Learning Limit Hold’em Before No-Limit Hold’em

I learned how to play limit hold’em in 1976 and no-limit hold’em (NLH) in 1978. Before NLH was televised and there was Internet poker available, this was the normal route to becoming a no-limit hold’em player. For even an experienced poker player like me (I had played poker for a quarter of a century before learning hold’em), there was little opportunity to play with no-limit betting. I was playing $50-$100 limit hold’em before I played my first hand of no-limit, and I played pot-limit for a year before venturing into no-limit.

The only people in our country at that time who had a lot of no-limit hold’em poker available were the residents of the Southern belt — for example, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. The states of Florida and Arizona had no-limit lowball (carnival people need something to do in the wintertime), but little NLH. California had a lot of no-limit lowball, but mainly in the Bay Area. Oregon and Washington had hold’em, but nearly all of it was limit play.

I had always considered it to be a valuable experience to learn limit hold’em before taking up NLH. You learn hand values faster, since more pots get played out to the end and you see what kind of hands win at the showdown. I figured the power part of the game could be acquired later. But now, I am not sure that limit hold’em is the best path to NLH. We see a lot of young poker players doing very well at NLH who took up the game directly upon entering the poker world.

I also see people who first took up limit poker often displaying some traits that are fine in limit hold’em, but quite detrimental in NLH. In a manner of speaking, their mother tongue is limit, and no-limit is a foreign language with which they are not as comfortable.

In fact, sometimes their language gives away their roots. For example, I often see the term “three-bet” being used in no-limit nowadays to describe putting in a second raise. I never heard this limit-poker expression applied to no-limit betting before a few years ago. Three-bet is a fine term for the dealer to use in limit poker when explaining how much it costs to play. For example, on a $10 betting round, the price is $30 to cold-call. I would bet you that the person who first applied that expression to no-limit was not a no-limit player. In NLH, the term is not as effective, because it does not tell you the price to play. I believe that “reraise,” the traditional NLH word, is still the more suitable term to use.

Let’s look at two hands in which a friend and client of mine who is quite a good limit hold’em player goes awry when trying to speak his foreign language of NLH. Here is our dialogue, with some of my comments enclosed by parentheses to show how his limit hold’em background hurts him:

Player: I am in middle position with the 7 6 in a $1-$2 NLH game and limp in behind an early-position player. Another middle-position player limps, and the cutoff raises to $10. The button, the big blind, and the early-position player call. I call for another $8.

My comments: This is terrible poker. You are calling a preflop raise from out of position with a drawing hand. (In limit hold’em, it is OK and mechanical to call a single preflop raise when you are already 50 percent in. But you shouldn’t play the same way when you are only 20 percent in.)

Player: The other middle-position player folds. There is $53 in the pot and five players. The flop is 5 3 2, giving me a flush draw with a gutshot-straight draw. The big blind checks. The early-position player bets $15. I call with my 12-out hand and $68 in the pot. The cutoff folds and the button calls. The big blind check-raises to $45. The early-position player folds. Again, I call, because it costs me only $30 more. The button folds. We are now heads up.

The turn is the 2, pairing the bottom flop card. The big blind bets $50, a big bet for this game. I call with my 12 outs. The river is the 5, double-pairing the board and a bust for me. The big blind checks. I check. He wins with the A 4, a flopped straight. All of my outs were winners.

My comments: What you should have written here is, “All of my outs were winners this time; I was fortunate to be drawing live to the flush.” NLH is much more a game of nut outs than limit hold’em is; you have failed to learn this so far. In limit poker, the extra charge after hitting a non-nut draw is only a bet or two, so it can easily be right to draw to a hand that will not be the nuts. In NLH, the extra charge can easily be more than is in the pot at the time you hit. You got an excellent flop for your trash hand, were fortunate to be drawing live, and still booked a decent-size loss. Next time, fold preflop instead of trying to hit a three-event parlay hand. You need good position to play trashy connectors in a raised pot.

The hand that follows was played by the same person.

Player: I am on the button with the Q J in a $1-$2 NLH game. An experienced player limps in from early position. It is then folded to me and I raise to $10 in order to vary my play. I have a tight image, and I had not played a hand in a while.

My comments: I do not criticize raising preflop with inadequate values if you have position on your opponent.

Player: The limper is my only caller. The flop is A K 5, giving me a gutshot with a backdoor-flush draw. My opponent bets $10, and I call.

My comments: When you are the preflop raiser and are bet into with a probe-size amount, as here, calling with a gutshot is often good poker. You can make the nuts, and you can often take the pot away from your opponent when he blinks.

Player: The turn is the J, giving me a pair. We both check.

My comments: Your check was awful. Your call was based partly on taking the pot away from your opponent if he blinked. Well, he blinked. You had a choice of taking the free card, hoping to make your hand, or betting and very likely winning. Duh.

Player: The river is the A, pairing the top flop card. We both check. My opponent wins with the K Q.

My comments: You blew your chance on the turn. A bet now would have no leverage and little credibility. Your opponent had exactly what he was supposed to have for his flop probe-bet. Learn how to exploit your preflop raise and good position when you are heads up and mostly miss the flop.

Taking a free card to a long shot when you could bet with a fine chance of winning is a mistake that’s typical of limit hold’em players who are taking up NLH.

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.