Texas holdem - limit and no limit games
(A Poker article from the Empire Poker Site.
Limit texas holdem is by far the most popular form of poker game played in both brick and mortar and online poker rooms. However, the increasing popularity of the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker has sprung more interest in no limit texas holdem side games. This poker article from the Empire Poker web site 'empirepoker.com'will explain the differences between no limit texas holdem and limit texas holdem ring games.
Limit texas holdem is a game of patience and odds. Bluffing and semi-bluffing are not very powerful weapons. Big cards are important at limit texas holdem, and it is in players' interest to generally bet top pair very forcefully. While an odd hand like a set will occasionally hurt someone with top pair, the losing poker player will not lose a huge chunk of their stack because of it. In sum, limit texas holdem is a game of maximizing wins and minimizing losses over a huge run of hands. Generally, one or two hands will not make or break a session.
No limit texas holdem stresses psychology and 'big hands' much more so. On any given hand you can double up or lose your entire poker chips stack. Because of this, bluffing and especially semi-bluffing are more formidable weapons. Top pair is not a very good hand at no limit texas holdem because all it can beat is a draw or a bluff. Thus, it cannot stand heavy action unless you are fairly sure your opponent is drawing. In fact, bluffing is so powerful at no limit texas holdem that most middle to high poker stakes games go to showdowns less than 20% of the time.
Empire Poker currently does not host very high stakes no limit texas holdem games, and it caps the buy-ins at 50 big blinds. This decreases the 'fear factor' and spurs more action because people generally cannot lose a lot of money in relation to the blinds on any one hand. Because of this, you should not overdose on bluffing when playing at Empire Poker. In general, you should make one stab at the pot when you do bluff. On occasion take another stab, but certainly avoid bluffing all the way through a pot. Because the buy-in is fairly small, a river bluff is probably going to be called because the players will be close to all in anyway.
When you begin playing the no limit texas holdem games at Empire Poker, you should adjust your hand selection accordingly. In pots that have not been raised, play more suited connecting cards because they have the potential to win a huge pot when they hit. Also, play pocket pairs a lot. As long as the pot is not raised too much, almost any pocket pair can be played for its set value. A common way a mediocre poker player will lose his whole stack is when he hits top pair against an opponent's set.
A key difference between limit texas holdem and no limit texas holdem is the amount of information you can afford to relay to your opponents. In limit texas holdem, it almost does not matter if your opponents know the strength of your hand in the later stages of the pot. Since the pot is so huge in relation to the bet, you or they will probably call on the river, provided the hand can beat a bluff. If you have top pair and they have a busted flush draw, they cannot bluff you out of the pot on the river at a limit texas holdem game.
To play limit and no-limit texas holdem poker games check out Empire Poker. |
