Training Wheels

All of the interest in no-limit poker, spurred on, of course, by the incredible growth of online poker and the saturation of Texas hold'em tournaments televised on the Travel Channel, ESPN, Fox, and who knows where else – I suppose a poker channel ("All poker, all the time") can't be far off – has spurred something quite new and different in local cardrooms and casinos. It's the resurgence of interest in no-limit hold'em cash games, but these days it's no-limit hold'em with a difference.

What's new about it is the structure. There was a time when you'd buy into a no-limit game with as much money as you could muster and put it all on the line, for better or for worse, and going broke was an occupational hazard. Naturally, losing one's entire bankroll time and time again put a severe crimp in the wallets, confidence, and egos of marginal no-limit players and sent many of them out of the poker rooms for good. After all, it can be tough sledding when you lose a house payment, or sometimes even the entire house, in a friendly little poker game.

In a structure like that, the fish never really had a chance at all. As a result, no-limit cash games all but dried up in the process. When all the fish were busted, the best players went after the marginal players, and once they finished them off, they attacked those who were merely "good" but not "great," until there was no easy prey left to feed on. When there's no edge, there's no game, particularly when the stakes are big enough to really hurt.

So, the no-limit players gravitated toward tournament poker. The advantage of tournament play is that you can't lose any more than your buy-in, and while it's fun to push $65,000 into the middle of the pot and declare yourself all in, it's also comforting to realize that you invested only $500 in the event, and even if your bravado-filled push-in of $65,000 in chips goes horribly wrong and your preflop pocket aces are cracked by a long-shot draw, all you'll really lose is your buy-in, which is a lot less than "65 large."

Then, came television, and the World Poker Tour, and the World Series of Poker on ESPN, and poker on Fox – and online poker, too. We can't forget the incredible impact Internet poker has had on developing a growing player base of guys and gals wanting to become the next Chris Moneymaker or Greg Raymer. These newcomers don't play stud, Omaha, or limit hold'em. Nope. They are born, nurtured, fed, and bred on no-limit Texas hold'em. They've all got the inclination, and some have the knowledge, too. All many of them lack is a big bankroll.

No-limit hold'em was the next big thing, and most cardrooms and casinos jumped on the bandwagon. Now, you have the phenomenon of no-limit hold'em with a limited buy-in, which lessens the chances of losing very large sums of money in one hand. You can call it "hold'em with training wheels" if you like, but I don't want that description to be seen as pejorative. Nevertheless, the game does provide a safety factor of sorts, but there's no shame in working with a net when you're walking the wire and the fall is long and hard. That's a good thing for the casino and the majority of players, too, as many of them have neither the bankroll nor the psychological makeup to handle the very large losses that can accompany a real no-limit game.

Nothing burns through a cardroom's player base faster than a no-limit game that quickly separates the prey from the predators. But when you have a game like $1-$2 no-limit hold'em with a maximum buy-in of $100 or $200, it protects players from losing their entire bankroll in one fell swoop. To lose the farm in a game like this, a player has to keep reaching into his wallet time and time again. When players lose a few buy-ins in a limited buy-in no-limit game, they usually quit long before disaster strikes.

The benefits are obvious. Cardrooms can't thrive with a broke, shrinking player base. Limited buy-in no-limit poker meets an obvious player demand and prevents a cardroom from seeing its player base winnow away. The structure affords players a chance to explore the thrills of no-limit hold'em in a traditional poker room environment, while limiting potential losses to an affordable amount. This hybrid game is no-limit poker with an insurance policy, and I think it's a terrific opportunity for those who want to play no-limit cash games without risking their entire bankroll on the turn of a card.

If you haven't played one of these games before, give it a go. It comes with all the drama and heart palpitations of high-stakes no-limit hold'em, but there's a safety net to limit your losses. It's like a tournament in that regard, because you can't lose any more than your initial buy-in, regardless of the game's life-or-death structure. The game also plays true to traditional no-limit hold'em – the kind played without a safety net. When I played this game, I didn't experience the kind of maniacal betting I thought I might encounter because players could go all in at the drop of a hat, realizing they couldn't lose any more than their buy-in. While any game's texture depends upon the players, I was encouraged to see that this safety-net version of no-limit hold'em provided all the drama of a traditional no-limit game, and wasn't corrupted by the buy-in restrictions.

If you're normally a $4-$8 or $10-$20 limit hold'em player who buys into his or her game for between $200 and $500, a $1-$2 no-limit hold'em game with a maximum buy-in of between $100 and $200 is right within your limits. Give it a try. You just might find it exhilarating.

Raise your game with Lou Krieger at http://www.royalvegaspoker.com. His newest book, Winning Omaha/8 Poker, is available through Card Player.