Limit Versus No-Limit - Part 1

This is the first in a series of articles comparing limit hold'em to no-limit hold'em. It is aimed at experienced limit players who have decided to make the switch to no-limit as I have done. Here in Las Vegas, unless there is a tournament in town, the middle limit games are drying up and the new players are playing no-limit. I think the future of professional poker is in playing no-limit hold'em. In this first article, I will discuss some of the strategic differences between the two games. In subsequent articles, I will delve into the tactical differences for each round of play. My assumption is that we are dealing with big stack hold'em where you and your opponents each have at least 50 times the big blind. It is not the purpose of these articles to teach someone how to play no-limit hold'em. Its purpose is to alert players as to the profound differences between the two poker forms.



1. They are entirely different games

This may seem like a trivial statement but its importance cannot be over-emphasized. The ability to vary the size of your bet adds a totally new dimension to the game of hold'em. For bridge players, it is like comparing auction bridge to contract bridge. For backgammon players, it is like playing without the doubling cube versus playing with the doubling cube. It would be a mistake for a limit player to just sit down in a no-limit game and think that his experience and knowledge will allow him to play a good game. Much of what he knows about limit poker would be useless, if not dangerous, when applied in a no-limit game.



2. Winning pots versus winning stacks

As a limit player, imagine playing for three or four hours and winning only one pot. You would almost certainly have to book a losing session. As a no-limit player, I have had numerous sessions where I won only one pot and still booked a win. The reason is because the pot I won frequently resulted in taking someone's entire stack. Conversely, I have seen players win a lot of pots in no-limit only to lose all their money on one hand thereby ending up a big loser for the session. Limit play is about winning pots. No-limit play is about winning stacks.



3. Folding the best hand

In limit poker, the pot size is usually many times the bet. Folding the best hand to save a bet or two is a disaster in limit. A limit player takes great pains to avoid doing this by frequently making calls post-flop if he is unsure about where he stands or knows he is behind but uses the current pot odds as a valid reason for continuing to play. In no-limit, having a pathological fear about folding the best hand will guarantee being a loser in the long run. In no-limit, if you have little money invested and/or you don't know where you stand, you must be able to get off hands early and avoid getting your stack too committed. In no-limit, what matters is how often you win when you are all in or you are putting someone else all in. A no-limit player's results are driven by these few all-in situations.



4. The skill factor

This has been hotly debated for years. The question often asked is: "Which game requires more skill, limit or no-limit?" A better question is: "In which game does skill matter the most, limit or no-limit?" The answer is simple. Skill plays a much larger role in no-limit than in limit. Limit poker has a generic problem. You simply cannot bet enough to keep your opponents from correctly calling most of the time once the flop comes and they catch any piece of it. Some have argued that the skillful use of the check-raise can help solve this problem. But that only works if someone else bets allowing you to check-raise. Furthermore, a bet coming from your left after you check may result in numerous calls so if you raise, the pot is that much bigger allowing your opponents to correctly call again. Since your opponents are seldom making a big mistake by calling, limit poker is very much a hand-holding contest in which many hands go to the river and of course, the best hand wins. A limit player grinds out an earn based on his opponents making small but numerous mistakes. But a no-limit player makes his earn by inducing his opponents to make a few, big mistakes. The amount of money he chooses to bet is his big weapon, not just his particular hand.



5. The earn

If a limit player can average one big bet per hour in his game of choice, he is doing great. So if the big blind is $5, an earn of $10 per hour would be quite good. Very few players can actually do this over a long period of time. But a no-limit player can do much better than this. Estimates vary, but based on my own playing experience, I think a good player can average four-six big blinds per hour of play. In a $2-$5 no-limit hold'em game this equates to about $20-$30 an hour. A top player can probably do even better than this.



6. Position

Frankly, I think most players overestimate the value of position in limit poker. Frequently, having good position allows the player to get extra bets when he has the best of it, maybe save a bet or two when he has the worst of it, and otherwise it allows him to play some weaker hands for a small profit. But when the pot gets large in limit, it normally takes the best hand at the river to win regardless of your position. This is especially true if there are lots of players in the hand. In no-limit, position is a dominant consideration. Two of the key aspects of no-limit play are avoiding traps and being able to set traps. Your position allows you to do this and accounts for much of your earn.



7. Starting Hand Selection
I will get more into this in the next article, but needless to say, starting hand selection is a big deal to a limit hold'em player. Numerous charts, graphs, and tables have been published which attempt to rank and categorize the various starting hands. Fierce debates have raged for years in limit hold'em circles about what hands should be played in what position. While this is an important consideration in no limit, it gets greatly tempered by other equally important considerations. For the no-limit player, one aspect of starting hand selection is who else is in the pot and most importantly, how much money do they have on the table? This will often result in the no-limit hold'em player coming in on hands that a limit player would not dream of doing given his position at the table. It can also result in the no-limit player not coming in or not raising on hands that a limit player would do almost automatically.



8. Betting and raising

In limit poker when you bet or call and get raised, you often continue to play because of the pot odds you are getting. This is especially true preflop where calling a raise after you have limped in is almost automatic. Not so in no limit. Bets and raises take on an entirely different meaning. No-limit players use the phrase "re-opening the betting". Betting when checked to or raising when bet into are serious matters in a no-limit hold'em game because you have now given your opponent the opportunity to make a big raise or even go all-in. When this happens you can be faced with a huge problem.



Jim Brier can be reached at [email protected] and would welcome any questions or comments. He has co-authored a book with Bob Ciaffone entitled Middle Limit Holdem Poker. It is available through Card Player.