No-Limit Strategy - Big Poker

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Most players who earned their stripes playing in the public cardrooms of Vancouver learned to play one game only: limit hold’em. But now, in the post-WPT, post-ESPN world, it’s no-limit hold’em that everyone wants to play. While many of the players in a typical no-limit hold’em game might be new to the game, trying out the “all-in game”, many are seasoned players at big-bet hold’em, making them formidable no-limit players.

I am one of those players. I was raised in the limit hold’em cardrooms of Vancouver. I enjoyed success in the relatively loose, passive low- and mid-limit games that were prevalent of the time. I didn’t play much in the way of no-limit hold’em cash games until I started playing more on the internet. Until recently, it was hard to find a no-limit game in the public cardrooms of Vancouver. Even the major casinos and cardrooms in Las Vegas and Los Angeles rarely spread no-limit cash games. So until recently, if you lived in North America and wanted a good selection of no-limit hold’em cash games to play, the internet was the place to do it. Nowadays, of course, there aren’t many cardrooms where you won’t find the “Cadillac of Poker”.

Initially, I had a hard time adapting to the differences between limit and no-limit hold’em. Poker players often refer to opponents derisively by saying they play with a “limit” accent in no-limit games, or vice versa. In this article, I’d like to talk a bit about how a winning limit hold’em cash game player can become a better no-limit hold’em cash game player. The easiest way to do that is to talk about the typical mistakes a successful limit hold’em player makes when he changes over to no-limit.

1. Betting too often

This first mistake may come as a surprise. After all, isn’t no-limit hold’em a game of aggression? Aren’t the super-aggressive players like Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey the most feared opponents at a no-limit hold’em table? Doesn’t the undisputed all-time guru of no-limit hold’em, Doyle Brunson, advocate a powerful, attacking style?

The answer to all of those questions is yes. Doyle’s (and Gus’ and Phil’s, among others) style of picking up small pots whereever possible is as valid now as it was when he literally wrote the book on no-limit hold’em 30 years ago. However what most successful, strong limit players converting to no-limit don’t realize is that you don’t have to bet medium-strength as often in limit hold’em. In limit hold’em, the pot is your primary concern. Since the pot is laying you good odds, you often need to bet – whether it’s to protect your made hand, or as a semi-bluff. For example, in limit hold’em if you’re heads-up on the turn against one opponent, and you’re holding a hand like middle pair, you should usually bet the turn even if you’re really not sure whether you have the best hand. That’s because if you check and allow your opponent a free card to draw out on you for free in a situation where he would have folded, you’ve cost yourself a lot of money. However in no-limit, since for your bet to have credibility it needs to be about one-third to two-thirds of the pot, the price of protecting your hand is much more. Therefore it’s not a huge disaster to give up a free card which costs you the pot, if you had significant doubts about whether your hand was best.

Another instance of this is when you hold a good draw. Let’s suppose in limit hold’em you raised before the flop with AsKs and got two callers. The flop comes down Js9c2s. You bet, as you should, and one of your two opponents call. The turn is no help to you, a 7h. Your opponent checks to you. In limit hold’em, unless you have some information about your opponent that indicates to you that you should check, you should typically bet in this situation. Your opponent may fold a better hand like Ad9d, ThTc, Ac2c or even 9h8h. You may still have the best hand, if your opponent holds a hand like QsTc, Th8h, KdQs, or 7s6s. Because it’s relatively cheap to do so, and chances are reasonable that you’ll win the pot, you should bet. Even if your opponent was sandbagging a huge hand like 2h2c and raises you, this is unfortunate, but not a disaster, because you can still call and draw out on him.

However, if the exact same sequence occurs in no-limit hold’em, it is probably a significant mistake to bet (again, unless you have some information about your opponent that indicates you should). In no-limit, when an opponent checks and calls the flop, it indicates a much stronger hand than it does in limit. While in limit it is usually correct to take a card off with a mediocre hand or a weak draw, in no-limit it is usually incorrect to make these calls, because the size of the bet (and implied bets on future streets) is so much larger. Thus you’re probably against a bigger hand than you were in the limit scenario. But more importantly, in no-limit, you can be raised off the hand. If you bet in second position and your opponent check-raises, he will probably raise you so much it would be incorrect for you to draw at your flush. Now you have to fold. By betting and allowing yourself to be check-raised, you’ve cost yourself not only your bet and the pot, but also any bet that you would have won on the river after completing your flush (or even top pair, if that was enough to win).

Yet another situation where limit players bet too much is in last position on the river. In limit hold’em, holding all else equal, you should typically bet top pair on the river against a single opponent. In no-limit hold’em, it’s often a mistake to do so. By the time the river card is dealt in limit hold’em, the pot is usually laying your opponent good enough odds that he will call if he has anything at all. Therefore you value bet knowing your opponent will call with almost any kind of hand. In no-limit, however, it’s rare that an opponent will pay you off with a hand that top pair can beat, unless you have a profile as an aggressive bluffer. The reasons for this are both mathematical and psychological. Mathematically, if you make a solid bet on the river, your opponent is not correct to simply “call for the size of the pot”. Psychologically, many opponents have a much harder time calling say, $1500 on the river in a 10-25 blinds NL game, than $200 on the river in a $100/$200 limit hold’em game. In addition, we have the same problem as the previous scenario, presented in a different way: If your opponent puts in a big check-raise, you’ll probably have to lay down your hand. By betting, you’ve opened yourself up to the possibility of a bluff-raise on the part of your opponent, which you can’t call. In limit, the pure check-raise-bluff on the river is fairly rare, as the bluffer knows that the bettor is getting good odds to call that last bet, and probably will.

2. Paying off too much

Suppose you’re heads-up on the flop against a very aggressive player. He’s raised before the flop, and you were the only caller. You make something like middle pair with an ace kicker. True to his style, he’s come out gunning on the flop, and there’s no indication he’s going to stop betting any time soon. Should you call him down?

In limit hold’em, the answer is almost certainly yes. Unless you pick up a tell or the board gets very scary, you normally should call down heads-up with middle pair against a very aggressive opponent. In fact, calling down is often preferable to firing back at him, because you’re letting him bet your hand for you if he has nothing. Because you he’s a gunner, you’re not afraid of giving free cards – he’s going to take care of the betting for you.

In no-limit, however, calling down an aggressive opponent automatically is a recipe for disaster. If you buy in for around 50-100 times the big blind, your entire stack is in danger any time you play a pot against an aggressive player – even if you never raise. Let’s suppose the game is no-limit with $5 and $10 blinds. If your opponent raises to $50 before the flop, you call, and check and call a pot-sized bet on the flop and turn, you’ll be facing a bet for pretty much all your chips on the river. Are you so confident in your read on your aggressive opponent that you’re consistently willing to back your stack with middle pair? If so, I want you in my game.

Usually the best thing to do against a very aggressive player like this is to fire back at him early in the hand. A good-sized raise preflop or on the flop will tell your opponent that you mean business, and that he’s going to have to risk his stack if he wants to take you off the hand.

Another spot where good limit players fail in no-limit is paying off on the river. In a limit game, a good player will often raise preflop, lead out on the flop, bet again on the turn, and again on the river. Sometimes the good player will get raised on the river and figure that he is beat, but pay off anyway. As we discussed earlier, he is usually correct to do so. However in no-limit, if the player with the initiative gets raised, his best play is often to fold, not call.