“You can’t force people to fold in this damn game,” is the commonly heard phrase from no limit players who are making the transition to play a little limit poker. You see, limit poker is intrinsically different than no limit Hold ‘Em. The reasoning is simple. While No Limit poker online offers you the ability to challenge an opponent for all or most of his chips with the all-in move and no caps on betting, limit poker is less a game of strategy in terms of extra-mathematical theory and action, and one more based solely on math.
There are two things that no limit players need to be aware of when playing in limit games. One, the river bluff is mostly ineffective. If a player has stuck with you until the river, the cap of one bet is usually not enough to get the player to fold if they have any sort of a hand as the odds are simply too good to pass up the 1:7 or 1:8 odds they’re getting.
The second and most dangerous thing that No Limit players do, and it’s an ugly trap to fall in, is the “it’s just one bet” trap. This is seen from the typical aggressive strategy that is rewarded in No Limit Hold ‘Em. You get rewarded in that game for playing aggressively more hands. In Limit Hold ‘Em, however, because it’s always “just one bet,” that can easily become the mantra and instead of playing the aggressive game that you normally play in No Limit Poker, you become a calling station in limit games. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap.
Oh, and as a plus, you’ll gain a much stronger mathematical grasp of the game which will translate over into your No Limit play and improve your ability to read pot odds.
