How does strategy change for limit hold'em vs. no-limit?

[KingNothing]

I'm used to playing no-limit, although it's a $10 buy-in game so the most I've ever bet on a single hand was $30 or so. The casinos around here don't do live-play no-limit games though, so if I want to play there I'll have to do a limit game.

So how does strategy change when you play limit hold-em? The only thing I'm coming up right now is that you don't have the option of scaring someone out of the pot by going all-in.

Also, how does limit poker work exactly? This is how the casino describes their game:

Limit 4/8 1/2 kill

I would assume that 4/8 refers to the blinds, but I'm not sure what the 1/2 means. And I've never heard the term "kill" before in a poker game.

 

[Chu]

I have no clue what 1/2 kill means, but 4/8 means the BB is 4, the SB is 2. One bet on the flop is 4, on the turn/river it's 8.

Your the first person I know who has gone from NL to Limit, but I have no clue what the skill level on those $10 tables are. I will say this though, I am profitable on the $10/$20 table on paradise poker because I'm a good player 😉 I think I could make money on the $1/$2 tables on pokerstars by playing nothing but QQ-AA, ATs+, and KJs+. I could PROBABLY make money playing nothing but kings or aces*. The low limit tables are nuts.

Here's a good intro though:

link

*Here's what I figure, the average pot on these tables is $11 or so. You get KK or AA about 1% of the time, in other words if you play nothing but these 2 hands you need to pay $15 in blinds to see any action. If your smart you can probably work the pot up to $20, and win an average of 80% of the time for a $16 payoff, or a net profit of $1 if we ignore the rake.

 

[Ameesh]

Kill Pot

 

[MrChad]

Just from playing with friends, when we play limit more people tend to stay in. With no-limit, it's tough to stay in even for a little while if you have an average hand.

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Just from playing with friends, when we play limit more people tend to stay in. With no-limit, it's tough to stay in even for a little while if you have an average hand.

Wow that's completly backwards the way it should work . . . in NL your implied odds are someone else's stack, in Limit they're usually at most 4-5 bets. I wish I was in your game 😀

 

[Chu]

Oh

The best free primer I know

After studying it for 20 minutes about 7 years ago I was immediately profitable on the $0.50/$1 games from not knowing how to play hold 'em, but then again micro limits didn't exist back then . . .

 

[GagHalfrunt]

That's about the size of it, in a no-limit game big bet bluffs are an effective strategy, in limit games they're not. The big point of bet sizes is forcing a player to bet a lot in order to protect a little of their money. If a player has $10 in a pot he needs a REALLY good hand to call a $1000 bet, he's far more likely to let the $10 go. But on the other hand if a player already has $100 in the pot a $10 raise is meaningless. At that point he's pot commited and won't throw away that $100 to save another $10, so he'll call on marginal hands. A bluff only works if it scares away a better hand and scaring is tough in limit games, you need to play tighter.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
Kill Pot

I read it but I still don't understand what the point of it is.

Edit: found this on the casino's website:

What is a Kill game? The limit of the game will increase when a player in a Omaha game wins the whole pot (scoops the pot). This means there was not a split pot. If the game is a 4-8 limit, the next hand will be played at 6-12 limit. If the next hand is split the limit goes back to 4-8. In a Texas Holdem game 2-4 and above limit, any player who wins two pots in a row must kill the next hand. If we are playing in a 4-8 limit game and a player wins two hands in a row, the limit will change to 6-12 for the next hand only unless the player who killed the pot wins again.

So this means that if I win two pots in a row, I have to bet $6, which is the new small blind, regardless of my position at the table?

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: KingNothing

Originally posted by: Ameesh
Kill Pot

I read it but I still don't understand what the point of it is.

Edit: found this on the casino's website:

What is a Kill game? The limit of the game will increase when a player in a Omaha game wins the whole pot (scoops the pot). This means there was not a split pot. If the game is a 4-8 limit, the next hand will be played at 6-12 limit. If the next hand is split the limit goes back to 4-8. In a Texas Holdem game 2-4 and above limit, any player who wins two pots in a row must kill the next hand. If we are playing in a 4-8 limit game and a player wins two hands in a row, the limit will change to 6-12 for the next hand only unless the player who killed the pot wins again.

What does it mean to "kill the next hand"?

basically a kill is when you overt bet the big blind by the amount (full,half,etc) and when you do that you change the acting order as well as the betting limits of the game, so if you are playing 4-8 full kill pot the killer can post 8 before the flop and then the game is 8-16 game and th ekiller acts last after the flop, some times casinos allow overkills so the killer gets killed.


IMO kill games are extremly nasty and if you want that kind of action just play no limit, but thats my opinion. In any case be prepared to play an 8-16 game if you play a 4-8 full kill table

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: KingNothing

Originally posted by: Ameesh
Kill Pot

I read it but I still don't understand what the point of it is.

Edit: found this on the casino's website:

What is a Kill game? The limit of the game will increase when a player in a Omaha game wins the whole pot (scoops the pot). This means there was not a split pot. If the game is a 4-8 limit, the next hand will be played at 6-12 limit. If the next hand is split the limit goes back to 4-8. In a Texas Holdem game 2-4 and above limit, any player who wins two pots in a row must kill the next hand. If we are playing in a 4-8 limit game and a player wins two hands in a row, the limit will change to 6-12 for the next hand only unless the player who killed the pot wins again.

So this means that if I win two pots in a row, I have to bet $6, which is the new small blind, regardless of my position at the table?

yeah some places also do the two hand way to get the stakes higher, but omaha is usually played differently anyway so i wouldnt worry about them.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
basically a kill is when you overt bet the big blind by the amount (full,half,etc) and when you do that you change the acting order as well as the betting limits of the game, so if you are playing 4-8 full kill pot the killer can post 8 before the flop and then the game is 8-16 game and th ekiller acts last after the flop, some times casinos allow overkills so the killer gets killed.


IMO kill games are extremly nasty and if you want that kind of action just play no limit, but thats my opinion. In any case be prepared to play an 8-16 game if you play a 4-8 full kill table

Why are kill games extremely nasty? It's still a limit game, it's just that if the same person wins the pot twice in a row, the blinds temporarily go up, right?

Edit: Just noticed that the buy-in for the 4-8 game is $40. Doesn't that seem a little low?

 

[KingNothing]

bump

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: KingNothing

Originally posted by: Ameesh
basically a kill is when you overt bet the big blind by the amount (full,half,etc) and when you do that you change the acting order as well as the betting limits of the game, so if you are playing 4-8 full kill pot the killer can post 8 before the flop and then the game is 8-16 game and th ekiller acts last after the flop, some times casinos allow overkills so the killer gets killed.


IMO kill games are extremly nasty and if you want that kind of action just play no limit, but thats my opinion. In any case be prepared to play an 8-16 game if you play a 4-8 full kill table

Why are kill games extremely nasty? It's still a limit game, it's just that if the same person wins the pot twice in a row, the blinds temporarily go up, right?

Edit: Just noticed that the buy-in for the 4-8 game is $40. Doesn't that seem a little low?

well it seems to me that if your interested inplaying a limit 4-8 game and others at the table want to make it kill then they should go sit at a 8-16 games as thats how the satkes are going to be anyway. a $40 buy in in a 4-8 kill games seems very low. when i sit down at a non kill 4-8 game i buy in for $100, i don't play kill games because i like the order of actionand the limits to be constant.