Nl Holdem Poker
Top 10 No Limit Holdem Tips
- In the last 10 years No Limit Hold’em has become the most popular game played in the world. Thanks in part to “TV Poker” and the massive Multi-Table Tournament prize pools. No Limit Cash Games and tournaments are now a permanent fixture in land based casinos as well, and it’s really not a big surprise.
- No Limit Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular variant of the game. It’s what you’ll see on TV and the game most people like to play online at Replay Poker. At a ring game, there is a limit to how many chips you can sit down with. From then on you can bet as much as you want on any single hand.
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In the last 10 years No Limit Hold’em has become the most popular game played in the world. Thanks in part to “TV Poker” and the massive Multi-Table Tournament prize pools. No Limit Cash Games and tournaments are now a permanent fixture in land based casinos as well, and it’s really not a big surprise. No Limit Poker Games allow players to be aggressive, they have lots of action, and of course you can win big pots.The flip side of no Limit Poker, is that you can also go broke in one hand.
To help you avoid going broke, you have put together this simple guide if the Top 10 No Limit Poker Tips, so the next NL game you play, you can be confident that you know what edges to exploit against your opponents, and what strategies you can use to your advantage. Below, you will find a list of tips that will be of immense value to all NL Holdem players who are just getting started with their career.
No Limit Holdem Tip #1 – Playing tight and aggressive is good
Most online grinders adopt a tight aggressive playing style because it works. By playing fewer hands it makes post flop play easier, since you will find yourself in fewer tough spots where you are unsure if you have the best hand.
No Limit Holdem Tip #2 – Adding deception to your game
Although a tight aggressive strategy is usually best, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t alter your strategy by sometimes entering pots with a raise with hands like suited connectors, or three betting with them, etc. Adding deception to your play can be extremely effective because your opponents will have a hard time putting you on hands when you hit, which will make it easier to get paid off.
No Limit Holdem Tip #3 – Never slow play your big hands
In no-limit hold’em, so many novice players tend to make the mistake of slow playing their big hands to trap an opponent. For example, instead of open raising with AA, an inexperienced player will just limp into the pot to try and set a trap, allowing other players with speculative hands to enter the pot and suck out on them. You only have the advantage with of the best hand holding AA preflop, on the flop it might just be another pair of overcards versus a straight or a flush, which can cost you a lot of money.
It’s never usually a good idea to slow playing your hand. Most players will call you with all kind of hands. You should observe the board texture to see if there are any potential draws out there. It would be a cardinal sin to give free cards on a draw heavy board, allowing your opponent to catch their draw at no cost.
That being said, it sometimes can be good to slow play, when there are no possible draws, and it’s impossible for your opponent to have a hand they can call with. In this situation, slow playing allows your opponent to hit a hand, allowing you to extract more value then had you bet straight away.
No Limit Holdem Tip #4 – Take advantage of the semi bluff
Bluffing is an important aspect of beating NL hold’em games. One of the easiest ways to incorporate a bluffing strategy into your game is by taking advantage of the semi bluff. Bluffing when you have zero outs to improve the hand is a bad idea, but when you have some out, like when you have a flush draw, even when you get called, you still have a decent chance of winning the hand, even though your intention is to take down the pot straight away.
No Limit Holdem Tip #5 – Pay close attention to your opponents
When playing in NL hold’em tournaments or cash games, you want to closely observe the other players at the table, so you know who’s playing loose or right, to get a better idea of their playing styles. It would be a bad idea trying to bluff a loose player, but if you can be confident your playing against a tight player and you find yourself in a heads up situation when you have nothing, but you sense weakness, it could be a good time to bluff. Your observant skills allowed you to win a pot you may not have won otherwise.
No Limit Holdem Tip #6 – Avoid bluffing bad players
It’s a good idea to refrain from trying to bluff bad players, because they are mostly only interested in their own hands, instead of what the betting of their opponents is trying to represent. For instance, if a player is willing to call you down with a bottom pair hand, getting folds from them is going to be extremely rare, and you should simply be looking to value bet against them.
No Limit Holdem Tip #7 – Position is extremely powerful
Play more hands in position then when you’re out of position, for the simple fact that position is more profitable in any poker games you play.
No Limit Holdem Tip #8 – Adjusting to your opponents
There is no black/white strategy to adopt in NL hold’em. Some players will be maniacs always looking to make bold bluffs, while other players will sit snug and only look to play big pots with big hands. As a poker player, you need to adjust to the different playing styles of your opponents, so that you can react to their actions in an optimal manner.
No Limit Holdem Tip #9 – Trap the maniac with a strong hand
Against a maniac who is playing loose and aggressively, it’s much better to check and set the trap when you have a strong hand, because it’s highly likely they will interpret this as a sign of weakness and will bet into you, perhaps even bluffing off their stack.
No Limit Holdem Tip #10 – Value bet calling stations
You should be doing this all day long when you have a decent made hand. Chances are they are calling with worse because they don’t know how to fold. The beauty of NL hold’em is you get to choose your bet sizes, so you can extract a ton of value with your value bets.
Other Top 10 Tips Articles:
In addition to the many forms of poker, there are also several betting variations that are played. In our rules of poker lesson we explained how to play Texas hold’em but we didn’t mention the betting limits in our example hand, as it may have been a case of too much, too soon. In this poker lesson we’re going to use hold’em as the game format – but this time using the different betting variations; fixed-limit, pot-limit and no-limit.
For simplicity we’ll assume a hold’em poker game with a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2. While the three different betting structures will all be posting the same amount, you’ll see a big difference in how the games will play due to the different betting variations.
Fixed Limit
In fixed limit, as its name implies, one’s choice of how much to bet is fixed by the stakes. Using our example of $1 and $2 blinds, the player “under the gun” (this is the first player to the left of the big blind) has three options.
- He may call the $2 big blind.
- He may raise but is only permitted to raise $2 as the limits are fixed.
- He may fold and sit out this hand and wait for a new deal. He may not check as the purpose of the blinds is to create the initial action.
If anyone wishes to raise then they can only do so in increments of $2, as shown here:
After this first round of betting the dealer delivers the flop. Players are still limited to a maximum bet of $2 and raises of $2. However, on the turn and river the betting amount doubles, so in our example the betting would now be in $4 increments. These are known as ‘big bets’. There isn’t a choice of betting either $2 or $4. If one now wishes to bet, the amount must be $4 and raises must be in $4 increments. In fact, a fixed limit game with blinds of $1 and $2 is called a $2-$4 game due to the early betting rounds being limited to $2 and the last two rounds doubling but limited to $4.
In fixed limit games, each round of betting usually has a maximum number of allowable raises, which is generally capped at three. If there’s a bet, it can usually only be raised three times, after which all players must call, or fold. In a $2-$4 game the most a player could wager on the first two betting rounds would be $8 (a call, raise, raise, raise) and $16 on the turn and river, if the betting was capped. It’s worth pointing out that some venues will allow more than 3 raises per betting round, so be sure to know the house rules before you sit down and play.
It is generally believed that the primary strategy for a fixed limit hold’em poker game stresses the importance of value betting. We will be explaining and expounding upon value betting and other strategic nuances of poker in later lessons but for now just know that value betting occurs when you actually want your opponents to call your bets as you believe you hold the best hand. So just save this little nugget of information for later in your poker development.
It’s also worth briefly mentioning a variation on fixed limit called spread limit poker. It’s very similar to fixed limit except the amount of the allowable bet is fixed to a range rather than a particular amount. For example in a $1-$3 spread limit poker game you have the option to bet or raise anywhere from $1 to $3. The normal restriction is that each bet or raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise. For example if the action is on you and an opponent raised $2 you could not re-raise $1. Your options for re-raising would be either $2 or $3.
Pot Limit
In pot limit play the amount a player can wager is determined by the size of the pot, hence the name pot limit. Pot limit play can get a whole lot pricier than limit play. As the size of the pot grows, the size of the bets can also increase. Let’s review an example using the same stakes of a $1 and $2 blind structure, as we did in limit play.
In pot limit the first player to the left of the big blind has the same options as the player in fixed limit in terms of calling, raising or folding. The difference is in how much he can raise. Calling would simply be matching the $2 posted big blind. Folding requires nothing but mucking (throwing away) your cards. If the player wishes to raise he can raise to a total of $7. How that number is arrived at is as follows: small blind bet of $1 plus the big blind bet of $2 plus a call of $2 equals $5, which would be the raise. The raiser is then calling $2 and raising $5 for a total of $7.
To demonstrate the dramatic difference between our first variation of betting in fixed, let’s see what can happen after the flop in pot limit.
With $31 in the pot, the first player can bet anywhere from $2 to $31. The next player has several options, but if he wishes to raise then the minimum amount he can raise is the size of the previous bet. The maximum he can raise is $93 more ($62 in the pot, plus the call of $31), meaning his total bet would be $124. Wow, this could get expensive!
The thing to remember in pot limit is a player who wishes to raise first counts the amount he would need to call and adds it to the pot and then can raise the size of the pot. As you can see the betting in pot limit hold’em can escalate much quicker than in fixed limit hold’em. The emphasis in pot limit is placed on post flop play. The reason for this is that you can normally see flops fairly cheaply before the pot grows to the size where raises can get pretty expensive. So our nugget to remember at this juncture for the betting variation of pot limit is to focus to strong post flop play.
No Limit
No limit hold’em has been called by many but most notably, Doyle Brunson (legendary poker player), as the ‘Cadillac of poker’. Its name says it all – there is no limit, except the size of the blinds. Still using the same blind structure as $1 and $2, the first player to act can call, fold or raise. The difference from the other two structures is that a player can raise a minimum of the size of the big blind, but his maximum allowable bet is only limited to the chips he has in front of him at the table (the amount he started the hand with). If there has been a bet beforehand, then the minimum raise amount would be the size of the previous bet. For example, if a player bets $50 then if the next player wishes to raise he must bet at least $100. This is the same as in pot limit, but with one big different, there is no maximum limit.
To use an extreme example to demonstrate the dynamic this format of betting offers, let’s imagine a player in the same $1 small blind and $2 big blind game that happens to have $10,000 in front of him. The action is on him and if he wishes to play he must at least call the $2, however he can elect to raise his entire $10,000!
So you thought pot limit could get expensive – not compared to no limit.
Please bear in mind that although this player has gone all-in for $10,000 – it’s really only $200 – which is the total amount the other player can wager. He can’t win money that another player doesn’t have, and vice versa. This is not like the movies! If you recall the scene from the classic western comedy ‘A Big Hand for the Little Lady’ – she gets up during the middle of a poker hand and runs to the bank to get the deed for the ranch – to call someone’s bet. Well, you can’t do that in Texas hold’em. You can’t do that in any casino anywhere in the world. Poker is always played at table stakes, and table stakes means you can only wager the amount of money you have in front of you when the hand begins. You can’t reach into your wallet mid-stream and pull out more money. You certainly can’t run and get the deed to your ranch, and toss that into the pot – or the keys to your BMW, as a way of calling a bet. That’s the movies – not real life!
Conclusion
The betting variations described in this lesson are listed in order of excitement, danger, risk and reward. The first variation, fixed limit is safer than either of the other two due to the limit which can be bet. As you can see both pot limit and no limit can become daunting as the amounts bet and raised can escalate very quickly. Which you may favour becomes a matter of taste. Some prefer the smooth, relaxing ride of a carousel while others crave the adrenalin rush offered by a roller coaster.
Related Lessons
Nl Texas Hold'em Poker
By Tom 'TIME' Leonard
Nl Hold'em Strategy
Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.