No Limit Poker Strategy – Poker Strategy for No Limit Games

No limit strategy in Texas Hold'em is a very different to limited poker betting strategies. The stakes are higher, which requires its own approach.

Spot the difference

Limited betting and no limit Texas Hold'em may operate under more or less the same rules, but they are so different in practice they might as well be completely different games. Think about it.

Aficionados of no limit betting will tell you straight away what the problem is with the limited betting game. In a limited betting game, there is a top end on a maximum bet, which will only rise when the blinds do. This means that the game will only start to be profitable after a long period of play, and they will be no quick eliminations or all in calls.

Because the bets are all the same size, the amount of money changing hands is never a psychological factor in the game - you're either in are out, but either way, it's quite likely that you'll be here for several heads to come.

The terror factor

By contrast, when you play no limit Texas Hold'em, there really is no upper limit the size of the bet that can be made. What this does is introduced the aspect of sheer terror into the game - are you willing to risk everything you have on this hand?

This can be as much a crippling factor to your game when faced with a particularly aggressive player as a weapon in your arsenal that you can use to attack other players. The amount of money that a player is prepared to wager on hand is a good indicator of how confident they feel about its strength.

And this, too many people, is where the true psychology of the game of poker comes in, particularly in high-stakes games, which nearly all no limit games are.

When the entire consequences of a bad call amounts to the loss of a $5 limited wager, it means that you are more likely to take extreme risks because there is no true downside to doing so. However, if your bad call could suddenly cost you your entire stack, you have to start thinking about it more carefully.

No limit betting as a weapon

An experienced poker play can assess quite quickly whether the players around them are timid or skilled and aggressive. If the other players at the table are susceptible to fear, a smart player can use no limit strategy against them to extremely profitable results.

The idea is simple: use your stack as a cudgel. At every opportunity, smack the other players around with it. Bully them with its size.

In the early stages of the game, force them to second-guess their decisions by shoving all in with such confidence that they are convinced you are holding the nuts. Later in the game once your stack has grown in size, you can freak them out by making raises equivalent to the size of their entire remaining stack.

If they are too frightened by the concept of losing all their money to bet against you, you will slowly crush the life out of them. This is the core of no limit strategy.