No Limit Texas Hold'em poker is
considered by many, even some of
the professionals, to be the
Cadillac of all poker games. The
skill involved is tremendous,
and even experienced
professionals admit they learn
continually at No-Limit Hold'em
tables. Just don't let this
scare you because No-Limit
Hold'em is, perhaps, the most
fun of all the poker choices. It
can be profitable; at times,
even beginners can really rake
in the chips.
After playing No-Limit online a
great deal, players note that
the keys to winning at No-Limit
are knowledge of the game and
the ability to adapt to an
opponents' knowledge level. You
need to know what your skills
are and what stages of the game
you have mastered. Once you
realize how you are good at
No-Limit, you can apply this to
the game, watching for others at
your No-Limit Hold'em table who
play badly.
Let's divide the skills required
for No-Limit into several
stages. After mastering each of
these stages, you can expect to
see an increase in your No-Limit
profit potentials.
Pot Odds
You need to understand the odds
if you call a bet with a draw
hand. Since you can determine
the size of the bet because it
is not fixed as it is in Limit
games, you should determine you
are getting good odds or giving
good odds to someone else.
For example, when calling an
un-raised pot pre-flop holding
the 5 of Hearts and the 5 of
Spades, the odds are good. If
you hit a set, you can
anticipate making a lot of money
because people will not expect
it and will call with top pairs.
But, let's say you have a flush
draw after the turn and the pot
is $10. Someone bets $20 all-in
and you are getting really awful
odds. You have roughly a one in
five chance of hitting your draw
on the river and you would need
to bet $20 to potentially win
$50.
This sounds pretty basic but
many No-Limit players have not
mastered this crucial stage of
the game. If you are a little
vague about pot odds, don't
worry because many others are
just as confused by them and
many of them don't even realize
it.
Knowing the Differences Between
Limit and No-Limit
Check-raising for value is far
less valuable when playing
No-Limit than when playing Limit
because you may be giving your
opponent a free card which can
be deadly. In Limit poker, if
you have the second best hand,
you lose a little but in
No-Limit, you could lose your
entire stack.
Aggression
Betting is much better than
calling when playing in No-Limit
games. When you bet, there are
two ways to win: if you show the
better hand or if your opponent
folds. If you call, you can only
win if you have a better hand
than all of your opponents. If
you bet, you get to determine
the bet size, plus you get to
determine the pot odds. If you
just call, you are having to
accept someone else's odds.
When you bet, you force other
players to pay off when you have
a good hand. If you call, you
have to hope someone will
willingly pay you off.
Aggression is why tight-passive
players can win a lot more at
Limit than No-Limit.
Quick Adjustment
Different types of poker games
require different amounts of
aggression. Short handed games
require one to be looser and
more aggressive. When you're up
against many loose opponents,
you must tighten up and wait
until you have a strong hand. In
general, the opposite of what
the game is does well. If the
game is loose, tighten up. If
the game is tight, take
advantage of this fact and steal
pots.
You must adjust to opponents'
qualities. When up against weak
players, simply giving them bad
pot odds and taking money from
them a bit at a time works well.
If you are up against stronger
players, you will have to set
some traps.
Reading Skills
Getting an idea of what cards
your opponents hold is very
important. This requires time
and lots of experience. To
improve your reading skills, ask
yourself these three questions
when someone makes or calls a
bet:
- What do I think he has?
- What does he likely think I have?
- What does he think that I think he has?
Psychology and Traps
Once you hold that whopper hand
and your opponent also has a
good hand, what's the very best
way to take his money? Learning
to get out of and set traps can
be very difficult and experience
is required in this department.
Game psychology and traps are
used to manipulate those three
questions mentioned earlier in
your favor. For example, if you
over-bet the pot with a flush
draw, then check when you do
hold the flush, your opponent
will either fall for the trap
thinking you had top pair or
your opponent will realize the
trap and check-fold to you on
river. The slow play in this
case is used to manipulate the
variable of "what does he think
I have"?
Generally, this sort of
psychology in the game is to
used against good players who
are masters of the first four
steps listed here. Against
weaker players, you have to
build a good hand and extract
money out of them a little at a
time because they only play
their cards and don't worry much
about what you might have in
your hand.
