Basic Limit Texas Holdem Poker Strategies

There’s a big difference in the way you need to go about winning in Limit Hold’em versus No-Limit Hold’em. The texas hold em rules for Limit and No-Limit are virtually the same with the exception that when you play Limit Holdem, you may not raise indefinitely since there is a cap at one bet and three raises, a total of four bets for each betting round.

You really need to think in terms of bets, not pots. The best way to think about it: winning the most bets possible when you have the best hand, and losing the fewest bets when you’re beat. The size of the pots you can win in Limit Hold’em is, as you might have guessed, limited. So the biggest value isn’t going to come from trapping an opponent into giving away his whole stack, but rather taking the advantages when they come and either saving or winning some extra bets.

Saving Bets

Assess Your Pot Odds Realistically

Pot odds in limit texas holdem can make it seem like you’re making the right call a lot, with a variety of hands. But the truth of the matter is they’re not always “correct.” Say you’re in the big blind and are called from one spot and then raised. You’re looking at 4.5-to-1 to call. Those odds are fairly good, but if your hand is 7-2 off-suit, you’re realistically not going to win more than 18 per cent of the time. And don’t forget that implied odds aren’t as important in Limit as in No Limit. 

Don’t Just Play Any Ace

Stick to suited aces and aces with big kickers. A lot of players will play with any ace, figuring it only costs one bet and if an ace flops they have top pair. Here’s the real truth: most of the time you won’t flop an ace in Texas Hold'em. So you’ll have to fold to any bet. And since everybody’s playing their aces, the few times you do flop an ace, you better have a good kicker. If you have a bad one, you’ll likely lose a big pot to someone with a better one.

Don’t Just Play Any Suited Cards

Same idea with suited cards. You rarely make a flush, and if it’s small when you do, you may lose a big pot to a larger one. Your best bet is to play suited cards when they have some other value to them, like if they’re big cards or connected cards.

Winning Bets

Work on your Check-Raise Timing

If you think you’ve got the best cards, playing straightforward and simply betting them is usually the best route, especially in low stake games. But if you’ve got the feeling a player right after you will make their own bet, you might want to check it to them. Because of the pot odds, any player who calls that bet first will probably call again when you raise, and that’s going to win you a lot of extra bets. But make sure you only do this when you’ve got a really strong hand that can hold up against quite a few players.

Value Bet like a Champ

When you’ve got the best hand on the river you have to bet it. If you’ve been checking and calling with a flush draw, and you make it on the river, bet it! If you check, your opponent will see the threat and check behind you. Also, does value bet if you have a marginal hand and you think that your opponent will call you with a hand that’s worse than yours. If you don’t learn how to value bet, you are in fact losing money.

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