Limit vs No Limit
Poker, that is. Are you a limit player, or a no limit player?
Some people are nervous playing no limit; they don't like the fact that their metaphorical life is at stake all the time. They perceive an opponent with a bigger stack to have an advantage over them. These players choose limit poker.
Other players enjoy the excitement of considering "all in" at any turn to act.
What is less considered is whether you can play more hands or fewer, given a limit. Intuitively, one might imagine that having a limit means a player can play more hands, because the maximum loss is limited.
However, so is the maximum win limited.
A winning zone exists on the graph with aggression on one axis and looseness on the other. An aggressive player can play looser, because he makes more on the wins than he loses on the increased losses. He gets action. The tight player has to hope someone else has created action when he makes a hand, because he sure isn't going to get it on his own.
This zone is substantially limited when playing limit poker. That is in fact a benefit to players who don't like to confront a bluff, but it also restricts one to playing tight. In no limit Hold 'em, it is perfectly sensible to see every flop if the bet is at the big blind and a raise is unexpected. Sometimes those 2-5's match a 5-5-2 flop, and there's plenty of money to be made to cover the small bets. Got to get away when they miss, though, which is most times. Omaha/8 with a limit is just the opposite. In a full game (9-10 people), the majority of hands need to be discarded before the flop, and a significant portion of the time when you see the flop the hand should be discarded rather than calling even the small bet for that round. This makes for a boring game, and, inevitably, results in players choosing between being bored and being winners.
Something to consider when deciding whether you are a limit or a no limit poker player.
Some people are nervous playing no limit; they don't like the fact that their metaphorical life is at stake all the time. They perceive an opponent with a bigger stack to have an advantage over them. These players choose limit poker.
Other players enjoy the excitement of considering "all in" at any turn to act.
What is less considered is whether you can play more hands or fewer, given a limit. Intuitively, one might imagine that having a limit means a player can play more hands, because the maximum loss is limited.
However, so is the maximum win limited.
A winning zone exists on the graph with aggression on one axis and looseness on the other. An aggressive player can play looser, because he makes more on the wins than he loses on the increased losses. He gets action. The tight player has to hope someone else has created action when he makes a hand, because he sure isn't going to get it on his own.
This zone is substantially limited when playing limit poker. That is in fact a benefit to players who don't like to confront a bluff, but it also restricts one to playing tight. In no limit Hold 'em, it is perfectly sensible to see every flop if the bet is at the big blind and a raise is unexpected. Sometimes those 2-5's match a 5-5-2 flop, and there's plenty of money to be made to cover the small bets. Got to get away when they miss, though, which is most times. Omaha/8 with a limit is just the opposite. In a full game (9-10 people), the majority of hands need to be discarded before the flop, and a significant portion of the time when you see the flop the hand should be discarded rather than calling even the small bet for that round. This makes for a boring game, and, inevitably, results in players choosing between being bored and being winners.
Something to consider when deciding whether you are a limit or a no limit poker player.
posted by dwshelf at 9:17 AM
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