If you want to play poker to any sort of level above that of 10p-a-hand weekender, you need to know the differences between the Pot-Limit and No-Limit versions of the game.

No-Limit is very exciting to watch, and easy to explain to new players. It does what it says on the tin: there is No-Limit to the amount you can raise. Pot-Limit is slightly more esoteric.

The maximum raise in Pot-Limit is the total amount bet by all players, after you have matched the amount required to call. So if the blinds are $1 and $2 and nobody has bet yet, you can bet a maximum of $7 ($2 to call plus the total $5 on the table, made up of $3 blinds and your $2 call, which is counted as part of the pot).

There are several other important differences between Pot-Limit and No-Limit poker, not least the context in which they are usually played. No-limit Hold’em, referred to as ‘the Cadillac of poker’ owes its popularity almost solely to tournaments, the oldest and most prestigious of which is the $10,000 World Series Of Poker main event.

If you’re playing either Pot-Limit or No-Limit in a cash game or at the start of a tournament, there is no reason for hasty action, as the blinds are low in relation to the total number of chips in play. You need to be playing mainly either hands that are very strong – like A-A, K-K, A-K and QQ – or hands that can catch out less well-advised players, like small pairs that draw to three of a kind, and suited connectors (7♣ 8♣ for instance) that draw to straights and flushes.

Just how big the big hands need to be depends on the level of game you play in. In a small game, other players may not even understand the importance of kickers, giving you a big advantage. In contrast, in the first few hours of the WSOP, $10,000 main event, the blinds start so small and the skill level is so high that many players would only risk all their chips pre-flop with pocket aces.
If you’ve got a strong hand, use it!

The classic beginner’s mistake in big bet games is to play strong hands too weakly before the flop, then put all the money in on the next (more expensive) rounds after someone else has made a better hand. Aces are the prime example here, as KK and QQ can look weak when an overcard such as an Ace flops. Some players seem to think AA is invincible, whereas it’s often a one-way ticket to a disappointingly small win or a murderously big loss.

Pairs generally play strongly providing no overcards or obvious draws come on the flop (e.g. if you have QQ on a broken flop of 2♣ 5♠ 10♥), but you will need to bear in mind that anyone with a smaller pair has a 15/2 chance of hitting three of a kind, and since poker is based on such odds, you need to try and ensure you are not giving others an incentive to draw out on you. The way to do this to raise by a sizeable amount in the first place.

Pot-Limit, by contrast, is still in many ways a drawing game where raises are restricted. So if the blinds are small, you might not be able to raise enough to protect AA or KK. In this instance, good players sometimes go for a check-raise in order to get more chips in, and play big hands slowly if they can’t get a lot of money in pre-flop.

The other strong hands in big bet hold’em are of the AK and AQ variety. In tough games, AQ has been called a trouble hand as strong, tight players only play or represent the very big pairs and AK if they are not drawing, but if playing in loose, low stakes, high blind or late position situations, it is playable, as are AJ, A10, KQ and KJ.

As with big pairs, you should raise enough in No-Limit to shut out draws if you feel your hand is initially the best. In Pot-Limit, you must bear in mind the ratio of a pot-sized raise to your stack size, so you don’t lose a lot of money to a draw. AK needs to connect with an A or K on the flop to be bet strongly, but you can still bluff if you think the other players are weak, tight or respect you for strong hands.

As the blinds go up in tournaments, the value of the weaker Aces and face cards rise and the value of drawing hands fall, so with few bets left, AQ and AJ are certainly hands you can raise or move all in with, as are big and medium pairs.

The key here is that with weaker hands you want to be the one raising to steal the blinds and make others fold, and you want to do this before anyone else has made a bet. When raising in the late stages of a Pot-Limit tournament with a medium hand, you also need to be aware of how much of your stack you can get in the middle in one go.

1. John Balthard says:

   February 9, 2010 at 8:38 pm

   I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the Pot-Limit style of Hold’Em. I think this is a great starter. because it gives me the basics of the size needed for proper betting (both pre and post-flop), calling, and raising patterns along with stack and pot size considerations(among other intresting basics as hand selection). I give it a five star rating.