In Praise Of Limit Poker

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The great poker boom took place between about 2003-2006. Before that time, online poker was either non-existent (before Planet Poker in 1998) or rather small. So, most poker was played live, and most cash games and tournaments, at least in the U.S., were played as limit poker.

Of course, the World Series of Poker main event was always played as no-limit holdem, as were the main events of most other tournament series. But it was far more common to play limit holdem, or other forms of limit poker, prior to the poker boom. This was largely true for tournaments, and overwhelmingly true for cash games. In many ways, it would be a good thing for the poker world if we would choose to return to that state, at least with respect to cash games.

I spend about half the year on the road, traveling to poker rooms all over the U.S. In years past, I also spent a lot of time traveling the world for poker. In the last ten or so years, most poker rooms offer very few, or no, games other than no-limit holdem or pot-limit Omaha. If they do offer something else, it is maybe a small limit holdem game, less often a small limit Omaha eight-or-better game, and in a few spots on the East Coast, some stud games.

There are still a few poker rooms that have a good mix of both limit games and no-limit or pot-limit games. When I go to those rooms, I always notice one important thing. The players in the limit games always seem to be having a lot more fun than the players in the no-limit and pot-limit games. And this is not just due to the limit games being for lower stakes. Even if I go to one room that has $30-$60 limit holdem with a kill up to $50-$100, and the no-limit games are one and two blinds, there is more talking, more laughing, and more fun in the limit games.

Most of us are not playing to make a living, or even to supplement our income. The primary reason most of us play is for fun. It is something enjoyable we do for entertainment. And even if you are a full-time pro playing for a living, you should be having fun when you play. If you are not having fun, you should probably find something else to do for a living. If you have the skills to win at this game, and to win at a high enough rate to make a living, you probably have the skills to make just as much money, or more, doing something else. Try to do something fun for a living.

Since we are playing for fun, and limit players are having more fun than no-limit players, then maybe we should all consider playing more limit poker whenever we play a cash game? Plus, there is another reason you are going to have more fun playing limit poker. You will get to play more often, for longer hours, than you do now in the no-limit holdem games. Most of us have a budget, how much we can afford to lose before we need to stop playing, at least until the next paycheck. From talking to dozens of poker room managers, they see this all the time. They have regulars that play a lot at the beginning of the month, then they stop showing up until the beginning of next month. They lost the amount they budgeted for poker, and stop playing until their next paycheck.

The truth is, if they switched from their current small stakes no-limit holdem game to a small or even medium stakes game of limit hold’em, or Omaha eight-or-better, or any other form of limit poker, they would probably last longer before they lost their budgeted amount. That is, if they can afford to lose $500 before quitting for the month, they would likely find they can play more hours before hitting their stop-loss number if they played limit poker instead.

No-limit poker is clearly superior for tournament play. No matter how slow the structure, by the time you lose about half the field in a limit tournament, the average stack is seldom more than 15-20 blinds. Simply put, there is a lot more variance (luck) in a limit event. At any given point in a no-limit tournament, the average stack always has many more blinds. While I still prefer no-limit and pot-limit games for tournaments, I strongly prefer limit poker for cash games.

I highly recommend that you talk to the manager of your local poker room. Ask them if you can help to start a regular limit game. Talk to other players, convince them to give it a try. I honestly believe you will have a lot more fun each hour you spend at the table, and you will likely find that you can afford to play a lot more hours as well. ♠

Greg Raymer is the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion, winner of numerous major titles, and has more than $7 million in earnings. He recently authored FossilMan’s Winning Tournament Strategies, available from D&B Publishing, Amazon, and other retailers. He is sponsored by Blue Shark Optics, YouStake, and ShareMyPair. To contact Greg please tweet @FossilMan or visit his website.