These days, no-limit hold'em is the rage. It is the game that players see on TV, the game that is the favorite for tournament competitions, and the game that draws the majority of the new players. Yet, prior to the no-limit hold'em boom, many hold'em money games were played with pot-limit betting, whereby the most you could bet was the size of the pot. Some of the best no-limit players still prefer that poker form for their money games, even though most favor no-limit betting for tournament play. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each betting method, and which should you prefer?
When I first took up hold'em in 1978, after I learned limit play, I started playing pot-limit. After about a dozen sessions, I was ready to try no-limit. Frankly, the difference between pot-limit and no-limit is not nearly as great as the difference between pot-limit and limit play. The words "no-limit" are a bit intimidating to new players, but most bets in no-limit are the size of the pot or less, especially after the flop, when the big money is more likely to come into play.
The main additional things you need to learn for no-limit are when to overbet the pot size and how to cope with an opponent doing it. The most frequent time that the pot gets overbet is preflop. Here is a common scenario: A bunch of players limp in for $10, someone makes the wager $110, and all or nearly all of the players fold. If you have only a few hundred dollars in front of you, calling this oversize bet is a weak way to play poker. Putting a quarter of your stack in the pot, trying to hit the flop, is too high a price to pay. In addition, you do not have that much security even if you flop top pair or an overpair, as an opponent can easily hold a bigger hand. So, you are in a raise-or-fold situation with hands like A-K or Q-Q.
The net effect of the big overbet of the pot size preflop is to run you off the hands you would like to play and hope to hit the flop. Most of the action takes place preflop when the game is full of preflop overbets, especially when the buy-in is capped at some unreasonably low amount like 40 times the big blind. This is not the way the top money players like to play poker. They would rather restrict the bets to the size of the pot preflop to create more action as a result of seeing more flops. Even the average Joe does not care for this big preflop overbet style of play, because seeing few flops takes a lot of the fun out of the game.
After the flop is a different story. There are only two cards to come instead of five, which cuts down on the number of times the inferior hand is able to draw out. No-limit does not put the same damper on the game post-flop that it does preflop.
For tournament play, no-limit is my preferred way to play, and I of course have a lot of company. By knowing when to overbet the pot size and go all in, you can have a small stack and stay alive even when holding bad cards, as long as you do not run into a big hand. Furthermore, a lot of tournament dealers do not do their jobs as well as regular cardroom dealers, at least with respect to being able to keep track of the pot size. No-limit play has the virtue of getting away from the bookkeeping.
It is possible to have the best of both worlds in cash games, by playing pot-limit before the flop and no-limit after the flop. I think this is a great way to play hold'em, and a lot of the top money players agree with me. When using this structure, you employ two big blinds, to make tracking the pot size preflop a lot easier, and to avoid an argument as to whether the small blind counts as a big blind in setting the pot size. So, using two $10 blinds in pot-limit is better than using blinds of $5 and $10. It is easy for the dealer to track the pot size preflop, which minimizes the biggest objection to pot-limit. Using two big blinds gets the small blind involved in the pot, which often turns out badly for the person in that position. It is amazing how far weaker players will chase a small dab of money that they regard as property that has their name stamped on it.
In terms of strategy, I believe that pot-limit is even more punishing on drawing hands that get involved from out of position. A drawing hand likes to see two cards to hit the hand. When drawing, it is better to have all of your money committed preflop and see the hand played out than to be out of position on the turn with a quarter to half of your money committed and have to act first with only one card to come. An astute opponent will put you all in when you miss, and fold when you hit, especially if you have an easily readable holding like a flush draw. If you decide to move all in after failing to make your draw on the turn, you are getting your money in as a big underdog if called. In no-limit, you at least have the option of moving all in on the flop to avoid what I call the "draw dilemma" on the turn. So, stay out of the pot when up front with an ace-small suited, a 9-8 suited, and such, particularly in pot-limit.
Although no-limit is the rage, I think a lot of players would be appreciative of some variety. I suggest that cardrooms that have a fairly large number of no-limit games already, try to spread some games that are no-limit after the flop, with pot-limit before the flop. Let the players be able to play more hands and use their position more. These are two aspects of the game that nearly all players enjoy. Offer a betting structure for hold'em that your players will like and that your competitor does not have enough imagination to spread.
Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org.
