Limit Hold'em pros and cons

[Legion III]

I discovered limit hold’em the other day. And I have thoroughly enjoyed it ever since.

I like the fact that it often blunts the edge of bluffs. I rarely bluff so it’s usually another player’s bluff that’s being blunted. I do however find it frustrating at times that the game makes it more difficult to out-price someone else’s draw.

Overall though I think the game suits my style of play. And I generally see a profit in these games. But I am curious. What thoughts do you guys have on limit hold’em?

[Wyte22]

Awesome if you enjoy a nice lazy day of fishing

Good = Your most of the time getting awesome pot odds to draw at anything if you hand to turn and river

Bad= Your most of the time getting awesome pots odds to donk your money off at any draw and taking it to turn and river in spite of common sense telling you different!!

[Legion III]

Awesome if you enjoy a nice lazy day of fishing

Yeah, I agree Wyte. It is a bit slower paced compared to NL I think. But at the moment I have a small bankroll and I am trying to slowly and steadily build it up to a more robust level. So I don't mind the lack of drama in the game. In fact, it seems to be precisely what I need at the moment.

I suspect I'll be spending several lazy days fishing.

[powrdragn]

There's nothing wrong with limit hold'em. As a matter of fact, with so many players specializing in no-limit, you might find some easier games there what you get things all figured out.

[iceveins0901]

or tougher games due to all the fish loving NL so much, seeing all those NL tourneys on TV doesnt help limit hold'em.


You could, however, find some more correct games at limit compared to NL, the suck outs will be less painful since you usually would say "well, I would have called with those odds and that hand"

[XDRAGON]

Pro's: The swings are low and one mistake won't wipe out your entire day's hard work.
Con's: It's hard to make any serious money from unless you play quite high stakes and if you do play high stakes you need to be very good to have an edge.

Personally i'd suggest playing short handed while playing very aggressive from late position. Remember, just because they call your bet on the flop doesn't mean they have much. You'll often need to fire a big bet bullet on the turn to make them fold. Just try to go a bit more on feel for how strong or weak your opponent is and worry less about your own cards.

[frob23]

Legion knows my step-brother, at least in the sense that he's seen him online. My step-brother originally seeded my PS account with some real money to start playing. At one point, I had about $150 (after sending $100 home to myself so the $150 was all profit)... and my step-brother proceeded to borrow $145 of that... $5 and $10 at a time.

This left me unable to play NL because I couldn't handle any size swing. So I started grinding it out at $0.02/$0.04 limit... trying to build it back up. I played a very basic and as low a variance game as was possible. When I got to about $20-$25, I started $0.05/$0.10 and was grinding it out there. In a few weeks, I was up around $35-$40. But then my step-brother started to send some repayments and it was all moot.

I honestly think I would have ended up losing if I had played NL simply because you need more to handle the swings. I might have still ended up losing playing the limit if I had had a bad run. It was very slow building up this way and I got very lucky at some points by finding some extremely profitable games.

[Jonathank]

what are you talking about. limit holdem always moves faster. it is rare that anyone pauses to think. nl, people are taking 45 seconds to act, so annoying. limit stud and omaha take forever though. i gotta say nl poker has worn thin for me. also people are often outpriced in limit, esp split pot games, but rarely fold draws when the pot odds dictate they should. but you can definitely lose a lot of money and fast in limit poker pot limit poker and nl poker. the form is pretty much irrelevant. a few losing hands in limit holdem can be quite painful. it is possible to lose 300 big bets in one session, esp if you multi table and start to get loose. like i've said in the past, it is possible to lose every hand.

[GainerRakeback]

The upside to limit is that your downside is limited. In No-limit, one mistake or bad read and you get stacked. One mistake in limit means you still got money to play. It really depends what you're there for. I think limit is more recreational.

But the downside to limit, as others have said, is that you can never bet enough to push someone off a drawing hand. If it costs them only 2 bets more to see the river and make their flush or str8, they'll call every time. In NL, you can make it very expensive for them to see another card.

My poker playing started with playing $2/4 limit holdem in the real casino for about 9 months and overall I lost. It was very frustrating. Where I am, the older (mostly men) folks now use their retirement money to play Limit Hold'em instead of the slot machines, so they are there to gamble and not fold lousy hand after hand. They want action. And they count whether they got the str8 on their fingers > for real. Every hand gets played down to the river, so the best starting hand isn't usually the best ending hand. Pocket aces or kings have much less value. I then got the courage up to play $1/2 NL, got dealt pocket aces that day, had a winning session, and haven't looked back at the limit tables.

As a post-script, you may want to try Pot Limit Hold'em. It's kind of a blend of the two games. Generally the max raise can only be the size of the pot. Your downside is limited to a degree, but you can make pot sized bets which will push players off a draw.

[frob23]

My poker playing started with playing $2/4 limit holdem in the real casino for about 9 months and overall I lost. It was very frustrating. Where I am, the older (mostly men) folks now use their retirement money to play Limit Hold'em instead of the slot machines, so they are there to gamble and not fold lousy hand after hand. They want action. And they count whether they got the str8 on their fingers > for real. Every hand gets played down to the river, so the best starting hand isn't usually the best ending hand. Pocket aces or kings have much less value.

Oh man... I want into this game. That's so insanely profitable that I would probably collapse from exhaustion at the table before I could be convinced to leave. Sure, you'll get drawn out on from time to time... but the times you win and the equity you have from your draws will easily make up for it.

[phosphorescence]

i can't imagine pot limit and no limit hold'em being that different, seeing as it's rare anyone bets larger than the pot.

the only time i can see if being different is late in a tourney when a short stack of <10BB would push, in PL they could only raise the pot amount (but they'd still probs be committed).

never really played limit much, but i can imagine that with the right attitude and knowledge it could be a very consistent winner. bit dull though!