Charles Mousseau


To be pedantic, I must open this article with my distaste for the term ‘No-Limit Hold’em.’

There is most certainly a limit in No-Limit Hold’em, albeit a lower one. If the big blind is $200, you can’t come out betting $12.37 and free rent on Baltic or Mediterranean; you must bet the amount of the big blind at a minimum. Personally, I prefer the term ‘open-limit,’ because the betting format does indeed have limits, and one of the two limits is open. But, I digress.

No-limit Hold'em has, without a doubt, become one of the most popular formats in poker today, but surprisingly enough, it's being played by scores of people who have never played the game for real money. Television exposure and word-of-mouth have spread no-limit hold'em to many people whose sole prior experience with poker has been a low buy-in limit hold'em game at their local casino. As a result, those people will be a lot more at ease in a limit hold'em tournament, but if they enter a no-limit hold'em tournament, they won't have that experience to rely on.

If you are one of those people, then read on, and we'll go over the major differences between these two types of tournaments.

First, however, we must point out the one thing they have in common:

As the blinds get higher and higher, limit and no-limit hold'em tournaments become more and more alike.

In other words, as the blinds increase, there becomes less room to manoeuvre, and there's more of that "the next hand is going to be for all my chips" feeling, because you are investing such a large portion of your chips before the flop. So, if you've ever made it into the later rounds of a limit hold'em tournament, you'll find that no-limit is much the same at that point as well.

Having said that, here are some major differences to prepare for before you embark on your first no-limit experience.

In limit hold'em, strong draws on the flop are king. In no-limit hold'em, they are trouble.

Suppose you are playing a typical limit hold'em tournament. You defend your big blind with a suited ace, and you flop two of your suit. Generally, this is a hand you are going to call all the way to the river, because the bets just aren't big enough to scare you out of the pot. You can know that it will only cost you 1.5 big bets to draw to the river, and as you aren't quite a 2-1 underdog to make your flush if you can call both streets, as long as the pot will have over 3 big bets in it by the river (including an anticipated call on the river should you hit).

In no-limit hold'em, however, your opponent can overbet the pot at any stage. Your opponent might make a small bet on the flop, which you call, and if nothing comes on the turn, he can push all his chips in. Even if that only equals the amount of the pot, that means you are offered a 2-1 return on your money, but you are over a 4-1 dog to hit your flush with only one card to come.

However, among newer players, you will see them call with all their chips, holding only a flush draw with one card to go.

Remember: In no-limit, the pot odds facing you could change on any given street. It's not like limit hold'em, where you can be guaranteed to be laid a good price to call with your draw all the way to the river. So, if you're going to draw in no-limit hold'em, draw one card at a time.

In limit hold'em, rebuy tournaments aren't that expensive. In no-limit, they can be a bloodbath.

Most tournaments you see nowadays are so-called "re-buy tournaments", which means that, for the first portion of the tournament, if you run out of chips, you can buy more.

Obviously, in limit hold'em, even if you go out of your way to play especially horribly, it's going to be hard to rack up more than a few re-buys. In no-limit, however, it's a much different situation.

Not only can you conceivably bet all your chips on any one hand, a lot of people do just this, simply because of the safety nets of re-buys.

In a higher buy-in tournament, you can expect more sophisticated behaviour, but in a lower buy-in tournament, if I told you that you should be prepared to pay all your chips pre-flop for any hand you might enter with, I would be mistaken, but not by very much at all.

In other words, if you are playing in a no-limit re-buy tournament, and you are playing on a budget, be prepared to play the re-buy period especially tightly, by folding anything except aces, kings and ace-king suited before the flop, and if you are dealt one of these hands, put all your chips in before the flop and take what you are given.

In limit hold'em, hand selection is relatively straightforward. In no-limit, it's far more complex.

During all but the latest stages of a limit hold'em tournament, hand selection is relatively straightforward, in that chip stacks aren't that big a variable - as long as each person has about seven or eight times the big blind, they have enough to bet the hand to the end, and seven times isn't too much different from seventy.

In no-limit, stack sizes can make all the difference between a folding hand and a calling hand.

For instance, the blinds are 50/100, everyone folds to you in middle position, and you are dealt six-five suited. Do you call?

If you have only eight hundred dollars, it's an easy fold. If you have thousands behind you, as do the players in the blinds, it might well be worth a call.

This is because the hand's earning potential isn't a relatively static amount, as it is in limit hold'em, but it is limited only by the amount of money on the table to be won. If you have a good enough read on the opposing players, and you are convinced you can get action on your whole stack if you hit a big hand on the flop, then it's much easier to call.

As a general guideline, since you are about 8-to-1 against flopping a set with a pair, I would be willing to call 1/10th of my stack with any pocket pair, and since you are about 17-to-1 against flopping a big hand with suited connectors (two pair or better, or a pair with a draw) I would call 1/20th of my stack with any low-to-mid range suited connectors.

In no-limit tournaments, the "bake-off" starts a lot quicker than in limit.

Okay, first let’s explain what I mean when I say "bake-off.” This is a term a friend of mine uses in a wide variety of multiplayer games to describe a scenario when a bunch of people have been relatively inert in one manner or another, and at some point, they suddenly spring to life. As an example, when drafting fantasy hockey teams, people will avoid drafting goalies for a period of time. Then, when the first person takes a goalie, people suddenly panic about being stuck without a good goalie, so the best ones disappear in a flurry. This, we would refer to as the "goalie bake-off.”

In poker, the bake-off naturally comes when the blinds have risen so high that a large number of people have very short stacks, and find it necessary to pick an opportunity to gamble in an effort to increase their stacks. In limit hold'em, this mentality sets in once a large number of people have two or three times the big blind in their stacks, because they expect most every hand to be raised preflop (likely they plan to do the raising themselves) and they will be committed to the pot before the flop hits.

When you can raise all-in before the flop with any size stack, of course, it becomes important to use your chips as a weapon while you still have enough that a raise will discourage a call. From this point to about eight or nine times the big blind (at which point you have enough to make a meaningful raise, yet can still fold the hand and leave room to work if you deduce you are beaten) is the bake-off zone in no-limit hold'em, and when a lot of people have chip stacks in this range, expect a lot of people to be playing for all their chips.

While we're on the subject, one of the oldest tricks in the book occurs in the bake-off more often than anywhere else, so it's important to be prepared for it.

If you raise the big blind an amount that is equal to about half their chips, and they just call, I can almost guarantee what they are thinking:

"I have a hand that I will play all my chips for, but rather than reraise before the flop, I'll just call and bet any flop, to give my opponent maximum chance to fold.”

Invariably, what happens? The flop comes with any three cards, and out they bet the rest of their chips.

In the bake-off, assuming you have absolutely any chance of winning the pot, this is a mandatory call. I can count on one finger the number of times I've laid down a hand in this situation, and it was only because I had the mother of all tells on the person.

Not only is the pot laying you over 3-1 (if he put half his chips in before the flop, the pot is at least laying you this price) but you may well have the best hand if you came in raising with as little as a raggy king.

Finally, and I think this is the most important difference of all:

In limit hold'em, the name of the game is 'efficiency.’ In no-limit, it's 'opportunity’

Limit hold'em is all about fine-tuning. Saving a bet here, earning an extra bet there, trying to stretch out the most out of the cards you get, because - make no mistake about it - you just cannot win a limit hold'em event unless you get the cards.

Conversely, I'd say that you can't win a no-limit hold'em event unless you get the opportunities - you don't need big hands per se, but you do need to put yourself in a position to take advantage of the other players. The first thing I do when I sit down at a no-limit tournament table is ask myself one question about each player:

"How am I going to beat this person?"

In other words, what is the opportunity going to be in each case? For instance, one player might always raise with any two cards, when he is in late position and someone folds out of turn on the button. You might discover another player will always raise in the big blind if a couple of late limpers and/or the small blind call preflop. Or, you might find that someone always follows a preflop raise with a flop bet, or always bets if you check to them twice, or so forth. The possibilities are endless, but it's your job as a no-limit hold'em tournament player to find these opportunities, cash in on as many of them as you can, and yes - get some luck along the way.