Top 10 No Limit Holdem Tips

• No Limit Hold'em Tournament Strategy
• No Limit Hold'em Tournament Strategy
• Fixed Limit Holdem Tournament Strategy

MTT No Limit Hold’em Strategy Poker Strategy for No Limit Hold’em MTT’s. Multi table tournaments are one of the most lucrative ways to play poker. As seen on TV, players buy in for. Harrington on Hold ’em: Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments, Volume I: Strategic Play. No-limit hold ’em is such a big and complicated game that I couldn't squeeze all the information into just one book, so Harrington on Hold ’em is a two-volume set. In this first book, Volume I.

In the last 10 years No Limit Hold’em has become the most popular game played in the world. Thanks in part to “TV Poker” and the massive Multi-Table Tournament prize pools. No Limit Cash Games and tournaments are now a permanent fixture in land based casinos as well, and it’s really not a big surprise. No Limit Poker Games allow players to be aggressive, they have lots of action, and of course you can win big pots.The flip side of no Limit Poker, is that you can also go broke in one hand.

To help you avoid going broke, you have put together this simple guide if the Top 10 No Limit Poker Tips, so the next NL game you play, you can be confident that you know what edges to exploit against your opponents, and what strategies you can use to your advantage. Below, you will find a list of tips that will be of immense value to all NL Holdem players who are just getting started with their career.

No Limit Holdem Tip #1 – Playing tight and aggressive is good

No Limit Hold'em Tournament Strategy

Most online grinders adopt a tight aggressive playing style because it works. By playing fewer hands it makes post flop play easier, since you will find yourself in fewer tough spots where you are unsure if you have the best hand.

No Limit Holdem Tip #2 – Adding deception to your game

Although a tight aggressive strategy is usually best, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t alter your strategy by sometimes entering pots with a raise with hands like suited connectors, or three betting with them, etc. Adding deception to your play can be extremely effective because your opponents will have a hard time putting you on hands when you hit, which will make it easier to get paid off.

No Limit Holdem Tip #3 – Never slow play your big hands

In no-limit hold’em, so many novice players tend to make the mistake of slow playing their big hands to trap an opponent. For example, instead of open raising with AA, an inexperienced player will just limp into the pot to try and set a trap, allowing other players with speculative hands to enter the pot and suck out on them. You only have the advantage with of the best hand holding AA preflop, on the flop it might just be another pair of overcards versus a straight or a flush, which can cost you a lot of money.

It’s never usually a good idea to slow playing your hand. Most players will call you with all kind of hands. You should observe the board texture to see if there are any potential draws out there. It would be a cardinal sin to give free cards on a draw heavy board, allowing your opponent to catch their draw at no cost.

That being said, it sometimes can be good to slow play, when there are no possible draws, and it’s impossible for your opponent to have a hand they can call with. In this situation, slow playing allows your opponent to hit a hand, allowing you to extract more value then had you bet straight away.

No Limit Holdem Tip #4 – Take advantage of the semi bluff

Bluffing is an important aspect of beating NL hold’em games. One of the easiest ways to incorporate a bluffing strategy into your game is by taking advantage of the semi bluff. Bluffing when you have zero outs to improve the hand is a bad idea, but when you have some out, like when you have a flush draw, even when you get called, you still have a decent chance of winning the hand, even though your intention is to take down the pot straight away.

No Limit Holdem Tip #5 – Pay close attention to your opponents

When playing in NL hold’em tournaments or cash games, you want to closely observe the other players at the table, so you know who’s playing loose or right, to get a better idea of their playing styles. It would be a bad idea trying to bluff a loose player, but if you can be confident your playing against a tight player and you find yourself in a heads up situation when you have nothing, but you sense weakness, it could be a good time to bluff. Your observant skills allowed you to win a pot you may not have won otherwise.

No Limit Holdem Tip #6 – Avoid bluffing bad players

It’s a good idea to refrain from trying to bluff bad players, because they are mostly only interested in their own hands, instead of what the betting of their opponents is trying to represent. For instance, if a player is willing to call you down with a bottom pair hand, getting folds from them is going to be extremely rare, and you should simply be looking to value bet against them.

No Limit Holdem Tip #7 – Position is extremely powerful

Play more hands in position then when you’re out of position, for the simple fact that position is more profitable in any poker games you play.

No Limit Holdem Tip #8 – Adjusting to your opponents

There is no black/white strategy to adopt in NL hold’em. Some players will be maniacs always looking to make bold bluffs, while other players will sit snug and only look to play big pots with big hands. As a poker player, you need to adjust to the different playing styles of your opponents, so that you can react to their actions in an optimal manner.

No Limit Holdem Tip #9 – Trap the maniac with a strong hand

Against a maniac who is playing loose and aggressively, it’s much better to check and set the trap when you have a strong hand, because it’s highly likely they will interpret this as a sign of weakness and will bet into you, perhaps even bluffing off their stack.

No Limit Holdem Tip #10 – Value bet calling stations

You should be doing this all day long when you have a decent made hand. Chances are they are calling with worse because they don’t know how to fold. The beauty of NL hold’em is you get to choose your bet sizes, so you can extract a ton of value with your value bets.

Other Top 10 Tips Articles:

In yesterday's article I discussed how no-limit players face certain challenges when jumping into the increasingly popular fixed-limit games that are part of mixed-game and H.O.R.S.E. rotations. There I talked primarily about how implied odds work differently (and are less significant) in limit games as opposed to no-limit.

Because of that big difference, the way you play your hand in limit is going to be very different from how you'd play the same cards in no limit. Today I want to explore five more ways NL players have to adjust their thinking when playing in limit games.

1. Play Much More Selectively Preflop

Since limit doesn't have the huge implied odds that no-limit has, it's much more important to avoid situations with long drawing odds. Put simply, you should chase less in limit than in no-limit.

In limit, you are awarded far less when your long shots come in. So you don't want to play them. Low suited connectors should be less appealing to play if the hand is raised preflop. Same thing for low pairs. Unless nearly everyone is in preflop, you can't get the pot odds to justify set mining or to go for other long shot draws.

2. Press Your Advantages Early

Because the amount you can win in later streets is so much more limited in limit, you need to press your advantages when you have them. When you have a strong hand, you're looking to extract extra bets whenever you can. Accordingly, you will be more likely to raise preflop, especially in position, with medium pairs and with big cards like , , and .

3. Play Much More Selectively on the Flop

I'm not suggesting that you have to always play 'fit or fold' poker, but in limit games you certainly want to lean more in that direction than in no-limit. In no-limit you can justify getting out of line early since you can use bet sizing later to cause your opponent to make stack-sized errors. Not so with limit, when your ability to make money is so circumscribed.

Put another way, you can't get as creative with your line of play on the flop, because the play after the flop will tend to be much more straightforward, and the reward for fooling your opponent comparatively smaller.

4. Call More on the River

The bet on the river is likely to be a very small percentage of the size of the pot, which means you're getting much better pot odds for your call than is often the case with river bets in no-limit.

Looked at another way, a typical limit pot might be 10 times the size of that final-round 'big bet.' That means if you make a mistake by calling incorrectly on the river you're only losing a single bet, but if you fold incorrectly you've made a pot-sized mistake that is 10 times greater than your error of folding incorrectly. Unless you are nearly certain that you are beaten, you should call a bet on the river in limit hold'em.

No Limit Hold'em Tournament Strategy

5. Check-Raise More Frequently

There's check-raising in no-limit, of course, but it's a much more important and frequently used tool in limit games. You need to use it for two reasons chiefly.

Fixed Limit Holdem Tournament Strategy

First off, to gain an advantage in limit games you must pick up extra bets when you can, and check-raising is one means by which to get an extra bet in on a given round. Similarly, since the bet is limited, it carries much less clout when you are trying to force other players out of the pot. You must use the check-raise to increase the power of your betting action to get opponents to fold. In no-limit you can exert such pressure with the size of your bet — an option not available to you in limit.

Conclusion

In many games, when playing limit, it's often going to be the steady, consistent, by-the-book strategy that will win the money. Tend to play tight in the early betting round, but don't fold to a bet on the river unless you're sure you're beaten. Endeavor to win the extra bet whenever possible.

In limit it's important that you consistently press your advantages at every opportunity, and not try to fool your opponent into making stack-sized errors as is a goal in no-limit.

Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold'em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.

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