Limit Hold'em Beginner's Guide

Note: This guide is intended for a player who already has a basic knowledge of No Limit Texas Hold'em. There is no general poker advice here.


1. HOW DOES LIMIT DIFFER FROM NO LIMIT?

Point #1: Smaller Bets

Because bets in limit are smaller, it is generally much more difficult to buy pots. By the same token, it becomes correct to call/raise with marginal hands much more often.

Point #2: More Players

In general, more people see the flop in limit than in no-limit, especially at lower stakes tables. This, coupled with the previous point, means that good starting hands are much less likely to hold up. This is something you'll have to learn to accept; high pairs get cracked fairly often in limit games. In addition, more players in the hand means drawing hands generally give you a better expected return than they do in NL.

Point #3: Smaller Strategy Space

You have very few alternatives in limit. Because bet and raise amounts are fixed, there are only 2-3 possible actions you can take. This means there are fewer "plays" that you can make, since you can't alter bet amounts to suit whatever your purpose is for the bet.

2. PREFLOP PLAY

Point #1: Location, Location, Location

Your position at the table makes a HUGE difference in terms of what hands you should play. If you're in early position, you should not be playing marginal high hands. If you have KJ under the gun, fold. When you're in mid-late position, an important consideration is whether or not someone has called in front of you. If so, marginal high hands have become slightly less valuable, whereas drawing hands have become slightly better. If no one has called in front of you, your strategy changes slightly, as I'll explain in the next point. However, you'll generally want to play any marginal high hand and any pair, though drawing hands are a little less valuable.

Point #2: Raising

99% of the time, when you raise preflop in limit, it should be because you think you currently have the best hand. When you're in early position, it means you have a premium (AA, KK, QQ, AK). In mid-late position, it depends on whether or not anyone has called in front of you. If so, you should only raise with premiums (AQ, JJ, TT are ok too). If no one has called before you, this is where it gets fun. If you have ANY high hand, you should probably be raising. It's very unlikely you're behind.

Every once in a while (rarely!) you may want to raise with low or mid cards. Sometimes you'll be able to buy the pot. If so, great. If you're not going to win, it'll generally be very obvious, and you can get out easily. But every once in a while, you'll put a "bad beat" on someone with a good starting hand. People will assume you do things like that all the time, and you'll get calls whenever you want them. Just tighten up and bet with strong hands.

Point #3: Playing Against Raisers

Keep in mind that most raisers will be following the advice given in point #2. If a decent player raises from early position, or with a caller in front of them, fold high hands (worse than AK or 99) without a second thought. If you have a good drawing hand, you generally don't want to be the first caller, but if there's a caller or two in front of you, you're most likely getting good implied odds by calling. If it's your big blind, and there are already multiple callers, you should almost always call. You're getting incredible odds on your money. However, if no one has called, you should be reluctant to call unless the raise was from late position and you have a starting hand you'd normally play.

Point #4: Defending Your Blinds

One of the more precarious spots in limit is when someone raises your blind. If it's your big blind, you only need to put in half the raise, which often encourages beginners to call with just about anything. Resist this temptation. You should only call with hands you'd normally play. If you call with garbage hands, you'll often end up making incorrect post-flop decisions, because you're playing out of position against someone who's likely to have good cards. For example, imagine that you've called with 58o, and the flop is Q97. You are probably not going to be able to tell from the flop action whether your opponent has, to pick two particular hands, AK or AQ. If he has AK, you have odds to see a turn for one more bet. If he has AQ, you do not. You're likely to make a mistake in a situation like this, but the real strategic mistake you made was calling the raise with 58o in the first place. Even if you suspect that the preflop raiser might not have a premium starting hand, that's still no reason to call with trash.


3. FLOP PLAY

Point #1: If You Limped Pre-Flop

Position will be very important here. If the flop helped you, you generally want to decide whether or not you want other players seeing more cards. Usually, the answer is no, not for free anyway. You should almost always be betting top pair on the flop. If you have a lot of outs with your drawing hand, you might also want to bet. If it's checked to you in late position and there are no obvious draws on the board, a bet will buy the pot enough to usually make it worthwhile. Remember, if the pot is $12, and you bet $3 with nothing, it only has to work 20% of the time. But don't do it if there a lot of players in; somebody will almost certainly call you. This works well against 1 or 2 players.

If someone in front of you bets the flop, and you have worse than top pair with a strong kicker, you need to count your outs. Estimate how many possible turn cards could put you ahead. If you have pot odds, call. If you're acting last, and the person in front of you bets, you should probably be calling with even slightly worse hands, since it's very possible he's trying to buy it. Remember, in limit, you ALMOST ALWAYS have pot odds on the flop if you have something. If someone in front of you bets the flop and you have top pair or better, you should almost always be raising. In addition to getting more information from their response, you'll scare out draws (see TRICKS & TECHNIQUES, Point #3).

In no-limit, checking monsters on the flop is often a good idea, because you can get paid off huge. In limit, you can't. If you check two pair on the flop with 5 other players in, you have a death wish. If someone catches on you, they'll take your money, and if they don't, they'll fold to your big bets on the turn or river. If you flop a monster, chances are your flop bet will get called anyway, so why bother slowplaying?

Point #2: If You Raised Pre-Flop

95% of the time, you should bet the flop. The only exception is if you're sure you're behind, and that you'll get a caller. For example, if you have red jacks, the flop is AK8 spades, and 5 people called your pre-flop raise, don't bet. People will realize you make this flop bet almost every time. That's fine. It means when the flop helps you, you'll get calls.

If you raised preflop (with a good starting hand) and someone bets into you on the flop, the correct move is almost always a raise. The exception is if it's a "JJ with an AK8 board" type of situation, in which case you should fold like Superman on laundry day. You generally want to avoid allowing the other player to be the aggressor going into the turn. Usually the hand people will bet into you with is top pair, so that's a good guess when you're trying to determine what you're up against. Be wary of a reraise though, that usually implies that the other player thinks he's ahead even though your hand was strong pre-flop.

Point #3: If You Called a Raise Pre-Flop

Count your outs. Most likely, the pre-flop raiser will bet the flop. If you have pot odds, keep playing. If you have a made hand (2 pair or better), and there are only 1 or 2 other players in the hand, you may want to check/call the flop and then raise the almost inevitable big bet on the turn. If you have top pair and you're acting first, don't be afraid to bet into the pre-flop raiser. You'll probably get raised. If you think there's a good chance that person has overcards (AK, AQ, etc), reraise. If you think it's more likely they have a high pocket pair, call the raise. If you trip your pair on the turn, bet out. If you hit your 2nd pair, check-raise. If you miss, you should decide now whether or not you're willing to invest two big bets calling the raiser down (once on the turn, once on the river). If the answer is no, because you think it's too likely they're ahead of you, check/fold on the turn. If yes, check/call and hope for the best.

Don't ever try to bluff against a pre-flop raiser. It's extremely rare that you can get them off of a hand. A surprising number of people will raise with JJ and call all the way through when the flop is AKx. If you're against an ultra-tight player, it might be worth a shot when an ace flops (in the hope they have KK, QQ, etc), but in general, this is not a good time to stab at a pot.

4. TURN PLAY

By now, you should usually have a good idea whether you're likely to be ahead. If you called a flop bet, it's because you thought you might be ahead, or because you had outs. On the turn, you want to bet/raise if there's a good chance you have the best hand. Don't slowplay here, make people pay. You'll be amazed at the stuff people will chase in limit. If you think you're behind but have outs, follow the pot odds rule. Also, be aware of anyone showing weakness on the turn. If someone bets the flop, you call, and then they check the turn, it's very possible they'll fold to a turn or river bet.

If you've been playing well during the last two betting rounds, you should rarely have to make difficult decisions on the turn.

5. RIVER PLAY

If you think you have the best hand, bet/raise. However, if you're acting last, you had a marginal hand on the flop, and haven't improved, check. Bet only if you think it's more than twice as likely you'll get a caller with a weaker hand than you'll get check-raised by a better hand. By the same token, don't check-raise when you hit a draw, unless you have some good reason to think someone will bet.

If you have a marginal hand and someone bets in front of you, CALL. Pretty much every single time. If you're regularly folding marginal hands to a single bet on the river, you are a ridiculously exploitable limit player.

Of course, if you caught something, you can raise. Really the only times you want to fold to river bets are if the pot is tiny or if you have a busted draw. Most of the time, your thought process should be something like: "There's $48 in the pot. The bet is $6. He could be bluffing, he could be betting a low pair, he could've misread his hand, he could be drunk, he could be thinking about sex, there is EASILY enough of a chance I'm ahead here to call." You only have to be right 11% of the time with that pot and that bet. Imagine if you were playing no-limit and somebody bet 10% of the pot on the river. You'd laugh, and then you'd call with damn near anything. It's hilarious seeing people fold to a single river bet in an enormous pot. There are players out there who think the secret of poker is being able to make good folds. And they consider a fold here a "good fold." It's not.

A move you'll have to make here sometimes is the eyes-rolling call (head-shaking call, crying call, etc). It's an instance of the idea in the previous paragraph. This is when you bet/raised earlier in the hand when you were way ahead and got called, but now a scare card just hit, and someone bets into you. The pot is huge. You're cursing your luck, cursing the other player for cracking your vastly superior hand, you're expecting to lose, but you have to call. You'll probably do it while rolling your eyes or shaking your head. But you have to call, unless you have a damn near perfect read on the player. If you fold in these situations, you're missing out on some serious equity.

6. TRICKS & TECHNIQUES

Point #1: Read the Board, Read the Board, Read the Board

Why should this be any different from no-limit? Look at the hands that could beat you, and think about how likely it is that someone has one. Use their actions in the previous betting rounds to determine this probability. If someone raised pre-flop and bet throughout, the flop was a rainbow, and runner flush cards hit, it's very unlikely that player has a flush.

Point #2: The Free Card Play

This trick works beautifully in limit. If you're in late position with a draw, and someone bets the flop, raise. This virtually guarantees it'll get checked to you on the turn, in which case you can just check if you missed your draw. It's a river for half the price. If the pot is small and you just call the flop, you may not have odds to call a turn bet if you miss. This is a frustrating waste of money.

Point #3: The Isolation Raise

This is a vital move in limit. If you have a strong but vulnerable hand, such as top pair with top kicker, and the player in front of you bets, RAISE. You want to play this hand against him and only him. If you just call, other people will have odds to chase any outs they might have. A single flop bet is unlikely to get everyone out, but with a raised flop bet, you've got a good chance.

Point #4: Aggression

You MUST be aggressive to be successful in limit. There are occasions where you should play passively, but in general, you want to be a nuisance. When someone has a marginal hand, they don't want other people betting. It forces them into tough decisions, and they'll often make bad ones. It also makes it much harder for other players to deceive you; it's twice as costly to bluff with a raise than with a bet. But above all, aggression helps ensure that when you have a good hand, you'll get paid off. If you're passive, and all of a sudden you start betting and raising, you probably won't get much action. Someone might call you down, but no one with top pair is going to raise.

Do not confuse being aggressive with being loose. You should still be folding pre-flop most of the time, and you should still be folding to bets when you have nothing. Aggression means that you make your presence in a hand felt by betting and raising rather than by calling.

Point #5: Bet With Purpose

Every time you bet, you should be able to explain afterward to an observer why you made that bet. You must have good reason to think you have the best hand or can buy the pot, with the exception of a few moves like points 2 and 3. This may seem contradictory to the previous point. Your goal is to recognize the situations in which a bet will help you. This is the essence of the tight/aggressive style. It's difficult to pull it off effectively as a beginner, but keep practicing and keep learning.

Point #6: Type Players

This is vital for success in limit. You need to know who has trouble folding (calling stations), who bluffs a lot, and who only bets with strong hands. All of these characteristics affect the probability that you're ahead and the probability you can buy a pot. In addition, you should be aware of how certain players respond to you. Other good players are typing as well, so if someone keeps folding to you, it's likely that when they do play back at you, you're behind.