Strategies No-Limit Holdem | beginners guide to No Limit

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Strategies No-Limit Holdem | beginners guide to No-Limit | online poker
by NoLuckNeeded member ttwna2k for NoLuckNeeded.com

Strategies for No-Limit Holdem - isolation and implied odds, minimize losses

No-Limit Holdem Part 1
This series we take a look at starting hand recommendations and some strategy for no-limit holdem.

The starting hand recommendations for no-limit holdem are slightly different than those for limit holdem. The first reason for this is the importance of position is magnified because any player may go all-in at any time. Because of this, playing weak or drawing hands anywhere except late position can be expensive. If you limp in with a weak hand and one of the late position players makes a raise, you must fold. You are out of position with a weak hand against a player who has shown strength. This is a losing situation and should be avoided. The second reason is that every time you play no-limit you should focus on not only winning hands, but also taking an opponents entire stack. When the opportunity to break someone presents itself, you must capitalize on it as often as possible. An example of this follows. An early position player makes a standard raise of about three times the big blind and everyone folds to you in late position and you look down to see a pair of fours. We both realize that a pair of fours is weak, but if you both have deep stacks (plenty of chips) I suggest calling to see the flop unless you are sure one of the blinds will re-raise. The thought process here is that if you happen to hit a four on the flop, you will have a powerful yet disguised hand and have a chance to take your opponents entire stack, especially if they have AA or KK. In addition, if the flop does not help you and the preflop raiser bets into you, you can easily fold because you have nothing. Depending on the climate of the game you are in, it may even be profitable to limp-in in late position with hands as poor as 56s at times. Of course you won't find that on my list below, but I have been in games that this was a correct play. As you gain experience you will start recognizing game situations that you can play profitably and capitalize on them.

Early Position: AA KK QQ AKs AK AQs AQ
Middle Position: JJ TT AJs AJ ATs AT KQs KQ KJs KJ QJs
Late Position: 99 88 77 66 55 44 33 22 A5s A4s A3s A2s KTs KT K9s QJ QTs QT JTs
T9s 98s ?
Rarely call raises with anything but the pairs listed above unless you have a read on the raiser. The idea is to not lose money because of the kicker with AQ and worse to hands like AK.

Part 2 A little background information
No-limit holdem used to only be offered in tournament settings, but has recently started being offered in many card rooms as a regular ring game.

Most no-limit ring games have a set buy-in and offer the opportunity to buy back into the game if you are unfortunate enough to lose all of your chips. No-limit ring games can be very profitable for solid poker players. I recommend for you when you start playing in no-limit ring games is to play extremely tight when first sitting down and only play your very best hands until you get a feel for the table and your opponents. No-limit gives the solid players an opportunity to use everything in their arsenal such as bluffing, pot odds, solid game skills and psychology.
Because of the ability to place any size bet, you can manipulate pot odds to make your opponents pay too high of a price to draw to their hand or make the price low enough that it is correct for them to call when you want them to. This alone can make no-limit one of the most profitable games you can find and makes the understanding of the correct use of pot odds imperative to anyone hoping to be a successful poker player.
If you are going to be a lifetime winner at no-limit holdem, you must become a solid, tight/aggressive player. You must rarely call. Winning players tend to raise or fold. Bear in mind that because of the betting limits involved in playing no-limit, mistakes are magnified. Every time you force an opponent to make a decision, they have the opportunity to make a mistake. By calling, you are the only one who can make a mistake. If you raise, then your opponent is forced to make a decision, and hopefully a mistake. This doesn't mean that you should never just call, it just means that as you gain experience you will find yourself playing this way because this aggressive style of play when combined with tight starting hand requirements will mean that you are rarely behind at the beginning of a hand and you allow your opponents many opportunities to make mistakes.
In closing, here are a few quick pointers to help you while learning to play no-limit. The first time that you look down to see pocket aces while playing no-limit holdem, your first instinct will probably be to move all-in. In a typical game, this will win you the pot, but it will likely only be the blinds as everyone else will probably fold. When you have a great starting hand such as AA, KK, AK or QQ your goal should be to raise enough to make all but one or two opponents fold. Then if you are re-raised before the flop you can move all-in. Winning the most pots in a session is nice, but winning the most money is what's important.

Part 3 minimizing your losses
Now that you have an idea of what hands to enter the pot with, let's discuss how to get the most profit from your winning hands while minimizing your losses when you are beaten. This is a very general discussion using a few examples designed to help you see how your actions can have a direct influence on the size of the pot and your chances to win.
Example 1
You are in the small blind with A 4 and call a single raise to see the flop along with three other players. The flop is 2 3 5 rainbow (all different suits), giving you the best possible hand. Should you bet out or check? The correct answer is to check. The pre-flop raiser will undoubtedly bet and by letting him/her bet, the other two players may call a single bet. Further, I usually only call the bet on the flop for the same reasons. I don't want to let the pre-flop raiser know the strength of my hand and I want the other two players to put money in the pot. The correct play is to also check after the turn card. Then at this time, when the pre-flop raiser bets, you check-raise and bet into him/her on the river. Remember that the bets double on the turn. The point is that it is often best to check and call to let others become involved with your strongest hands. You don't want to do this if your hand is vulnerable to being outdrawn.

Example 2
You are under-the-gun with KK, raise pre-flop and get two callers, one in late position and the big blind. The flop comes A 7 2 rainbow. The small blind checks to you. What do you do? You must bet for a couple reasons. If an Ace scares you so bad that you would check after raising pre-flop, you should be either playing lower limits or another game, and more importantly, you must bet to try to get the late position player to fold, giving you position on the small blind for the turn and river. If both players call, you can check the turn. If this were the case, I would still call a turn bet and a river bet against some players. Most of the time you will know that you are beat, and when you know you are you should fold, but many players will call a flop bet with middle or bottom pair in hopes of hitting their second pair on the turn. For this reason, if I have the Kings, I usually bet on the turn again if no opponents have shown strength. If you are check-raised on the flop, you must either raise or fold. Don't wait till the turn to get fancy because it costs you twice as much. If you are check-raised and you re-raise and are raised again, then you are beaten and should fold. I realize this may be painful, but think about the situation. You raised pre-flop, bet on the flop, were raised and then you re-raised showing tremendous strength. If a player can stand up to all of this strength by continuing to raise, this is a clear signal you should fold. The only players capable of making a play this sophisticated on a bluff are the top professionals and if you are playing and holding your own against them, you have already advanced past the scope of this article.

Part 4 isolation and implied odds
To finish up this short series, I want to touch on isolation and implied odds, two other areas that can increase your profitability as a limit holdem player.

Isolating an opponent is the act of manipulating the size of the pot, almost always by raising, to get heads-up with them. By raising at a particular time, you may be able to get everyone else to fold with the exception of one opponent. This is usually accomplished by re-raising an opponent who has entered the pot before you with a raise. This will often force everyone else to fold and isolate the lone opponent. This creates three advantages for you. The biggest advantage is that you have position, and the other two are that you are playing heads-up and have shown strength. If you are able to determine who your weaker opponents are, isolation is a good way to extract extra profit each time you play. This works especially well when playing against a maniac, who raises with inferior hands often. One note of caution; if there are other solid players to act behind you, they may have the same idea against a maniac and you can get caught in the middle of a maniac and solid player. This can become very expensive and should be avoided with all hands except your best.

Many players have heard about pot odds, but the best players know how to use another type of odds, implied odds, in their favor. Implied odds are using pot odds as well as the amount of additional bets you will be able to collect when you hit your hand to determine the correct play. This is best explained by example.

You are in the big blind with 5 7 and get to see the flop for free with three other players. The flop comes A 4 6, you check, the next player bets and one player calls with the other folding. There are 6 small bets in the pot and you have 8 outs giving you better than 6 to 1 odds, so you call. The turn brings a J and you check again. There is a bet and a fold. There are now 4 ? big bets in the pot, which isn't laying you the correct odds to call. However, because it will be hard for your opponent to put you on a straight draw, the times you are able to hit it on the river you will be able to collect at least one more, and often two or more big bets, especially if your opponent has made two pair or trips. In addition, the times you don't hit your hand you can simply fold to a bet. Realize that if there are two flush cards on the board and you are drawing to the flush, it will be apparent to your opponent when you hit your hand and your implied odds are limited.

Remember to aviod tilt and do not take anything personal in poker or you will get busted.

Posted:30.04.2009, 09:45

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