Poker Training
Limit Game Play
If you are a beginner poker player, the number of different game styles and denominations can be very confusing. Today, we are going to talk about limit games, which is the best type of poker you can start with-due to limited amount of damage per hand. In a limit game, the action is limited. Unlike no limit Hold'em where you might see someone throw all their chips in the pot, limit ring games have a sense of order and minimalism to them. Limit pots can become pretty big, but your individual contribution will be only a small portion of that pot. Let's take a quick look at the basic betting structure of a limit game. Keep in mind that these numbers can go up with raising and re-raising, but after a couple raises the action is capped for the round. This keeps the game from getting out of control.
Basic Structure of a $1/$2 Limit Game
The Big Blind: $1 bet.
The Small Blind: 50 cent bet.
The opening rounds have $1 bets and the end is capped by $2 bets. No matter how great of a hand you or your opponent(s) has, $2 is the maximum single bet on this table. Most online poker rooms have limit games all the way down to .05/.10.
Play Style
Each type of Texas Hold'em Poker game you play has it's own required style of play. This is especially true in the online world. You should always be selective with the hands you choose to go into the pot with and that's even more important with limit games. Sure, you could spend $1 and get into most games, but you would lose money in the end. If for no other reason, the fact that the game is limited in betting amounts would mean you could not hope to recoup your initial bets without stringing together consecutive wins of nice sized pots.
Position means a lot at the poker table. No, it's not the seat you are seated at-it's the position for the hand you reside in. For example, if you were to the immediate left of the big blind, you would be first to bet pre-flop. Because you are first to act, you want to be more conservative in your hand selection. At a full table, you have many other people left to act and odds are one of them has a decent hand and might raise the bet. If you were at a $1/$2 table, you should ask yourself, is this hand worth $2 on a raise? If not, it's time to think about folding it.
Another example of position is the Dealer button. When you are on the button, you are last to act (except for pre-flop where you act right before the blinds). This is a great position to be in. If no one has raised and the action is to you, loosening up and limping in with a so-so hand is now a possibility.
Bluffing
Bluffing online is a tricky subject. If you watch poker on TV, you will see bluffs happen quite often. When you play in the real world, there's a ton of information that can be collected to help assist you in calling bluffs or letting you know when to make one, because everyone is playing in person. However, on the Internet, it's simply graphics and clicks.
It is tougher to bluff online than in the real world and even more so in limit games, because the action is minimal. Think about this for a moment. Let's say you go into a hand in a $1/$2 where you called a raise-so you are in $2. The flop comes and does not help you much. Unknown to you, the player to act before you decides he will bluff to try and take the pot. Since it's a limit game, he can only throw in $1 to bluff. Is that $1 going to scare you? Maybe if you have a weak hand and no real outs, you might fold. However, if you have a fair number of outs you will most likely call the $1 (or raise) and keep going. See my point?
Let's take it one step further. The turn and river comes and the pot is now sitting at $15. It's the showdown. You are heads up with that previous bluffing player. He still wants to bluff so he, because of the limit, throws down $2. It's only going to cost you $2 to take a stab at a $15 pot. If you have not made a hand, maybe you fold. Let's say your hand was average, would you fold? This is why it's hard to bluff in online limit poker games at low limit levels. Also to call, all one has to do is click. It is simply too easy to call a bet. Bluffing should be done sparingly and only when you have a good read on players.
Outs
In the previous segment, the term "outs" was used. The term "outs" means the ability to make a hand. For example, if you were holding two spades and at the turn there was two spades on the board, you would have nine possible outs to making the flush. Let's say that you were holding the Ace of Spades and you know that if you pair aces, you have a solid chance to win. Since there's potentially three more aces in the deck, you would now have twelve possible outs.
Knowing your outs is an important part of playing poker. It's very easy to do. How did we know there were nine outs for the nut flush? Each suit has thirteen cards in it. We had two plus the board showed two, thus four where out. That leaves nine potentially in the deck. We say potentially because your opponent(s) might have one ore more spades as well.
Positions
To close this article, we are going to talk about starting hands, but first you need to understand positions. There are four positions in poker: Early Position (EP), Middle Position (MP), Late Position (LP) and the Blinds. Let's look at each one in more detail.
The Blinds: Each hand of poker has two players that occupy the blinds position. The first is the Big Blind and the second is the Small Blind. These two players are the first to act from the flop onward. However, pre-flop they act first by entering their blinds, but the Big Blind is last to sign off on the hand. The Big Blind can either check (if it's an option), raise (or re-raise) or fold.
EP: The early position players are the first couple to act each round. Typically you want to be more conservative in your play style when in this position.
MP: The next to act are the middle position players. When you are sitting here, you get a small advantage of being able to see the early position player(s) act, but you are still too early to loosen up much.
LP: The late position players are last to act and can loosen up, if desired, some. These players have the benefit of seeing most players act at the table before it's their turn. The button player has the best position since he or she is last to act.
Starting Hands
Your decision on what starting hands to play will make or break you. When you first start playing, it's highly recommended to play very tight. Don't worry about other players knowing you are playing tight. You should also start out at a low limit level to get the feel for the game. Your position really determines what type of hands you should be looking to jump in the pot with.
Note: The following examples assume that you are a newer player and that you are playing at a full table.
If, for example, you were dealt a 98s in the early position, you would most likely want to toss it. However, if you were on the button and no raises came in, this could be a hand to play with by limping in.
If you are in the early position, good hands are normally high pairs like aces, kings and so forth or two very high cards like AK and KQ. Just about everything else can be folded. As you learn the game and get a feel for your table, your starting hand list will grow.
In the late position, you can expand your like to include hands like JT, 88, and even 65s (suited) if no raises were performed.
Poker is a fun game and limit poker is a great way to get started playing. If you are playing, because you love the game and want to learn, start with low limits first and don't worry about winning. Learn now and win later. By playing low limit poker you won't be risking much and you can play lots of hands, which means you will grow as a poker player-experience is everything.
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