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Old 09-04-05, 07:09 PM
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This discussion has switched from the original topic, but heres my take on the whole limit/NL thing

I don't think this is entirely necessary --

I started playing Hold Em in NL cash games and NL tournaments. Once I moved online I did play a bit of limit poker, but not very much. Is there more money to be made playing limit? I don't know, because I have experimented enough. But I think there are several differences and several other oppertunities to give opponents chances to make errors in NL

Playing Against Drawing Hands:

In Limit HoldEm you simply can not protect your hand. If you have AA and raise preflop its 1 bet, the BB calls with suited cards lets say. Assuming everyone else folds including the SB (this is highly unlikely in Low limits) there is still 4.5 small bets in the pot. So if someone flops a flush draw, you can not bet them out (theyd be mathamatically wrong for folding)

In NL, you can adjust your preflop raise to get a wider hands to fold, you can adjust your bet on the flop to get drawing hands out OR make them make a mistake by calling your bet

Playing With Drawing Hands

In Limit you'll often have correct odds to call a flop bet with as little as an inside straight, a backdoor flush and an over card etc. Knowing when to lay down drawing hands, and when to call is important.

Aggression / Steals / Bluffing

It is very difficult to bluff an opponent who has anything in Low Stakes Limit Hold Em (No Fold Em Hold Em). For one more bet, anyone with a hand good enough to make it this far will probably see you all the way down

If you flop a flush draw and decide to raise, in Limit while you may buy yourself a free card on the turn to catch, it is unlikely you'll steal the pot on either or the two remaining streets.

If you flop a flush draw and decide to raise, in NL you can choose to bet out strong on the turn reppin a set or some made hand and take down the pot with aggression. People with a hands check call even if they are very sure you have a set.

Check raises become much less effective, unlike you are check raising for value...and it still decreases that value

Continuation Bets: Much less effective in Limit, almost manditory in NL

Strategy

Limit teachs you to play very straight up poker (bet when you have it fold when you dont) doesn't teach you about reads, varying bet amounts, how to effectively bluff, when to steal and when not to, different flops that are easy to represent etc.

Dont get me wrong I am not saying there are not advantages to limit as well (like people have said if you play almost mechanically and grind out sessions you should be a winning player through good preflop selection and smart post flop play.) or that the basics are not learned in limit. I just think that the two games have big differences and sometimes the switch can be confusing and result in mixed results