Fixed Limit Texas Holdem Strategy
Fixed limit games might have an uncertain future, but it's not all doom and gloom. There is a lot of fixed limit based material out there, and being as these games haven't undergone the same level of evolution that NL Holdem and PLO has, there is still an enormous amount of scope for getting ahead of the crowd if you are prepared to put the work in. Fixed limit is considered the most difficult of all games, as it gives the least freedom to how much you can bet. As a matter of fact, the amount you bet is always fixed. This is usually set in advance. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no strategies in place here. You can still fold, call, bet or even raise. Let's now take a closer look at Texas Holdem strategy and the pattern that is essential for beginners to learn. The chart shows how many hands you are supposed to play depending on which position you sit in at the table. Example: You are sitting as player 6 to the left of the dealer button and you have a king of spades and a 7 of spades. Sometimes limit holdem is the softest game in the room! Fixed Limit Hold’em Tips. Most people who know Hold’em as its unlimited wagering version make some pretty huge mistakes when they sit down for the first time at a LHE table.
Texas Holdem is mostly played in No Limit format. Fixed Limit Holdem is not as popular as the Limit version of other poker games such as Stud and Draw but is still widely played.
Since Texas Holdem has become so popular the limit version of the game has gotten bigger and bigger and there are a lot more players who are now playing the game.
You do need to take a very different approach however as there are some key differences to No Limit Holdem and knowing a solid basic Limit Holdem strategy is essential to playing successfully.
As an introduction here are three basic Limit Holdem tips which will help you to become a better player and to hit the ground running and win more money, which is always the aim … right?
Limit Holdem – Maths Maths Maths
Limit format poker is a game of very specific edges. This is very much the case in No Limit Holdem as well but as there are less betting options in Limit Holdem it becomes even more of a decisive factor to use math to base decisions on.
You will need to use math to decide which play is correct and be a lot more rigid in your decision making. If the maths says no, then the cards need to go into the muck – no exceptions.
If you understand where you are in the hand, understand what outs you have and the pot odds being offered to you, then you can use all this information to ensure you make the correct call or fold.
When playing Limit Holdem this alone will give you a huge advantage as a lot of the opponents you are playing against will not understand the maths that are the basis of good solid play.
If you are on a draw such as needing one card to get a flush, or a straight then you can work out the odds of a card you need being dealt, once you known the odds of the card being dealt you can compare that to the pot odds being offered to you. If the pot is offering you better odds than the chances of your card coming, then it is correct to call as in the long term you will win the pot more often than you lose.
So there will be a lot of times that it will be correct to chase drawing hands against your opponents. You will need 4 to 1 pot odds in order to call with a flush draw and 5 to 1 for a straight draw. Similarly you must know when to throw the cards away when the pot odds are not supporting you.
Knowing when it is correct to call and to fold is vital to your success. If you aren’t drawing when you have the correct pot odds then in the long term you will be losing money. The same goes for when you are drawing and do not have the correct odds to call.
Take some time to study the subject. Here is a great explanation of the subject of Poker Math at Poker Professor which we highly recommend. We also plan to take a look at the subject here on How To Play Poker very soon so keep an eye out.
Limit Holdem Bankroll
In any type of poker game you are going to need a proper sized bankroll to handle the ups and downs of variance and to see you through the negative fluctuations we all experience from time to time.
In is inevitable that you will have bad sessions at poker, either due to a bad run of cards, or due to you playing poorly in a session. To protect against this we only sit down at a table with a small percentage of our total poker bankroll. That way you have plenty of further buy-ins left to recover from a bad session and it would take many bad sessions in a row in order to go broke and lose your total bankroll.
Making sure that you obey these strict set of rules is very important and the first rule of good strategy that you must learn. You can read more about bankroll management in our introduction article.
You should be living by these bankroll rules because if not then you will die by them.
In Limit Holdem because the betting is a lot slower the bankroll rules are not as strict and can be relaxed slightly.
The normal rule for No Limit bankroll management is to maintain 20 buy ins and only risk 5% of your total bankroll at any single table, so that would represent about 2,000 big blinds. This level of protection is required due to the volatile nature of No Limit and the potential to lose your whole buy in very quickly if it all goes wrong.
In Limit Holdem you can relax that, but you must still make sure that you have at least 600 big blinds (6 buy ins) for the limit you are playing if you are planning on playing seriously.
Bankroll Management can seem like a bit much for new players and they don’t like the fact that it prevents them from playing at higher stakes, but it really is necessary to have this much in your total bankroll to protect yourself from a bad run of cards, or a few bad sessions of playing badly. Players who don’t follow proper bankroll management will end up learning the hard way by having to find more funds to replenish their bankroll after a bad session.
Playing Tight and Aggressive
Just like most other poker games out right now one of the most proven winning strategies is to play very tight and aggressive in order to be successful at Limit Holdem.
You should be very strict (tight) about what starting hands you play and make sure you throw away all mediocre hands.
The discipline is even more important in Limit poker as the cost of calling a bet will only be small, at one bet and it is easy to fall into the line of thought of, “oh…. it’s only one bet, I’ll call and see what happens”. Over a course of a session all those incorrect calls will probably cost you 50 to 100 bets and probably a significant portion of your chip stack.
When you do play a hand then play it with aggression and meaning and be the driving force behind it.
Of course you will need to be adaptable as the best way to conquer your opponents will always be playing the opposite style that they are playing. If they are playing loose then you want to play tight and when they are tight you want to loosen up.
By doing this, you will have the small edge of having a better starting hand than your opponent when you are playing tight and they are loose. If they are tight and you loosen up you gain an edge by the few extra pots that you can steal from them with your aggression.
Usually however the majority of the players in online poker play much looser than they should do and so by using a tight aggressive strategy you will punish these players and win the majority of pots you enter.
Summary
Fixed Limit Holdem is a game of discipline and control. Treat every chip as if it was your last and make the decision properly based on your read of the hand and the maths and probabilities that present themselves. If you do this then you will already have a good base for playing good Limit Holdem strategy.
The above tips are by no means meant to be a complete strategy, they are just some introductory notes that you should understand before you start to play Limit Texas Holdem.
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Many poker players now start out by playing no-limit hold’em and this lesson is intended for those looking to make the transition to fixed-limit hold’em. We’ll focus on differences between the two games. While the betting rules are the main difference between the two formats, there are many other strategic differences.
In its most rudimentary form the main difference between the two is that implied odds drive no-limit and in limit making or saving an extra big bet is what separates good players from their mediocre brethren. One might make the analogy of the first game being similar to a roller coaster and the second a carrousel. While some enjoy the thrill of speed, others prefer the comfort of the merry-go-round.
For those who have never really embraced limit play and look down upon it, rest assured that there are many pros that make six figure incomes playing limit hold’em without the roller coaster thrashing to their bankrolls that can accompany no-limit play.
The Key Strategic Differences
The following list of differences between the two forms of hold’em should give you an idea of what to pay attention to if you’re switching from no-limit hold’em
Starting Hands
While many unsuited big card starting hands are regularly and correctly played in limit, those same hands can get a player into a heap of trouble in no-limit. Hands such as AQ or KQ can be played aggressively in limit but they can be a disaster in the making in no-limit, especially if the stacks are deep.
Ability / Inability to Manipulate Pot Odds
This difference is obvious but worth noting. Many poker players who play both games will, on occasion, complain at the tables while playing limit that they cannot protect their hands due to the structured betting. Of course these same players, when turning over a losing hand, do not praise the game for allowing them not to have lost their entire stack.
There still are times when a bet and/or a raise can impact the odds offered opponents in limit and accomplished players are always aware of this dynamic.
The Odds
Certainly the knowledge and proper use of odds has a place in both limit and no-limit play. Due to the heightened emphasis on implied odds, no-limit players can many times continue a hand with the worst of it and ultimately prevail and profit handsomely. In limit play, pot odds take on a much more critical role and relying too heavily on implied odds to justify chasing a draw becomes a major downfall of certain players.
Limit is a more mechanical and structured game and adhering to the odds is a must to succeed.
Information
Players need to understand that while one can bet as much as he likes in no-limit, the size of his bets give away information to his opponents as to the strength of his holding. It is for this reason many no-limit players like to keep their bet sizing constant, to avoid giving too much information away. Of course when they play like this – they are playing like limit players. Ironic, don’t you think?
Protecting Your Hand
In no-limit one attempts to manipulate the pot odds to make it ‘incorrect’ for opponents to proceed with draws. Limit players need to focus to the times when being aggressive in an attempt to ‘thin the field’ will work and when knowing all reasonable hands will call your bet anyway. Then your bet/raise will only build a pot that will make it correct for opponents to play.
In limit play pot odds are critical, as implied odds do not take on the emphasis they do in no-limit. Players that fail to make adjustments based upon both the odds they are receiving as well as the odds their opponents are being offered by the pot will not fare well in limit play.
Bluffing
While many believe that bluffing in limit play is a fool’s errand, there is no question that a well timed bluff can work. While bluffs have a much better chance of success in no-limit play, you need to understand that the cost of failure in no-limit can be much higher.
Over the years limit gurus, such as David Sklansky, have advocated that in limit play losing a bet on the end is okay but losing the pot is a disaster. This dictum has led a legion of players to lose a lot of bets on the end and has lost favor in the current limit thinking. Today’s accomplished limit players are not as quick to pay off on the river fearing being bluffed out. This, of course, would indicate that there may well be more opportunities for river bluffs in today’s limit hold’em.
Just know your players, understand the image you have been projecting, assess the board and put yourself in their shoes to evaluate if your bluff is believable.
Stack Sizes
The size of your stack and also your opponents’ has a much greater importance in no-limit versus limit play. Playing with or against a deep stack in no-limit can make significant differences to your strategy. The threat that is evident by the amount of money behind a bet is much larger in no-limit. However it still exists in limit play. In addition, the amount of money a player has on the table also helps create an intimidating presence which can help create positive results in either form of the game.
The Goal
There should be consensus that the single most popular goal of playing poker is to accumulate more chips than you started with. However, in no-limit players are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to double up or take an opponent’s entire stack. In limit play, the accepted guideline for middle limits is to earn one big bet an hour over time. Individual sessions can spike wildly in either direction but a winning player, whether a dedicated amateur or professional, who keeps accurate records will be able to chart this one big bet an hour earn rate.
Conclusion
While the two games look very much the same on the surface they are very different. This will become even more apparent as your progress through our lessons on limit hold’em.
Many players tend to play just one of the hold’em variations, usually being the one they initially learned. There are many others that feel comfortable playing either format. There are then those that can excel at both formats and they are forces to be reckoned with. You should strive to be in this third class of players because they are truly poker players. This third group usually feels right at home with other poker variations such as stud, Omaha, razz and all the different formats. They are truly poker players not just hold’em players.
Related Lessons
Fixed Limit Texas Holdem Strategyld Em Strategy
By Tom 'TIME' Leonard
Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.