Using pot limit tactics in no-limit holdem
Author: adminQuite often when you are playing deep stacked Texas Hold em cash games then playing as if the game were pot limit would orientate you with betting levels. Let us look at a mistake that many novices make when they play no-limit for the first time. What you have to remember is that when you play no-limit for the first time and especially no-limit cash games then you are essentially playing a form of poker where you will have to play through the streets with varying sized bets. In limit holdem then you will not have to face varying sized bets because the game is structured.
So what this means is that players who play limit holdem first only ever bet in two increments, the small bet and the big bet and these are fixed. So in a $5-$10 limit game then you bet in increments of $5 pre-flop and on the flop and $10 on the turn and river betting rounds. If the pot is $20 in limit then you can only bet $5 on the flop in a $5-$10 game and if you want to raise then you can only do so to $10. But players who have come from a limit holdem or tournament holdem background are used to playing short stacked in the case of tournament no-limit or having structured betting in limit.
But you can buy in for one hundred big blinds in a cash game and also top back up if you lose that money. But a $20 pot in no-limit is different as you can bet anything from the minimum to an all-in for whatever size your stack is. I often see players under bet or over bet the pot chronically. As a rule this is often a sign of weakness in the case of under betting. An example may be if the pot is say $10 and someone bets $1. This is strange bet on so many fronts. If it is a bluff then it simply isnt betting enough as the next player is getting 11/1 on their money. If you have the nuts then why not bet more?
A $1 bet would get called but so would a $2 bet or even a $3 bet. In fact depending on the pot size and the board texture then you could get far more if you held the nuts. Likewise if you shoved all in for $50 with only $10 in the pot! If this were a bluff then why risk so much when a fraction of the bet could have taken the pot down. Also if you have a strong hand then you are likely to lose your market. As a broad rule of thumb then make your bets and raises between half the size of the pot or the full pot unless you have reason to believe that an all-in would get called or your raise is close to putting you all in.
Tags: Betting, Games, Poker