatively insignificant to the total amount of chips at risk to be gained or lost.
No-Limit is a game of outplaying your opponent - maximizing your wins, minimizing your losses. You play for stacks, and look for opportunities to put your opponent to a decision for all of his chips.
In Limit Hold'em poker you play the fine odds and work at exploiting the meager statistical advantages.
Your Goal in Limit Hold'em Poker
Your goal in the long run is to win in the neighborhood of between one and three big bets per hour at the game you play. With an impressive margin of victory being so scant, your game has to be consistent, vigilant and mathematically sound.
For every one bet you give up due to a mistake, you must win two back before seeing a profit. That means every error you commit makes it twice as difficult to make money at the game. A poorly played hand in No-Limit can cost you your entire stack, while a well-played hand can double up your stack.
A poorly played hand in Limit can equate to losing multiple bets. If you're playing on a win rate of one bet per hour, this single misplayed hand can cost you multiple hours of your time. Working half a session for free is never a good time.
The Turn in Limit Holdem is Crucial
With the turn and river betting rounds using the higher betting limit, these betting rounds become the most valuable rounds in a Limit Hold'em game. A single bet on the turn is equal to two bets on the flop; this obvious information becomes valuable when figuring how to play your hand.
For simplicity's sake, let's say you're first in position and flop the absolute, un-counterfeitable nuts. Your only goal in this hand is to build as large a pot as possible. You're heads-up, and your opponent has bet out the flop probably with a pair, or a hand strong enough to want to see the river.
Your opponent is good enough that once you raise he will have an idea that you may have something strong. You are as sure as you can be that after you raise your opponent will shut down into check-call mode. To make the most money, you want to hold out until the turn to make your raise.
Here's a chart of total bets made from raising the flop and having your opponent check-call you to showdown afterward:
| Street | Total Big Bets from Both Players |
| Flop | 2 |
| Turn | 2 |
| River | 2 |
Total Bets: 6
In the same scenario, you call your opponent's flop bet, and raise them on the turn. They call, and check-call the river:
| Street | Total Big Bets from Both Players |
| Flop | 1 |
| Turn | 4 |
| River | 2 |
Total Bets: 7
By waiting until the turn to make your single raise, you've gained yourself one full big bet. As you can see in the following chart, waiting to raise until the river yields the same result as the turn:
| Street | Total Big Bets from Both Players |
| Flop | 1 |
| Turn | 2 |
| River | 4 |
Total Bets: 7
The obvious advantage to making the raise on the turn is forcing your opponent to pay more to see a river. Since it's rare to have a hand on the flop or turn that's impossible to beat, letting your opponent see a free or cheap river is not always in your best interest.
How to 3-Bet in Limit Holdem
If your goal in every hand of Limit Hold'em is to maximize your big bets, it's important to take a look at three-betting. Just as waiting until the turn to raise makes you money, so does three-betting. The difference is that the increase in betting size geometrically increases the difference in big bets, depending on when you make the move.
In this first chart you're three-betting the flop, assuming that you're out of position, open betting and being raised. As soon as you three-bet, your opponent stops raising, and only calls from that point on.
| Street | Total Big Bets from Both Players |
| Flop | 3 |
| Turn | 2 |
| River | 2 |
Total Bets: 7
As you can see, three-betting the flop only earned you the same amount of money as a simple raise on the turn would have. You now have a much more aggressive player sitting across from you, but you're not making any more money. Waiting until the turn solves that problem:
| Street | Total Big Bets from Both Players |
| Flop | 2 |
| Turn | 6 |
| River | 2 |
Total Bets: 10
By waiting until the turn to three-bet, you've earned three more big bets than you would have had you three-bet the flop. It's the little differences like this that allow good poker players to be consistent winners in Limit games.
The difficulty with Limit poker is finding the line in maximizing your big-bet winnings, while reducing the odds of your opponents' drawing against you. Pumping a pot in a manner which gives your opponent better odds hurts you more than it helps you.
You need to understand the goal of your opponent before you can formulate a plan to reach your own goals. Always remember that even though a single bet seems insignificant, it should never be bet or called away mindlessly. You need to make every play for a reason, and focus on conserving your losses. Every dollar saved is a dollar earned.
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Poker has a lot of variations and continues to be a major poker game up to date. Plenty of people don’t seem to comprehend the diversity and flexibility of the game. From cash games to tournaments, poker can also go with no limit, with a pot limit and a fixed limit. There is also an option presented to players from other countries to play online or even live. Playing live games can either take place in a casino or just at the player’s very own home.
With every type of poker game, comes an individual set of strategies that entail intricate techniques per game. This justifies the reason as to why a few professional cash game players play badly in actual tournaments. Simultaneously, there are also online poker players who earn billions per year but can also go broke once they play live in online casinos like w88.
Contrasting Limit and No Limit Poker
Playing with (Fixed) Limit and Pot Limit
When it comes to technique, there are several differences when playing with limit, no limit, or with pot limit. Understanding math principles are important when playing poker with limit. There is a correct and incorrect play for most hands. Playing poker with pot odds and understanding tfhe risk over rewards will only make a small amount of money at every bet, but will gradually concur them more wins in a long-term duration.
Playing with No Limit
There is no definite zone when playing a proper game of no limit poker. Poker with no limit is more or less based on your opponent’s reaction to each hand you raise. Considering the fluctuations that go with every play, variety in technique and approach will net you the maximum amount of money. When you get to a point where you flopped a boat, consider the following questions.
- Do you bet? (If so, what percentage of the pot?)
- Will you consider check-raising?
- Do you check-call?
- Will you check and wait for a later street to bet?
- Do you raise the person in front of you?
- Do you slow play the person right in front of you with a flat call?
- Will you make a completely different and unexpected move?
There is no definite move to answer these questions. It will all depend on the way your opponents will deal. Ensuring that you understand your opponent’s reactions is utmost vital in the pursuit of maximizing your wins in a poker game with no limit.
Implied Odds
This is known as the risk you make on an individual action against what you might be able to make on a hand. Implied odds differ between limit and no limit poker games. Limit decisions are constructed from the idea of the single bet’s risk to the return size of the pot (pot odds). The exact amount you and your opponent are betting is present in limit, but not as quite in no limit poker games.
Poker players must be instinctive and be able to recognize whether a draw will have a huge return or no return whatsoever. Say, you hit your flush card on the river after calling a $20.00 bet on the turn, will you be able to convince your opponent to invest more? A low percentage draw may be the result of standing to claim your opponent’s whole stack.
This can either be a good or bad gain depending on the kind of player your opponent is. If your opponent is the kind who is willing to fold a good hand to any flush card, then take advantage. Bet the river anytime a flush is possible, even if you really don’t have it. It’s all about the presumption of their move.
Fixed Limit Poker Reddit Sites
Take Advantage
It is a known fact that there are players who can keep a straight poker face. They are known to make it hard for you to predict their hand. Although, there are dense and mediocre poker players as well. There are opponents who may be new to poker. They are the ones who don’t fully understand the dos and don’ts of the game yet. Since they probably won’t know that having three flush cards can be unsafe, it is easy to exploit their lack of know-how.
In limit, such mistakes can usually cost a player one or two big bets. With no limit, it is riskier since the player may lose their whole stack at once. Thus, comprehending your opponent’s weaknesses can give you an edge in the perilous game of Texas Hold’em.
Limit or No Limit, It’s Still A Community Poker Game
In a nutshell, limit and no limit either makes or breaks you as a poker player. When it comes to playing with limit, remember that it is a game about showdowns. Every move you make must be strategic, no matter how long it may take to progress.
The goal is to make well-executed and positive long-term moves. No limit is the complete opposite where huge sums of money is generated by never shutting down. It is possible to manipulate your opponent’s actions by assessing their points of weakness.
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