Limit Texas Holdem vs. No Limit Texas Holdem – the debate goes on. Which game should you master? Well, everyone here at FTR has their own opinion. We have very skilled and profitable players
profiting from both forms of the game. I have my opinion too, and No Limit Texas Holdem, hands down, is the game for me.

1. Difference Limit No Limit Poker Bonus
2. Difference Limit No Limit Poker Rules
3. Difference Limit No Limit Poker Bonuses
4. Difference Between Limit And No Limit Poker
5. Difference Limit No Limit Poker No Deposit
6. Difference Between Limit And No Limit Poker

Difference Limit No Limit Poker Bonus

Limit Texas Holdem “limits” the amount you can bet on each of the four betting rounds. If you are seated at a $2-4 limit table, the small blind will be $1 and the big blind will be $2. You may ONLY bet or raise $2 pre-flop, and only $2 after the flop. On the turn and river, you may only bet or raise $4. So, all the betting increments on the first two rounds of betting are consistently $2, and all betting increments on the second two rounds are consistently $4. You are also limited to three raises.

In No-limit Texas Hold’em a player may bet all of his/her chips at any time At a $.25-.50 no limit table, the small blind is $.25, the big blind is $.50, the minimum bet for all four rounds of betting is $.50, and the maximum bet for all rounds is whatever you have at the table. At PartyPoker.com, where I’ve been playing the $.25-.50 tables most recently, the maximum bankroll you may sit down with is $50. So at any point in a hand, you have the ability to put it all on the line by going all-in, even as your bankroll increases. There are also no limits to the number of raises.

If you really want to see the difference between Limit and No Limit, it’s important to look at where their rules on betting differ. No Limit Betting Rules. No Limit is the most popular type of poker game, and it’s the one that has the fewest safeguards to stop you from losing all of your money in a single hand. Because of the popularity of the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, this generally means no-limit hold 'em. Admittedly, this same line of reasoning should lead to more dead money in tournaments than in ring games, but there are still plenty of people willing to give away money in ring games - as long as it's no-limit hold 'em.

The strategy behind Limit Texas Holdem is actually very different from that of No-Limit Holdem. Although the dynamics of the game are the same, the strategies drastically change. I found that No-Limit Texas Holdem is drastically more profitable per hour than Limit Texas Holdem, given similar bankrolls.

It is difficult to win the game of low Limit Texas Holdem. I learned the hard way. Like most of you, I started playing these low limit games. Playing a $1-2 or $2-4 table is fun, but difficult to be consistently profitable. What a grind! And what devastating variances! I studied books, I played online, and yet I still could not avoid the monster downward variances that would just wipe me out.

If you research low Limit Texas Holdem online, you’ll find that a decent player should make about 1BB/hr (one big bet per hour) on average, with a pretty large standard deviation. Unless you’re playing a $10-20 limit table or higher (which I was not willing to do), that hardly seems worthwhile. Not to mention, different resources recommend sitting down with at least 20X or 40X the BB, so you would need a starting bankroll of $800 just to play the $1-2 limit tables!

The game of No-Limit Texas Holdem is where I found the answer. As a no limit player, I found I had so much more control over the outcome of a game. If I have a good hand, I can make a large enough bet to discourage players from chasing a draw hand. This is almost impossible in the low stakes limit game where everyone just calls all the way down to the river, and is justified to do so because of the pot odds (the size of the bet compared to the size of the pot). If I can limit those players calling me down by betting them out, the odds of my strong hand holding up and winning increases dramatically.

In the game of No-Limit Texas Holdem, I can win pots by semi-bluffing or stone cold bluffing. There is more opportunity to play the person as opposed to just playing the cards. At any point,
you could potentially end the hand with a crushing bet.

The game of No-Limit Texas Holdem is actually cheaper! At first, I was nervous sitting down at a no limit table. I could risk my entire bankroll on any hand! But then I learned that
I could sit down at a table with as little as $20 as opposed to the $400 mentioned above, and yet make MORE MONEY at the no limit tables. There are fewer swings in my rate of profitability. I earn a little at a time consistently, as opposed to the larger deviations in higher stakes limit holdem.

The game of no limit Texas Holdem offers a wider range of strategy and deception. You can vary your bet depending on the strength of your hand. You could bet $.50 on your nut flush hoping to entice a raise with your weak bet, or go all-in for $50 on the same hand hoping someone will call the possible bluff. You can play the same hand multiple ways to keep your opponents guessing.

Limit Holdem has its advantages. I just couldn’t take maximize the advantages as skillfully as no limit Holdem. Limit Texas Holdem is all about tiny, slight edges that you exploit from lesser
skilled players. No limit Texas Holdem is about monster edges that you exploit from lesser skilled players.
The game of No-Limit Texas Holdem is also relatively new to many players. However, no-limit is becoming very popular due to televised poker tournaments. In print, there are tons of books on limit holdem, but far less dedicated to no limit strategies. And it is difficult to find a no limit holdem game in the card casinos, because most Texas Holdem tables are dedicated to limit poker. I have found that the quality of players and skill online compared to the total population is weaker on the no limit tables than the limit tables, making the game that much easier. I believe with no limit holdem, you have a much greater ability to exploit the poor players by utilizing a sound strategy. You can punish poor players to a much farther extent than in limit holdem. This is one of the keys to making money at no limit holdem, taking advantage of the structure of the game to profit off the poor players.

Now, this is just my opinion. I know plenty of talented limit players that are profitable, winning poker players. So, try both games out for yourself and find which variation suits you! I would suggest starting out with play money. You can join Empire Poker and play for free. This, by no means, is a substitute for the real thing. Don’t think you’ve figured out the game because you can win play chips at will. But getting used to the game, the flow, and the software, will help prepare you for what’s to come.

Like anything, no limit Texas Holdem will require studying and practice. But it’ll be worth it in the end. Making money is fun.

It used to be that skilled poker players — who mostly played fixed-limit games — needed to learn how to adapt their games to no-limit once the NL hold'em 'boom' hit. Today, however, since most players at the tables now cut their teeth on no-limit, they've got to learn the old form of the game if they're going to become winning limit players.

Toward that end, with the availability of limit hold'em, H.O.S.E. and H.O.R.S.E. games online, and with casinos spreading limit games especially during major tournaments like the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, it's useful to understand some key conceptual differences between the two formats.

Difference Limit No Limit Poker Rules

In this article I'd like to focus on the most significant difference between no-limit and fixed-limit games — implied odds. Then in a follow-up we'll talk further about some of the other most important adjustments players need to make when moving from no-limit to limit.

Pot Odds, Drawing Odds and Implied Odds

In no-limit poker implied odds are hugely important, while in fixed-limit games the significance of implied odds is, well, limited.

For those of you not familiar with the term, a quick primer on 'pot odds,' 'drawing odds' and 'implied odds' is necessary.

'Pot odds' refers to the amount of money you may win when you call a bet compared to the cost of calling that bet. If there's $800 in the pot and your opponent bets $200, to call means paying $200 with a chance at winning $1,000 total — in other words, you're getting 5-to-1 pot odds with your call.

Difference Limit No Limit Poker Bonuses

'Drawing odds' refers to the probability that you won't make your hand. If you're drawing to a flush on the river, your drawing odds are the total number of unseen cards that don't help your hand compared to the number of cards that will give you the flush. Specifically, out of the total of 46 unseen cards, the odds are 37-to-9 or a little worse than 4-to-1 against you making your flush.

Finally, 'implied odds' are the pot odds as calculated above but also adding the money you might win on future betting rounds, too. Say you had that flush draw and faced having to call a bet on the turn. You'd calculate your pot odds, but add in the amount you might also win on the river if you hit your flush and bet and your opponent called. In a no-limit game, you could potentially win the size of your opponent's stack on the river (assuming you have him covered). Meanwhile in a limit game, you're only considering the size of another 'big bet' (the higher tier of betting) when thinking about implied odds — e.g., $20 in a $10/$20 limit game.

Without considering implied odds, if you are getting better pot odds than the drawing odds, then you should call. But if you're getting worse drawing odds than pot odds, then you aren't getting a good enough price for your call and you should fold.

If, for example, there was only $200 in the pot and your opponent bet $200 on the turn, then you'd only be getting $400 for your $200 call — that's 2-to-1 pot odds. Since your odds of hitting the flush on the river of worse than 4-to-1, that would be a bad call and you should fold.

Difference Between Limit And No Limit Poker

But implied odds includes an additional piece of information to consider — the amount you might win on the river as well. Implied odds compares the cost of your bet on the turn with the total amount you might win in the hand, including the river.

So in the example above, with a pot of $200 on the turn, and a bet of $200 from your opponent, you'd have to know how much money you each had left in your stacks to know the implied odds. If you each had another $1,000 behind, and you thought your opponent would call off his entire stack if you bet it on the river after hitting your flush, then your implied odds would not be just 2-to-1, but rather 7-to-1 — the $400 pot on the turn plus the additional $1,000 you expected to win on the river if you hit your flush and your opponent called your stack-sized bet.

It should be added that implied odds are often going to be an estimate and not an exact calculation as with simple pot odds. If you know your opponent will call off his entire stack on the river when you make your flush and go all in, then you can be precise about the implied odds. But sometimes you'll only be able to estimate how much an opponent might pay off in such a spot (e.g., sizing your bet effectively to earn the call, not betting too much and having an opponent fold), which means you can't always be quite as exact with implied odds.

Implied Odds: Limit vs. No-Limit

Since players can potentially commit their entire stacks at any point in a no-limit poker hand, implied odds are especially important. There are implied odds in limit poker, too, of course — but they have less significance thanks to the limits on betting.

Continuing with the example of your drawing to a flush with one card to come, if the game were $100/$200 limit hold'em, you would factor in the chances that you could win one extra $200 bet on the river. So if the pot were $400 at the start of the turn and your opponent bet $200 (making the pot $600), you'd have immediate pot odds of 3-to-1 for your $200 call. That alone is not enough to justify continuing with your flush draw (which is a little worse than 4-to-1 of hitting).

Difference Limit No Limit Poker No Deposit

But if you considered your implied odds, and figured your opponent would call your bet 100 percent of the time if you hit your flush on the river, you could add another $200 to what you stand to win as you decide whether to call that turn bet, giving you pot odds of 4-to-1 — closer to your drawing odds, but still not really making the call worthwhile.

Difference Between Limit And No Limit Poker

Implied odds aren't just applicable on the turn and river. They are to be considered right from your initial decision to play your two hole cards. In no-limit games especially, implied odds have to be kept in mind as you are potentially 'playing for stacks' in every hand. That's not generally the case in fixed-limit games, which leads to many other strategic differences, including...

• playing more selectively preflop
• knowing when and how to press your advantages (extracting extra bets)
• being selective with postflop play
• making more river calls
• check-raising more frequently

I'll explore all five of these adjustments in more detail in the next article.

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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