Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Strategy Tips. Limit Texas hold ’em is deceptive. It appears easy to play, yet beneath that simple facade lies a game of extraordinary complexity. Many variables must be considered when making decisions, and figuring out the correct play is often difficult. Poker: Texas Hold'em (No Limit) By Masque Publishing. Report Issue. Play two face down cards and the five community cards. Bet any amount or go all-in. Close Your Gaming History. Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Strategy Tips. Limit Texas hold ’em is deceptive. It appears easy to play, yet beneath that simple facade lies a game of extraordinary complexity. Many variables must be considered when making decisions, and figuring out the correct play is often difficult.
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Once you’ve figured out basic and intermediate Texas Hold ‘em strategies, it’s time to move on to more advanced theories. As is the case at any level of sophistication, you’ll want to adapt complex strategies to your own natural style. But for those who have mainly spent their formative poker hours learning to value hands properly and avoid dangerous situations, the next level of poker thinking involves reading and understanding your opponents on a deeper level and employing more aggressive tactics.
Doyle Brunson’s Super System
Any discussion of advanced Hold ‘em strategy has to begin with the Holy Bible of power poker, Doyle Brunson’s Super System. Originally published in 1979, the book was actually a collaboration that includes sections by other poker legends like Mike Caro and Chip Reese. However, it was Brunson’s section on No-limit Hold ‘em that made the book such a masterpiece.
Of all the ways Brunson’s work changed the game, it was his explanation of “Power Poker” that truly broke new ground. He showed that you didn’t need the goods to bet, instead detailing a strategy where it was the amount and timing of your bets – not the cards or making that one, great Steve McQueen-esque read – that made the difference between winning and losing. He also explicated the now common notions of playing position and building your stack by winning small pots so you can use it as equity to gamble on a draw later in the game.
Other Advanced Strategy Resources
There are several other books that provide advice to take your game to the next level. Some of the most well-known are No Limit Hold ‘em: Theory and Practice, by David Sklansky & Ed Miller; a classic co-authored by Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie – Cash Games, and Harrington’s series - Harrington on Hold ‘em; and Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro, which is an excellent primer on reading opponents.
You can also take a look at Big Fish’s Poker Books article for more suggestions. Or, if you want to discuss poker strategy with other players on the web, you can go to forums like Card Runners and Cards Chat.
Reading Your Opponents, and Being Unreadable
Observation is as important in poker as knowing the order of hands. By watching your opponents closely you can pick up a specific tell, like a facial tic or tapping of the finger, and get an overall impression of their attitude and style of play – the cards they play, how they act when they’re winning, when they’re losing.
Another advantage to observing opponents is that it might clue you in on your own tells. The more aware you are of other people’s mistakes, the easier it is to correct your own. Self-awareness can be just as useful as observation.
Varying the hands you play and how you play them is yet another necessary strategy for throwing your opponents off. Previously, you may have always played ace-king or pocket tens the same way every time you saw them. When playing against good players that practice will make you very readable.
No Limit Texas Holdem Betting Strategy Rules
As you get more comfortable with your game, try different tactics with the same hand depending on position and timing. Try re-raising before the flop with pocket jacks, to avoid seeing a flop full of overcards. Try calling a raise with ace-king, so no one can put you on a hand that big. Then change it up the next time, hiding or over-representing your strength as the situation calls for.
You’ll also need to be willing to play garbage hands, like 8-5 offsuit, under the “any two cards” theory. Sometimes, it’s not the cards you’re playing, it’s the people. If you have a good read on someone, and a positional advantage, you may want to jump in with anything, just to see if you can hit a flop or outplay your opponent.
Advanced Mathematical Theory for Hold ‘em
Using math in poker, including incredibly complex ideas like Game Theory, can vastly improve your game. Of course, it is also one of the most difficult concepts to grasp. Thankfully, much of it involves simple memorization – knowing which hands have how much of an advantage over others, what your odds are of hitting your draw, etc.
A better understanding of how to utilize math will also help you get a better handle on important concepts like pot odds (the ratio of the size of the pot to a contemplated call) and fold equity (a calculation made when short-stacked in a no-limit or pot-limit game that determines the equity you gain when an opponent folds to your bet).
There are also a number of resources that can give you basic odds and percentages to work off of, like the article in this guide, odds calculators that are widely available on the internet and the book Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities: Limit, No-Limit, and Tournament Strategies, by Matthew Hilger.
Advanced Bluffing Strategies
While many poker players will offer one piece of advice on bluffing – don’t – it has become a necessary tactic as the game has evolved in the past decade or so. Since you’ll have to bluff at least occasionally, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind.
- First, take stock of the atmosphere of your table and each opponent you’re playing against. If there’s someone at your table who calls down nearly every bet, wait until you have a good hand to get involved with them. There’s no use trying to push an immovable object.
If you choose to bluff, make sure you know how to read your opponents.
- Second, be ready to fully commit. Too many players start bluffing before or after the flop, then lose their nerve on the turn or river. If you’ve got a read on someone, and think you can push them off their hand, stick with it, even if it means risking a large percentage of your chip stack.
- Third, take a moment to analyze strength and weakness. If the table is showing weakness on a particular hand, or simply seems weak in general, that should be a signal to you that the time is ripe to bluff.
- Finally, make sure there is enough equity in the pot to pursue your bluff. You don’t want to start throwing a bunch of money in the middle when there isn’t anything in there to steal. If you’re going to bluff, be sure to do it on a hand where it is worth your while.
For further information, check out Big Fish’s Post-Flop Strategy article.
Advanced Raising Strategies
The raise is the most effective tactic in all of poker. It feels good to say. It feels good to shove a bunch of chips in the pot. And it feels especially good when it forces your opponents to fold, or, in the event you have the nuts, when they call. The two most prevalent raising strategies that would be considered advanced are the re-raise and the check raise.
Re-Raising
Re-raising is the most intimidating move you can make at a poker table. It usually involves a lot of money, so right away you’re going to get people’s attention, and it is almost always construed as a sign of extreme strength. Because of those factors, many people refrain from re-raising unless they have the nuts. But if you really want to take your game to the next level, look to re-raise at every reasonable opportunity.
Is there a big pot where the initial bet was small, and it was followed by another relatively small raise? If you sense even a little bit of weakness, jump in with a re-raise. Do you think someone else is trying to push you off your hand? Come back over the top of them. Even if you don’t take the hand down right there, you will have a much clearer picture of what your opponent is holding.
You don’t always have to wait until the next round to raise again.
Check Raising
Then there’s the check raise. Interestingly, it was the biggest change Brunson made to the Hold ‘em section between the original Super System and the updated 2004 version, Super System 2. Originally, he advised against it. But years later, once the game had changed, mainly in reaction to his first book, he found that it had become a useful tactic.
Because the check raise is thought of as another very powerful move it can also be used to bluff. However, it gets the most utility when there are multiple players in the pot, you are in early position, have a very strong hand and use it to protect yourself from getting drawn out on.
For instance, if you’ve flopped a set, but there is a straight or a flush draw on board, check, let someone bet their draw or top pair, then when it comes back around to you put in a raise that will make the rest of the table choke. If you don’t take the pot down right there, you’re at least taxing people for trying to chase you down.
While all of these theories and techniques are important to becoming an advanced Hold ‘em player, the most effective way to become a master at the game is through experience. By taking these ideas and combining them with the lessons you’ve already learned from hours of play, the dream of finding yourself at the World Series of Poker, or sitting in front of a big pile of chips in an online or local cash game, can become a reality.
If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?
Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.
I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.
I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.
Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.
Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.
In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.
For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.
Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.
This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.
So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.
Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.
It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.
Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.
The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.
The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.
No Limit Texas Holdem Betting Strategygy Chart
In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.
No Limit Holdem Tournament Strategy
Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.
Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.
Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.
Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).
Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.
Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)
If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.
Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.
I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)
Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠
Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.