Limit hold'em may at first seem like a weaker substitute for the amazingly popular no-limit hold'em seen on TV shows and spread in casino's around the world. However, when you look closer at the strengths required to be a good no-limit player and those required to be a good limit player, you will soon start to realize that limit and no-limit flex two different poker muscles and you cannot just use the same strategies for both type of games.

The most obvious difference between the two disciplines, and only real difference between the rules of the two games, is the betting structure. In a no-limit game, as the name implies, there is no limit to the amount that can be bet at any stage. The opposite is true for limit hold'em. For example in a $5/$10 limit hold'em game, all bets pre-flop and on the flop will be in increments of $5 and all bets on the turn and river will be in increments of $10. The restriction involved in the betting means that there are necessary strategy changes to be undertaken from a no-limit game.

The best place to start is with your hole cards. Limit hold'em is much more of a pre-flop game than no-limit. Your starting hand selection needs to be much better, and for the most part, much stricter. The decision whether or not to play the hand is probably the biggest decision of all in limit hold'em. As with no-limit, your position relative to the dealer is going to be major factor in your decision. Therefore I will discuss good starting hand requirements from three positions, early, middle and late.

In early position, you have to be very tight with your starting hand requirements with respect to the later positions. This is especially true if there has been a raise before you are to act. In this case there may only a few hands that can be played profitably due to the obvious strength that the raiser has shown and also the fact that you still have most of the field to act after you. All starting hand requirements in this article are based on those from Small Stakes Hold'em by David Sklansky, Ed Miller and Mason Mallmuth. You obviously want to be playing all the big pocket pairs (AA-TT) plus pocket pairs down to 77. Also you can play any two suited cards which are over ten. These along with AK-AQ-AJ and KQ. Of these hands, you only want to be raising some of them. These include AA-TT, AKs - AJs, AK, AQ. These requirements are all dependent on the particular game you are in. For example, in a higher limit game you may only want to play the top end of this range. You would also only want to play just the raising hands if you are in a game where there is generally quite a lot of raising pre-flop and most pots are heads up or 3 way. In this case you would want to just play the hands with which you open for a raise, otherwise you will be forced into paying to much to see the flop with a hand that quite easily be dominated when someone in a later position raises. The whole range of these starting requirements really only applies when the game is loose and passive. Meaning that there is not much raising pre-flop and lots of players to each flop.

In middle position, you can afford to be a bit looser in your pre-flop hand selection as there are less players to act after you and therefore less potential monster hands to run into. You should add the following hands into your reportoire to play from middle position : pocket pairs all the way down to 22, any suited ace, K9s, Q9s, J9s, T9s, 98s, AT and KJ. Of these hands, you should be raising with 99, ATs, KQs, KJs, AJ and KQ in addition to those which you would raise from early position. When faced with an early position raise, you should limit yourself to playing just the best of the starting hands. Generally, you should only play hands that are strong enough to reraise the initial raiser when faced with a raise. Cold calling raises (calling more than one bet when you currently have no bets in the pot) is one of the most costly mistakes that you can make in limit hold'em, so reraising the raiser is your best option. In certain circumstances it may be correct to cold call two bets, this is mainly with two strong suited cards and only if you know that the pot is going to be multiway.

In late position you have a lot more freedom over the cards that you play, although this doesn't mean that you should play any old trash. This is due to the fact that you get to see what everyone else does before the action gets to you, but you still have the blinds behind you who could have a big hand and make it expensive for you. In general you should play suited connectors down to 54 and any two unsuited cards ten or higher in addition to the cards that you are willing to play from middle position. Also generally included in late position hand selection is playing out of the blinds. This changes slightly though as you are then out of position for the rest of the hand.

You will notice that from early and middle position, nearly all the starting hands which you will be playing are suited cards. This is due to the fact that suited cards can add quite a lot of value to your holding. For example, if you have Ac Qs on a flop of Ks Qh 3s then all you have is middle pair which isn't that strong a holding. However, if you have As Qs on the same flop, you suddenly have middle pair along with the nut flush draw, giving you a much stronger hand.

Well now you have chosen to play the hand, you have to decide what to do post flop. The decision here should be simpler than that when playing no-limit due to the fact that you don't have to decide how much to bet in order to protect your hand. However, there are other considerations which you need to take into account due to the 'drawing' nature of limit hold'em. Your first task on seeing the flop should be to count the number of outs that you believe you have to make your winning hand. Counting outs can be quite complex and therefore if you are unfamiliar with this concept there is an accompanying article to help you understand this concept.

You should now evaluate the flop in terms or what type of hand you have. For example, you may have AK on a A73 rainbow flop. Here you would have top pair with the top kicker on a board with almost no draws. Here your top pair appears to be in very good shape. Top pair top kicker is not always as strong as it may seem though, if you had Ad Ks on a Ah Qh Jh flop then there is a very high chance that you will not have the best hand at the river. You could run into the flopped flush, AQ, AJ, QJ or if another heart comes on the turn or river, you are almost certainly not ahead in a multiway pot. All pair hands are helped in strength by the presence of draws, for example possible gutshot straight draws or backdoor flush draws. These add to your outs, so be sure to count your outs carefully.

Your next consideration should be the odds that the pot is laying you. The main factor in when to bet or raise in limit hold'em will be the pot odds which you are getting. This is in contrast to no-limit when you are very rarely getting direct odds from the pot however this is made up for by the presence of large implied odds.

If you have a drawing hand, you should be comparing the pot odds with the chance of hitting the card/s you need to make your hand. In general, if you have sufficient odds you should call, if not you should fold. However there are times when raising can be a very beneficial strategy. If, for example, say you hold a flush draw with overcards and you assess that you have around 12 outs to a win. You are in late position with 4 players in front of you, including the blinds. Therefore pre-flop there are 5 small bets in the pot. On the flop, the small blind bets out and gets 3 callers, the action is now on you. In this example, there are 9 small bets in the pot and it will cost you 1 small bet to see the turn. You are getting 9 to 1 from the pot and your chances of making your hand are around 2.8 to 1 so what should you do? Here is a clear example of where you should raise. By raising, you will give anyone who has already put one bet in more than enough pot odds to call another and for putting this extra 1 small bet in the pot, the pot will get bigger by 5 small bets in total. By doing this you are maximising your win for the times when you do end up with the best hand.

If you instead have a made hand like a flush, straight or full house, you should be trying to get as many bets into the pot as possible. A strategy seen a lot in no-limit hold'em is slowplaying your big hands in order to deceive your opponents. There is a major flaw with this idea in limit hold'em, you are not able to make up for lost bets on later streets. By slowplaying your hand you will almost invariably lose money that you could otherwise have won from playing straightforward and just betting out.

With hands in between these two extremes, for example, vulnerable top or middle pair, you need to exercise your judgment about what to do. As has already been mentioned, you will need to consider how many outs you have if you feel you need to draw to win the hand, the pot odds that you are being laid and also the way the table has played, whether it is tight or loose, passive or aggressive. Another consideration should be the pot odds you are giving your opponents. You should be sure to try and protect your hand by betting or raising if betting or raising is going to cause your opponent to make a mistake by calling. You should be able to force out some of the weaker draws against your hand and therefore increase your chances of winning the pot.


Here is just one quick thought about river play. It will often be correct to call on the river with a hand that you feel might not be the best the majority of the time. This is due to the often large pot odds that you will be receiving on the river. It is not uncommon to be laid 10 or more to 1 against a river bet and in situations like this, you don't have to be right very often for it to be the correct move. It can be a large mistake to lose the whole pot by folding to one bet on the river, while only a small mistake to call when behind for the chance to win the whole pot. You should also bear this in mind before trying to bluff someone on the river
Jon Marlow is a regular contributor to UKPOKERINFO