No Limit Strategy
Newbs take note, before you head over to the big folks game at Full Tilt Poker, Stars, or a live game – Turn off the ADHD and read a few a solid poker strategy articles. Your ego AND your poker bankroll will thank you for it later. Just because you’ve seen Gus bluff two blokes off a big hand watching World Poker Tour re-runs doesn’t mean that tactic will work in your particular game, in fact it’s almost guaranteed NOT to work. Why not?
- No Limit Holdem Cash Strategy. Some players argue that the best Texas holdem cash game players are at the no limit tables so if you want to be the best you need to be playing no limit. While no one knows if this statement is true, playing against the best players isn’t a winning player’s goal. Your goal should always be to win the most money.
- Jan 05, 2021 No limit Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker variation in the world. Learn when to go allin from our poker strategy & training articles.
Bluffing in No Limit games is akin to trying to fly – by jumping off a cliff
There are common mistakes that no limit hold’ em poker players commit that cost them money. The list of 10 Common No Limit Hold’ Em mistakes below is not strictly geared towards the beginning poker player. If you find yourself in a downswing, it may not be just variance. Take a look at the list below to be sure you plug up any leaks. The three most popular limits are no limit, pot limit, and fixed limit. Let’s take a closer look at what these are and how to use them to get the most out of your poker session. No limit is the most popular limit-type in the world, as the majority of games are played with it.
It would be really cool to fly like Superman, right? Sure it would, what kid didn’t dream of flying around checking things out from 10,000 feet (In my case it was The Greatest American Hero but I digress). The problem is, only a select few superheros and bad guys were ever able to do it. And guess what? They only did it on the big screen or your television.
See a pattern here?
Hopefully you’ve connected the dots and are starting to grasp a fundamental concept of Poker 101 – the bluff is rarely successful when you’re new to the game. This is only compounded when you’re playing Low Limit Hold’em (aka No Fold’em Hold’em) where the odds of getting a guy/girl to lay down a decent hand are about – NIL NADA ZERO. There are certainly good spots to try and bluff a player off a hand but let’s get the basics down first, Tex – no shooting first and asking questions later around, OK?
Poker Crash Course
We will assume that you already know the very basics of Texas Hold’em (the Flop, Turn, River stuff) and perhaps cut your teeth playing some Limit Poker online at a site such as Cake Poker or UB. Now you’re looking to take a stab at the Cadillac of poker (according to my good friend Doyle Brunson) and are ready to feel the rush of playing a game where you can lose your entire stack in one hand or conversely, take another poor saps stack when you hit your Flush on the turn while he makes his top set. The very first thing you need to do is check your wallet, piggy bank, or that sock where you stuff your Poker Bankroll. The size of your bankroll is going to directly determine the type of stakes you begin playing. Got a few hundred in that dirty sock? Then head right over the 200NL table at Full Tilt and have fun!
Hold up Cowboy
Hopefully you kept reading and didn’t take my poor attempt at sarcasm seriously. Proper bankroll sizing is a must and hopefully will keep you from jumping off a bridge or going on Life Tilt if you lose a big hand here and there (it WILL happen, not a matter of it, but when). Assuming you followed my simple little guide below when you bought into the game, you’ll still have enough cash to eat dinner and gas up the car on the ride home. Check it out -
(This chart assumes that you need 300 Big Blinds, the generally accepted average bankroll size among professional players that were asked this question)
.5 / 1 NL = $300.00
1 / 2 NL = $600.00
2 / 4 NL = $1,200.00
3 / 6 NL = $1,800.00
4 /8 NL = $2,400.00
5 / 10 NL = $3,000.00
Yes, I stopped at 5/10 NL Poker because if you’re seriously ready to play at any higher level and have the bankroll you’re either one lucky SOB or your Daddy runs a Hedgefund (guess you’d still be a lucky SOB in that case, too but whatever). The gist here is that you at least have the funds to get into the right game and aren’t at risk of losing your entire stash to a bad beat.
So I’m going to assume at this point that you’ve got the ‘roll. You’re now looking to learn a few basic tips that put into practice sot that your bankroll heads north (read: get’s bigger, grows, swells, increases, etc) vs. the alternative. Remember, you don’t want to end up like this guy
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No limit ring games are the bread and butter for many of the wealthiest poker players in the world. Tournament poker gets most of the attention, but no limit ring games are where the real money is made. There are ring games players out there right now earning several million dollars a year playing both live and online.
Ring games are difficult, but they are also rewarding. In no limit ring games, you have the freedom to take risks, develop a table image and play against weak players for extended periods of time. Poker tournaments have their advantages as well, but they do not give you as many opportunities to exploit your opponents.
One major advantage to no limit ring games is that you can play against the same opponents for extended periods of time. If you win an opponent’s entire stack, there’s a good chance that opponent will buy in again and continue playing. In tournament poker, you do not have the same opportunity.
No limit ring games also let you punish your opponents more severely. In fixed limit poker and tournament poker, you can only punish your opponents so much. In a ring game, an opponent’s entire buyin is always on the line. One mistake from one of your opponents can result in an instant payday for you.
Ring Game Strategy
There are a few ways to approach ring game strategy. For most players (especially new players) I recommend the tight-aggressive approach. The tight-aggressive (tag) approach is the most basic proven winning strategy. Many of today’s top ring game players use a simple tag style to make a killing in no limit ring games.
I will explain the tag style more in depth later in the next part of this poker strategy guide. For the rest of the guide, I’ll explain a variety of topics that all revolve around no limit ring games. There’s a lot to learn, but don’t let that overwhelm you. The complexity of poker strategy is what makes it such a fun (and profitable) game.
The strategy in this poker guide is written specifically for online ring games. The strategy will work for live games as well, but some of the things we talk about deal specifically with online poker. And plus, we figure that since this entire strategy guide is all online, most of you will be playing online ring games anyways.
Poker No Limit Strategy
If you do play live poker, that’s OK too. The general level of play in online ring games is much more skilled than at live games of equal stakes. If you can make a little money in online ring games, you’ll make a killing a live ring games.
6 Handed No Limit Strategy
And finally, remember that no poker strategy is guaranteed to make you a winner. If you apply the strategy you find here, you’ll be a winner of the long run. But in the short run, things can happen and you’ll go through ups and downs along the way. The key is to always play within your bankroll and to be able to take breaks when the going gets rough. Keep at it, though, and you can make a lot of money.