I mainly play Pot limit and No limit games in O8 and Holdem (Occasionally at Omaha high, still working on it at the $.10/$.25 PLO tables, which means I am a losing player there, unbelievable! ). It really bore the hell out of me getting into the limit tables, be it O8 or Holdem.

Just like last night, while I was playing at a PLO8 and a short-handed NLH table. I decided to give it a try at the $.5/$1 holdem table. After about an hour, I lost about $10 and left. I knew I wasn't the best players there, but I didn't do any foolish chases there either(folded if odd was against me, and I got bad beats and no I am not complaining here), I just folded when I missed the board and my starting hands selection was two pictures or above, small pocket pairs at the late positions or if there were limpers (just like everything said in the book of Holdem for Advanced Player)... I did my best to try to win there (excepting paying full attention at the table which I could then pick up some tells about other players), but my $10 loss didn't cause me a pain while I was winning hundreds at the other tables.

I know that if I go up limit to $10/$20 or above then I can expect to win like a pathetic 1BB/hour (may be more online). but why bothers when I can win much much more than that at Pot limit or no limit tables (for example, I play at $1/$2 PLO8 table, my average win rate was 20BB/hr)?

So why do you guys/gals play limit games? Will it help my pot limit and no limit games if I try hard on it? What can I get out of it besides money? The reason I am asking is because if I only play pot limit or no limit pokers, I may miss some finer points in poker, in general. It won't make me a complete poker player as well. I want to have a positive attitude towards limit poker, just like what a winning poker player should have.

Any advice, even flames are appreciated.

Sorry I have to post at the strategy forum because I think people who read or respond at this forum are better and more serious players. Thanks.

I guess you should play where your $/hr is the highest. 20/BB hr sounds high even given that there are a lot of horrible PLO8 players. Maybe you've been on a good run of cards.

In the long term, winrates for good limit hold'em players are around 2BB/100 hands (maybe higher at the micro stakes). There are several reasons to play limit. Some people like playing every street. Others like a lower variance game. I find it as interesting as any other poker game and I think a good understanding of limit will make you better at other forms of poker.

Sorry, I forgot to mention I was 2-tabling, sometimes one table at PLO8 and one table at NLH, more times two-tabling at PLO8....

Thanks.

I think a good understanding of limit will make you better at other forms of poker

Such as?

I know calculating the pot odds, I know how to read the others. O8 has even lower variance (PLO has the highest varianc, from my experience)...

Personally, I find Limit to be a bit more straightforward than NL.

When I began playing online, I was NL exclusive for many many months. On the rare occasion that I'd play limit, I shared your opinion. It seemed boring and people would constantly draw and bust my good hands. I was really frustrated that I couldn't protect my hands. That said...after reading these boards for a while, I decided to give it a bigger chance. I'm glad that I did.

I love NL and make more money playing it, but it's nice to have a more steady source of income in the form of limit. I usually find that I'm less prone to wild swings playing limit.

It's also easier to study limit. The fact that you don't have to account for bet size makes the correct approach for a given scenario much more apparent. You'll notice that this strategy section is full of limit hands. In my opinion, they're much easier to analyze.

Play it to mix up and study your game.

As I've stated in other threads...

I feel NLH is my best game, and I'm improving LH every day.

I still think it's really funny that every good limit player has this opinion that they're just better than the uncouth, boorish no limit players, because limit players always maximize EV and exploit tiny edges all the time.

20BB/hr is simply insane and impossible to maintain. Variance will bite your ass like a cheap hooker.

As far as why people play limit... I recently switched over to playing more Limit because the NL variance was really starting to kill me (more because of playing above my bankroll than anything else). My bankroll would either be at double or half of where it was just the previous day... that was dumb on my part, so I switched things up.

I also just am starting to hate the fact that one second of being on tilt in an NL game can really destroy you, where as in a Limit game it's really only costing you a couple of BB generally speaking.

I find limit to be a facinating game, probably because I've actually read a lot more on playing limit than NL, and often times it feels like there is an obvious +EV play. I've done pretty well with it at the low limits so far as well.

Playing multiple tables keeps things interesting... also reviewing SSHE or doing other things like paying yr bills or downloading music while you play keeps yr mind going from hand to hand.

People only play limit if they don't have the testicular fortitude to play NL (sw)

I'm too lazy to answer... there are a MILLION threads about this that usually end up as angry **** you matches.

NL games are a cinch to beat at the lower levels.
Limit games are more profitable if you're a winning player at the higher levels

Ice

what are the reasons to play limit games?

Astute 8)


There are also two very good but seldom mentioned reasons for limit at low levels:
1) You gain experience faster, which leads to the related....
2) You learn standard moves much faster

Both are made possible by the relative lack of reads required. You can 6-table a low limit HE table without losing too much, something you just can't do at a NL table because you need to focus more on individual players. This, in turn, leads to 2.

There has to be some kind of filter for off-topic posts like this.

Maybe we should make a forum entitled "Why I like to play LHE or NLHE or why I think one is better or more fun than the other blah blah blah..."


we could link it up with the Bad Beats forum

yeah, subgroup forums

with the main grouping entitled "Garbage Forum"

im an ass, i know

We could throw General into there as well.

mean...

but true

I get so sick and tired of retards that think Limit is for fairy's and NL is the only real mans game. I play both and have noticed that the people making these comments are big time losers in Limit games. They steam off all their chips when they take a couple of bad beats claiming that this would never happen at a No Limit game because you can bet fish out of the pot. It is a statemtent I hear all the time and it makes me laugh when I hear it. This is why I consider limit a more complicated game. NL players are much easier to read and are more exploitable. While you can read limit players, it is much harder because many calls are profitable in limit that are not in NL. Sklansky makes the same cse for limit. It is also easier to run over the bad players, whereas in limit playing against bad players is pretty much an art form requiring endless patience and resolve.

I like it because you can make more money with a smaller bankroll (i.e. higher ROI?).

limit has more edges to push which makes it more interesting, imo.

the thrill of the "make you or break you" situations don't appeal to me anymore.

there are usually more limit tables running which makes for better table selection.

because it's cooler.

Debatable. The two NLH MTT wins I have this year yielded returns in the neighborhood of 16,000%.

I know you've done really well wrto, moving up in limits and what not. What's your ROI this year (if you wouldn't mind sharing)?

im not sure. I think what I was trying to say is that a 10/20 limit player makes as much as a 10/20 NL player.

the limit player only needs a $6,000 bankroll. the nl player needs a $30,000 bankroll.