Guidelines for Fixed Limit Hold'em Strategies
Around ten years ago fixed limit hold'em was far more popular than no limit hold'em ever was. No limit was often reserved for tournament play while it was difficult to find a live no limit game. Then, in 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the televised World Series of Poker, the ultimate no limit tournament. Moneymaker, an amateur player, won it all and changed the landscape of Texas hold'em. No limit became the game to play while fixed limit took a back seat.
While the games are played with the same 52 cards the strategy for limit is quite different than that of no limit hold'em. Because the bets are fixed and the number of raises limited, the limit game is far less volatile than its more popular cousin. Furthermore, bluffing is not an important part of the limit game; a function of probabilities and pot odds. Finally, limit is a game of patience, a factor that restricts the action of the game.
Volatility
Where no limit hold'em is a game of bluff and bluster, a game where aggression is king, limit is a game in which tight play and sound decisions are rewarded. This is true because betting is limited in two ways. Bet size is predetermined and the number of raises is also limited.
Bet size in say a $2/$4 game is limited in the first two rounds of betting to increments of $4, the size of the big blind. In the later two rounds, the turn and river, the bet size increases to double or big bets of $8 increments. That is all you can bet or raise. Of course if there was a bet and a raise before you and you were going to play your call would be 2 bets or 2 big bets depending on the betting round.
In addition to the limit on the size of the bet, the number of raises allowed during any given round is also limited and when the limit is reached the betting is said to be capped. At most games the limit on raising is set at 4, however, I have played in games where the limits were as low as 3 raises and as high as 5.
The effect of these limits is to limit overall volatility in pot size and in stack size.
Betting and Bluffing
Because betting is capped, the size of the pot relative to the size of the bet required to make a call is often quite small. Another way of thinking about this is that the price offered by the pot is often attractive enough to induce a call even with weak drawing hands. For this reason, bluffing is often not productive in limit hold'em. The bluffer simply cannot make a bet big enough to scare opponents away and the bluffer needs the ability to scare in order to survive.
For this reason, bets in limit hold'em tend to mean exactly what they say they mean.
The three rules of the Limit Game: Patience, Patience, Patience
This will sound like an oxymoron, but in limit you can afford to see a flop with weaker hole cards than you can in no limit. While this doesn't sound like patience, it really is. Seeing a flop where your hand is unimproved means prompts a fold while an improved hand will almost always prompt a bet or a raise. Patience in limit comes with the discipline to let go of unimproved flops. Perhaps the exception to that rule is that many players will stick around for a turn card with a strong to medium draw. The old hold'em adage, "No Bet!" holds true.
The goal is to win big pots but lose small ones. Seeing a lot of flops with a wide but reasonable range of hands is profitable if accompanied by discipline.
In the final analysis, limit hold'em strategy leads to a far less volatile game than no limit, a game in which bluffing is punished, not rewarded, and where patience and grinding are the key to profitability.
Around ten years ago fixed limit hold'em was far more popular than no limit hold'em ever was. No limit was often reserved for tournament play while it was difficult to find a live no limit game. Then, in 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the televised World Series of Poker, the ultimate no limit tournament. Moneymaker, an amateur player, won it all and changed the landscape of Texas hold'em. No limit became the game to play while fixed limit took a back seat.
While the games are played with the same 52 cards the strategy for limit is quite different than that of no limit hold'em. Because the bets are fixed and the number of raises limited, the limit game is far less volatile than its more popular cousin. Furthermore, bluffing is not an important part of the limit game; a function of probabilities and pot odds. Finally, limit is a game of patience, a factor that restricts the action of the game.
Volatility
Where no limit hold'em is a game of bluff and bluster, a game where aggression is king, limit is a game in which tight play and sound decisions are rewarded. This is true because betting is limited in two ways. Bet size is predetermined and the number of raises is also limited.
Bet size in say a $2/$4 game is limited in the first two rounds of betting to increments of $4, the size of the big blind. In the later two rounds, the turn and river, the bet size increases to double or big bets of $8 increments. That is all you can bet or raise. Of course if there was a bet and a raise before you and you were going to play your call would be 2 bets or 2 big bets depending on the betting round.
In addition to the limit on the size of the bet, the number of raises allowed during any given round is also limited and when the limit is reached the betting is said to be capped. At most games the limit on raising is set at 4, however, I have played in games where the limits were as low as 3 raises and as high as 5.
The effect of these limits is to limit overall volatility in pot size and in stack size.
Betting and Bluffing
Because betting is capped, the size of the pot relative to the size of the bet required to make a call is often quite small. Another way of thinking about this is that the price offered by the pot is often attractive enough to induce a call even with weak drawing hands. For this reason, bluffing is often not productive in limit hold'em. The bluffer simply cannot make a bet big enough to scare opponents away and the bluffer needs the ability to scare in order to survive.
For this reason, bets in limit hold'em tend to mean exactly what they say they mean.
The three rules of the Limit Game: Patience, Patience, Patience
This will sound like an oxymoron, but in limit you can afford to see a flop with weaker hole cards than you can in no limit. While this doesn't sound like patience, it really is. Seeing a flop where your hand is unimproved means prompts a fold while an improved hand will almost always prompt a bet or a raise. Patience in limit comes with the discipline to let go of unimproved flops. Perhaps the exception to that rule is that many players will stick around for a turn card with a strong to medium draw. The old hold'em adage, "No Bet!" holds true.
The goal is to win big pots but lose small ones. Seeing a lot of flops with a wide but reasonable range of hands is profitable if accompanied by discipline.
In the final analysis, limit hold'em strategy leads to a far less volatile game than no limit, a game in which bluffing is punished, not rewarded, and where patience and grinding are the key to profitability.
