Limit Hold Em

In Limit Hold ’em, you can oNo-Limity raise the amount of the big blind and most cardrooms and oNo-Limitine poker rooms will cap the betting at 3 raises. In No-Limit Hold ’em, the oNo-Limity betting rule is that the minimum be at least the size of the big blind. Limit Hold’em is a tough battle because you have to strive and fight for every big bet you win. Don’t handicap yourself through ignorance – read through the articles below to give yourself the best possible chance of prevailing against the other players. Featured Limit Hold’em Articles.

• Limit Hold'em Starting Hands
• Limit Hold Em Strategy

Fundamentals of Poker - Limit Texas Hold'emMason MalmuthTwo Plus Two Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 12

• General Guidelines
• Seven Card Stud
• Limit Texas Hold'em

Limit Texas hold ’em is deceptive. It appears easy to play, yet beneath that simple facade lies a game of extraordinary complexity. Many variables must be considered when making decisions, and figuring out the correct play is often difficult. So before we discuss specific hands and how they generally should be played, here are some tips that will help you determine the best course of action.

Know what the best possible hand is and how likely it is to be out.

With certain upcards, the potential for many different strong hands increases. With other upcards, however, the number of combinations is dramatically reduced. For example, if the board is the

no one can have a straight, a flush, or a full house. The best possible hand is three kings.

Whether someone is holding the best possible hand, which in the poker vernacular is referred to as “the nuts,” frequently can be determined by the number of players in the pot and the previous action. The more players there are and the more betting and raising that have taken place, the more likely it is that one of your opponents has the nuts.

Recognize when you hold the best possible hand.

Although this tip is actually a continuation of the one just given, its importance is such that it rates a separate listing. If you have the nuts and fail to recognize it, you will miss betting and raising opportunities which in turn will cost you money. And thinking you have the best possible hand when you don’t can be even more expensive. However, by paying close attention to the board, you will avoid making these costly errors.

As an example, if the board is the

and you hold ace-king, you can’t be beat. You therefore should get as much money as possible into the pot. But if the board shows the 3[diamond] instead of the 3[spade], you can lose to a flush and should proceed with caution.

Position is significant.

Texas hold ’em is known as a fixed-position game as opposed to a random-position game. In other words, the order in which the players act each round is predetermined, rather than determined by the strength of the exposed cards as it is in stud. We have already noted the advantage of acting last in poker. This means that you should be more selective of the hands you play in early position than of those you play in late position.

Don’t overrate suited hands.

Having two cards of the same suit definitely makes your hand better, but many beginning players tend to overrate the value of suited cards. In short, a hand like ten-six almost always should be thrown away, whether it’s suited or not.

High cards are much better than low cards.

Limit Hold'em Starting Hands

It’s just as easy to make a pair when you have high cards as it is when you have low cards. If you hold the

your opponent has the

and both of you flop a pair, you have the better hand. Thus, you would prefer to have your hand made up of big cards.

Many people have been discussing the relative merits of Limit Hold’em recently with regards to it being a “solved game”. There is no other form of poker that relies so heavily on statistics and mathematics than Limit Hold’em. But while it is a game that can in theory be “solved,” we are certainly a long way from the day when vast numbers of players are going to take the time to do so.

The use of tracking software has also taken us a gigantic step closer to achieving perfection and in Limit Hold’em, there are computer programs that are available now that can play a very powerful game indeed. This has been proven by the latest man vs. machine encounters over the past couple of years or so.

Limit Hold Em Strategy

So just how do you go about playing a very strong game of limit? Well first and foremost you need to do an awful lot of work and study, and taking advantage of a good training site with top class Limit players as the tutors will be a gigantic start.

In Limit Hold’em it is possible to construct generic ranges from all positions, which can be accurately moulded around the actions of every single opponent. For instance if you are in the big blind and the cut-off open raises, depending on the rate at which this player makes this action from this position in this situation then you can start to compile a range to play with against your opponent’s range. Once you have enough reliable data on your opponent (I use Poker Office as my software of choice) then you can begin the process of compiling your default range against them.

Software like Poker Stove can be of immense help here, as it can assist us in calculating the equity of every hand that we hold against the likely range of our opponent. So if for instance the player in the cut-off is a solid player, we can look at typical ranges for players in that position who are solid and see with what percentage of their range they are open-raising.

There will be minor differences among players, but solid players tend not to be too dissimilar from each other. Once we know their basic range, calculating our own range to play effectively against theirs is a lot simpler. Note: it actually gets far more involved than this, as a player’s own individual post-flop skill and tendencies impact on your range substantially.

But once you have your default range in place then you can begin to fit the rest of your game around that and make any necessary adjustments that need to be made. This in principle is the same as basic strategy in the game of blackjack. Most of the time you are following this basic strategy but there will come a time where it is correct to deviate and to do something else – these are referred to as “strategy deviations”.

Of course, solid players will have different ranges than loose-aggressive players or tight players for example, but a player’s VPIP (Voluntarily Put Into Pot) and PFA (Post-Flop Aggression) will dictate what type of player they are anyway with reasonable accuracy.

If you begin to understand the likely ranges of your opponents and what range you need in place to combat that, and then couple this with a sound post-flop game, you will see why certain people think that Limit Hold’em is close to being solved.

I also think that as you move up through the levels in Limit Hold’em, game selection becomes crucial probably more than in any other poker variation. The value in Limit games above $20-$40 is becoming less and less, and many players at the higher limits are multi-tabling at lower levels in an effort to increase it.

There will always be weaker players with money dropping into these games: maybe they won big in some large online tournament and have a large amount in their account, maybe the site is attached to a sportsbook and has the facility to allow large sports bettors to drift across with substantial money who are itching to play at a serious level.

But these players are well in the minority and you may have to sit at an empty heads-up table all afternoon before the player that you were hoping to see actually shows up. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will stick around for long. If you start to push them around and take their money they could just leave the table, or to make matters worse, if they are the hit and run type then they could do the same and leave with your money.

I am aware of a few high stakes limit players who actually don’t make much more than $100k-$200k a year now simply because the games have become substantially tougher and they cannot see enough action. I don’t know about Limit Hold’em being solved but there are answers further down the limits for those that care to look and don’t have an ego.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at www.cakepoker.com/thedean and on his blog at www.pokersharkpool.com