Poker: Texas Hold'em (No Limit) By Masque Publishing. Play two face down cards and the five community cards. Bet any amount or go all-in. Your Gaming History. The Rules of No-Limit Hold’em. Master The Fundamentals The Rules of No-Limit Hold’em. Watch The Lesson. Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00.
The World Series of Poker has a way of reminding us that there's more to poker than just no-limit hold'em, even if NLHE is just about everyone's favorite game to play.
Suddenly we're all locked in following updates in deuce-to-seven no-limit draw events, the 'dealer's choice' and mixed-game tournaments, and asking Kevmath if today's razz final table is going to be live streamed. (It will be, won't it, Kev?)
Speaking of razz, I liked the point Adam Owen made to conclude the discussion of razz strategy he and Ian Shaw had with Remko Rinkema yesterday.
'If I were to teach a complete beginner the rules of a poker game, I would start with razz,' said Owen, who went on to note how the game 'teaches you lot of good principles for poker,' including how 'to bluff, to steal, and to resteal.'
That observation got me thinking about other lessons or 'good principles for poker' players can learn from non-NLHE games, including ones that directly apply to no-limit hold'em.
Like many these days, hold'em was the first game I played seriously, although I began with fixed-limit hold'em before moving over to no-limit. Truthfully, five-card draw was the first poker game I learned as a kid (a good one for learning hand rankings), but hold'em was the first variant I played seriously — that is, for money that was meaningful, and while making a genuine effort to learn and improve.
All of the other variants followed, with pot-limit Omaha and razz emerging as a couple of favorite non-NLHE games for me. As I began to learn and study other games, I soon realized how they do open your 'poker mind' up to various 'good principles' that apply to most poker games, including no-limit hold'em.
Here, in brief, are five lessons about no-limit hold'em (and poker, generally speaking) that non-NLHE games can teach you.
1. Pot Odds (Limit Hold'em)
I mentioned learning LHE before NLHE, so this was a lesson I was able to carry over when first starting out with no-limit — being able to calculate pot odds.
Understanding pot odds involves comparing the size of a bet to the size of the pot and from that figuring out the 'price' being offered to you to call the bet. LHE is a game that constantly presents 'pot odds' problems to solve — and rapidly, too, given the usually quick pace of the game. The problems are usually not too complicated, and come so often they provide new players a lot of practice honing the skill.
Say you're in a $2/$4 LHE game. You're in the big blind and watch the cutoff raise (to $4), the button call, and the small blind call. You can readily see there is $14 out there (including your big blind) and you need to call $2 more to stay in the hand — 7-to-1 pot odds.
It's only you check-calling bets from the original raiser on the flop ($2) and turn ($4), then you check again and your opponent bets $4 one more time. Now there's $32 out there and it's $4 to call — 8-to-1 pot odds.
These calculations become second nature in LHE, and help you make them in NLHE as well.
2. Draws v. Made Hands and Equity (Pot-Limit Omaha)
This one took a little time to learn, but pot-limit Omaha presents many postflop situations where you're playing big draws that sometimes have even better 'equity' than made hands. Flopping a big 'wrap' draw in PLO might afford you as many as 16 or 20 outs, making you a favorite versus most made hands.
Face that situation enough times, and you begin to appreciate the power of big draws. Say in NLHE you have and are looking at a flop. You're actually a small favorite versus a player holding for top pair of queens, and if that seems a likely holding for your opponent (or something of equivalent strength), you might well play the flop more aggressively.
This lesson in equity is one that comes up in fairly easy-to-see ways in razz, too, where a player can be technically behind but be drawing to something better — see 'Make Razz Great Again' for more about that.
3. Position (2-7 Triple Draw)
Position is obviously important in no-limit hold'em, but go play some deuce-to-seven triple draw to appreciate even more the benefits of acting last.
Why is position even more obviously important in 2-7 triple draw? Because not only are you getting to act last on the betting rounds, you get to see your opponent(s) draw before you have to as well. In a lot of cases, knowing how many cards your opponent has discarded (or if he or she is standing pat) is more meaningful information to have than a leading bet provides.
Badugi — also a triple draw game — also obviously helps reinforce this lesson about position which you can carry back to your NLHE game.
4. Blockers (Stud, Stud Hi-Low, Razz)
In stud games like seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-low, and razz, you're constantly keeping track of everyone's 'up cards' so as to know what cards have already been dealt and thus cannot subsequently be drawn by you or anyone else. Or you should, anyway. (For some help in this area, check out Ashley Adams' recent article 'Remembering Cards in Seven-Card Stud.')
Keeping track of 'what's out' helps you decide whether or not to pursue flush or straight draws, the likelihood of others having certain hands or being improved by new cards, and so on. All of these up cards essentially function as 'blockers,' as do your down cards.
Blockers can also occasionally be significant in no-limit hold'em, as you use the knowledge of your two hole cards to help narrow opponents' ranges. See Carlos Welch's article 'Five Examples of Using Blockers to Improve Hand Reading' for some specific examples of blockers' importance in NLHE.
5. Bluffing and Reading Others' Bluffs (2-7 NL Single Draw)
Finally, bluffing is obviously an important element in all poker variants, but deuce-to-seven no-limit single draw is a game that can really open your eyes to how bet-sizing and position — when coupled with a player deciding to stand pat — can quickly create a believable bluffing story.
Last week Jason Mercierwas discussing 2-7 NL single draw strategy with us right here on PokerNews, then this week he went on to win the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship and fourth career WSOP bracelet.
Mercier noted how frequently 2-7 NL draw involves bluffing and/or sussing out whether or not your opponent is bluffing. 'In this game,' says Mercier, 'it is almost always about asking yourself, 'do I have the best hand, or does he?'
Learn 2-7 NL draw and play for a while, and you'll likely find yourself bluffing more often than you do in NLHE (or 'snowing,' as it's often called in both 2-7 NL and 2-7 triple draw). You'll also more frequently have to piece together evidence to decide whether or not your opponent is bluffing — all of which helps when you go back to NLHE and those bluffing spots arise for yourself or your opponents.
What are some other non-NLHE games that can teach 'good principles' for no-limit hold'em?
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cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold’emmixed gameslimit hold’empot-limit Omahadeuce-to-seven triple drawdeuce-to-seven no-limit drawseven-card studseven-card stud hi-lowrazzJason Mercier2016 WSOP2016 World Series of PokerAdam ORelated Players
Jason Mercier
If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?
Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.
I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.
I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.
Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.
Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.
In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.
For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.
No Limit Texas Holdem Strategy
Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.
This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.
So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.
Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.
It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.
Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.
The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.
The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.
In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.
Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.
Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.
Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.
Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).
Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.
Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)
No Limit Hold Em Book
If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.
Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.
No Limit Hold Em Strategy Pdf
I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)
Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠
Hold'em Denim
Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.