A Beginner-to-Intermediate Level Guide to Limit Texas Holdem

James Yates Poker

      Limit Holdem is one of the most popular variants of the Texas Hold em family of Poker games, and its tournaments continue to draw huge fields and talented players each year wherever they are contested across the World. The structure of Limit Hold em is hands-down the best way to learn the finer points of this complicated game for the simple fact that your financial investment is much easier to control. Also, this game with give insight to the patience and discipline needed to succeed in situations where players are often too loose and overly-aggressive. You'll encounter these types of players in all forms of Hold em, so the experience gained with pay off in larger pots won whenever you decide to move up into the more dangerous realm of No Limit Hold em. Let's have a look at the reasons the strategy ideas to follow are applicable to this type of tactical engagement.

      In Limit Hold Em the bets are, not surprisingly, Limited. Another way to look at it is that the bets are "capped". This means that even though you may want to push all your chips into the center of the table with a monster hand instead of just making a series of big bets, you may only bet the maximum allowed by your games limits. You can, however, use this structure to your advantage. Moves that are not available in a No Limit Hold em game are used beautifully in a Limit game. You are able to take more chances in Limit if necessary, and they have a better chance of paying off when used correctly. All things considered, Limit Hold Em is one of the most exciting variations of Poker.

      In Low Limit you're quickly going to discover some notable differences from a high-stakes style game. The primary feature is that the majority of players play many more hands than most strategies suggest they should and will hang around and call bets and raises that solid players would never even dream of continuing on with. Why would they do this? The limits are low enough to take a gamble on hitting a big hand. It is the very nature of this variant which allows players to "cheaply" chase draws and long shots. So we must develop a strategy to combat these incurable calling stations. When you take into account all of the simple information we've discussed up to this point, it is possible to gain a great understanding of the depth needed for a successful Low Limit Hold em strategy.

Tight Starting Hands: The Table is Playing Loose or You Have No Respect



      There will be certain periods during your Low Limit career where the appropriate nickname for the game, No Fold em Hold em, will become quite clear to you, particularly in online card rooms. Players come into every hand raising with anything just to "sweeten the pot" and you have to end up playing your hands out all the way to the river because they refuse to fold even the longest of shots. The outcome can sometimes be frustrating, especially when they beat you out with 10-4 unsuited on the river or something similar to that.

      You can also find yourself being raised without fear if you've lost some big hands in the recent past and the players have lost some respect for you. How do you combat this situation? You tighten up your play, at least until you win a huge pot. You should also use the tight strategy when you first sit down at the table. This way, if you win a quick hand you'll pick up some much needed respect to go along with your new stack of chips.

Standard Starting Hands: The Table is Tight or You've Earned Some Respect




      During the course of play you will also become aware of certain table trends, such as the respect level described above, and their effect on your opponents decisions. In fact, you will soon be able to recognize when the table is playing either too tight or too loose, and whether or not you have established a solid reputation. We've already looked at the loose and crazy situations above, but you must also be aware of the other common trend in games.

      When you win a big pot or beat the other respected players at the table you gain some measure of respect yourself. Since you're winning consistently with the tight hands, the other players begin to think you're holding pocket Aces every time you come into the pot. If you raise before the flop, everyone seems to check it around and let you dictate the action.

      As these "respect points" accumulate in the minds of your table mates, the more invincible you'll look and subsequently your play can begin to loosen up. You have gained the respect of the table now and can begin using the standard hands shown here. It is during this period of play that we will make the most return on our investment because we will start to win pots without needing to actually have a hand. That's the true art of Poker!

The Play of the Starting Hands

      The starting hand charts above are simple enough to understand. They are grouped into categories including Ace, King and sometimes Queen high hands (unpaired) and also contain certain Pairs based on the chart you're using. The hands listed on the left are the Plain (unsuited) hands or higher, and those on the right are the Suited hands or higher. For example, in the standard theory chart the first listing is A-6 offsuit or higher, but also A-2 or higher when they're suited (any A-x suited). The King section shows us we can further use K-8 offsuit or higher and K-5 suited or better. Now we can begin our step-by-step tutorial on how to play these hands during the game.

First Stage: Pre Flop Play

      The general way to play your starting hands in a Low Limit game before the flop is to play them slow. The reason you don't ram and jam the pot with your playable hands, even the big ones, is that players play so many hands you want to make sure you've at least got a piece of the flop before you start making any moves. This strategy also works in Low Limit because it makes sense to hold off on your big bets (making yourself blend in with the calling stations) until the Turn and River when you can really pump the Pot with your great hand. There is nothing worse than picking up A-A, raising and re-raising everyone preflop and then getting a 9-6-3 flop. Holding off on representing your possible strength would have worked out much better when your crazy opponent held 9-2. Suppose the Turn comes the Ace of Hearts. Since you went and represented big cards preflop, your opponent that very well might have bet into or raised you may now back off. These are lost bets for you. Slow playing your hand before the flop puts the question to the opponent when you raise on a card that may or may not have hurt them. In this situation, they might put you on a bluff and re-raise you. Call around preflop, and see what options come your way on the flop.

Second Stage: Flop Play

      Playing on the flop depends not only on if you've hit a piece of the flop but also how you hit it. When you hit a hand that should be fairly concealed (such as starting with A-6 and getting a 8-6-6 flop), go ahead and make a raise on the flop. When you're called or re-raised though, just call them down and defer any further moves until the turn. This way you put the possibility that you might be thinking of folding your hand if another round of big bets comes on the Turn into the other players minds. When they start betting and raising into you on the turn, you'll be ready to pump it even higher and get paid off with your huge hand that they probably thought was just a bluff on the Flop. However, if you hit the flop in an obvious way (such as starting with A-Q and getting a A-A-K flop) you should only call the opponents bets. Hardly anyone will have a real piece of a big flop such as this (you hold most of the cards they would need) so you'll probably see a lot of checking and folding at this point. Just calling over and over again with a huge Flop makes it seem like you're hanging in there hoping no one has an Ace or King. When the big bets start coming trying to bluff you out on the Turn, you'll be ready to take control and get paid off.

Third Stage: Turn Play

      This is where you make your stand, or you live to fight another day. On the turn the bets double, therefore you must have a winning hand or a hand with excellent drawing potential in order to continue on. You need to know when to fold. Most players look for a way to keep playing a hand, whereas you should be looking for an excuse to get out of it. What can beat you? How has the betting come down to this point? Can you afford to play it for all the big bets should you get raised and re-raised? Will you have the confidence to push it all the way should you get check-raised on the river? These are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself. The turn is the stage in which you need to be paranoid. When it's all said and done, if you play on the turn you're going to have a hard time folding on the river. That's why it's called the turn. It is your turning point in the hand. If you think too much at this point you will probably end up confusing yourself and doing more harm than good. Quickly review how the hand has played out so far in your head, and then get in or get out.

Final Stage: River Play

      At this point you're entrenched in the hand. There is no need for "plays" or "moves" on the river. It's time to dip your pan in and see if you've hit gold. Either pump the pot with big bets or calculate your other options. Most of the issues you'll be facing are going to be betting considerations. Can you make more taking the risk of checking your hand to the opponents, or have you judged them to be consistently over-aggressive where a bet should get a raise and then you can re-raise them? Maximize your winning chances, but remember that someone will more than likely be calling you down just to keep you "honest".

Intermediate Limit Hold em Strategy

      Here are some efficient intermediate strategy ideas that should help you stay ahead of the game. These are some of the most important points you can retain about the general nature of the game.