PokerPages FREE School Sample Lesson 1 - Bob Ciaffone

Instructor: Bob Ciaffone
Type: lesson
Level: Basic
Subject: Strategy

Introduction to No Limit Hold'em

What is your poker background? Bigbet poker (no-limit or pot-limit play) is the preferred betting structure in much of the world. But in the United States and Canada, it is normal to start out playing limit poker before venturing into the no-limit arena. We will assume for our discussion that you have followed the limit path to no-limit. We also assume that you are already familiar with holdem. (If not, you are urged to first familiarize yourself with that game's basics before trying to play it with no-limit betting).

There are some large differences between limit and no-limit play. Let's look at several of the most important distinguishing characteristics for no-limit.

(1) You select the bet size and can bet as much as you want.

The typical wager is between a third the size of the pot and a shade more than the full size. On occasion, you will want to overbet the pot size by a large margin because you wish to end the betting by going all-in. The most common newcomer mistake is to bet an amount too small to adequately protect his hand. The greenhorn is often outdrawn because his small-size bet allowed the opponent to draw at and help a hand that otherwise would have had to be folded. He also bets too small an amount on his very good hands, intent on gaining a little something on them, and failing to realize the large amount it costs him when such a hand is outdrawn. His bluffs don't work so well because he is a penny-pincher. You must adopt to your new medium by increasing the size of your wagers.

In a betting structure where the player can select his bet size, the amount he chooses to wager often imparts information about the nature of his hand. The meaning of an unusually large or small bet differs from player to player, and may well vary even with the same player at different times. For example, a small bet may show fear, or a big hand looking for action. A large bet is often a hand that thinks it is presently good, but is afraid of being overtaken, rather than being a rock-crusher. Nevertheless, there are many times where you can make a good decision by drawing an accurate conclusion based on the amount wagered by the opponent. It pays to be observant and remember what hands a player shows up with when his bet size is unusually small or large.

(2) Your position is a much more important factor at no-limit.

Play fewer hands up front and more hands in the back than is your custom at limit poker. At no-limit, if you have to act first and guess wrong, the result may well be losing a bet the size of the pot when someone else has a stronger hand, and failing to fire when someone else has a weaker hand. In back position, after seeing how your opponent reacts to a new card, you are more likely to make a correct guess what to do.

(3) The amount of chips in play is an important factor in many decisions.

In determining what hands to play in each position and how to play them, a major consideration is how many chips you have in your stack. We are not talking about the actual cash value of each chip. The difference between dollar chips and hundred-dollar chips is mainly psychological (aside from the competence of the players in the game). Rather, we are talking about the size of your stack relative to the blind structure. For example, if the big blind is a hundred dollars and you have only a thousand dollars, you are short-stacked (only 10 times the big blind). If the big blind is a dollar and you have forty dollars, you have a medium stack (forty times the big blind). If the big blind is five dollars and you have five hundred dollars, you have a big stack (100 times the big blind). Your stack size is critical to many decisions.

Of course, the amount of money actually in play on a hand when two players are dueling for the pot is the amount in the smaller of the two stacks. When John has $300 and Betty has $100, if they tangle heads-up, only $100 of John's money is in play. If he moves all-in and Betty is his only caller, John will get $200 of his $300 wager returned to him. When Betty lacks sufficient funds to cover the full amount bet, only in old movies would she be forced to either raise enough money somewhere to cover the bet, or otherwise give up the pot. Poker uses the table stakes rule, where only the amount on the table in front of you at the start of a hand is in play for each deal.

There is a strong relationship between the size of your stack and the importance of position. The deeper the money around the table, the more important your position becomes, because fewer deals are concluded early by someone getting all-in. Your advantage in acting last will be exercised at several different points as the deal develops. You want to act last on as many betting rounds as possible, especially on the later rounds. The later decisions are the more important ones, as they involve a larger pot, and there is greater information available about what the opponent may hold.

(4) The skill factor has been intensified.

Since you select the size of your bet, and the typical wager is a sufficiently large proportion of the pot that you can exert pressure, you have a lot to work with in your toolbox. You can bully, you can bluff, you can make a good read. At limit poker, the pot odds allow the playing of many longshots, either as correct poker or only mildly incorrect decisions. There are far more drawouts at limit holdem than no-limit. It gets frustrating after a while to not have any way of really punishing the drawout artists. It feels good to have more to fight with than a club of feathers. Once you have tasted "real full-contact poker," it is unlikely you will want to go back to the land of the outdraws (limit holdem).

How does one measure the amount of skill in a poker form? It is true that limit holdem is a difficult game to play correctly. So what? The reward for doing so is not nearly as great as the payoff for being a topflight no-limit holdem player. To compare, a top limit holdem player is supposed to be capable of earning one big bet per hour. That is twice the amount of the big blind. A top no-limit player would find such a meager wage unbearably low, and earns on the average many times the size of the big blind per hour. His decisions are much more meaningful, because he has many more weapons to fight with, and far greater control over his financial fate.

What traits make for a good no-limit holdem player? Some of the best ones are very aggressive, especially those who prefer tournament play to money play. Other top no-limit players are quite solid. Among successful players, there is a wide variance in style.

For a newcomer, keep in mind that an extremely aggressive style will place you in a lot of tight spots, where pressure will be on you to make accurate decisions. A player lacking in experience may well make poor decisions. Also, if you face other inexperienced players, they tend to call a lot, so you will not be picking up enough pots with an aggressive style as you would like. So you are recommended to get some seasoning before adopting an extremely aggressive style that involves playing a lot of marginal hands and doing a lot of preflop raising.

Even though you do not need to play a lot of pots, when you are involved, it pays to be a bettor rather than a caller. This gives you two chances to win. The opponent may fold, or you may get a winning hand to show down. Give yourself a chance to win the pot by applying pressure. Even a player who sticks to solid hands preflop is going to get into some tight spots. Once the flop comes down, riches can turn to rags. Ace-king suited often becomes simply no pair. So no matter how hard you try to stay out of trouble, it is necessary to learn how to gun your way out when the occasion allows.

The main drawbacks to being a no-limit holdem player used to be the scarcity of games and the tough competition. With the explosion of Internet poker and the rapidly rising popularity of no-limit holdem games on those sites, you now have a wide choice of arenas. There are so many games that there are not enough good players to come close to filling them. Also, you can learn as cheaply as you wish, at stakes so low that have never been seen in a brick-and-mortar cardroom, because they cannot be raked enough to cover the overhead of spreading them. As you might expect, the quality of play in these cheap games varies from mediocre to abysmal. A player with some talent who is a good student can expect to get paid for his on-the-job training.

If you have decided to learn no-limit holdem, you are going to find out two things. First, the game is a lot more fun to play than limit poker. Second, poker skills such as bluffing and reading opponents come into play much more strongly. You will soon feel you are progressing along a fine poker road to follow.