Low limit Texas Hold’em

Low Limit Texas Hold’em is readily available to play online in 2021, with it simply referring to the limit of bets in each round of the game. This article explains what low limit Texas Hold’em is and gives you tips for online play. You’re actually less likely to find low limit Texas Hold’em at casinos and poker rooms around the world, with the fact it is “low limit” a deterrent for money hungry gambling venues.

The leading online poker sites like Pokerstars, 888Poker, Full Tilt, William Hill and Americas Cardroom have all got various versions limit poker, with some games even as low as 0.01/0.02 blinds, which is also capped in the betting arounds. Online poker rooms offering Low Limit Texas Hold’em will clearly have the rules of each table available at the sign up stage.

Another cool feature is that many poker sites will run freerolls which can result in you winning a seat at a Low Limit Texas Hold’em satellite and, if you win or at very least qualify, eventually play in bigger and bigger tournaments. Read our guide for further information about Texas Hold’em Poker, or dig deeper into the origins of poker.


No Limit vs Limit Texas Hold’em

If you’ve been a regular player of Limit Hold’em you may wonder what possible reason you could have for moving to No Limit Hold’em. Perhaps you’re a winning Limit Hold’em player and not entirely comfortable with the ‘all-in’ scenarios that pop up from time to time in No Limit.

On the other hand, you may have been grinding away at Limit Hold’em for a while and have become a little bored with the inflexible betting on offer.

If you fit into either of these categories, the chances are that you’ve considered No Limit Hold’em, watched it on TV, on the internet or even played a little low stakes NL yourself. But, LHE and NLHE are two entirely different games that should be approached in different ways.

Let’s take a look at how you should approach LHE games, and what you can expect to occur.

In LHE, pre-flop raises are often met with many calls from a full ten handed table. The reason for this is value. When you double the bet and attract one caller, players after this caller and getting increasingly better odds for their call. If a raise is called by players immediately to the left of the aggressor, this can cause a ‘domino effect’, where six or seven players may call because of the value they are getting for their money. With seven players in a LHE pot, that’s 7/1 for your bet. Great value.

In NLHE, things are a little different.

A pre-flop raise is rarely double the big blind and when it is, it’s met with great suspicion. So you can expect fewer people to see flops, as they are simply too expensive most of the time.

More bluffing occurs in NLHE than LHE. Players can simply be bullied out of pots by large bets. Many find this the main reason to avoid NLHE. In $2/$4 LHE, calling a $4 bet on the river with 2nd highest pair might be worthwhile sometimes. In $2/$4 NLHE, calling a pot bet of $60 on the river with 2nd highest pair is probably never worthwhile.

Caution should be the first thing on your mind in NLHE. It is easy to get sucked into chasing cards in poker and we all know chasing draws in NLHE can become an expensive business.

A tip for new No Limit Hold’em players: Try to build up your stack by playing premium hands only. This, of course, means folding a lot of cards. If you’re successful in increasing your stack with a tight strategy, loosen up a little and play, even raise, more marginal hands. Your opponents should respect your betting more and lay down hands they may normally call with.

No Limit Hold’em is the most popular form of poker in the world today. As one famous commentator says: “It takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master”


Tips for playing Low Limit Texas Hold’em

Whether you are playing online poker or at a real casino, when playing low limit games there are some things you can do to maximise the winning potential.

1. Fold it and forget it. Don’t keep track of hands you’ve folded. You’ll only make yourself nuts. Instead, focus on what other players are doing and take note of what you see. You’re not just playing cards, you’re also playing people, as the great Harvey Spector would say.

2. Slow play monster flops. Lets face it, you’re playing low limit. You want to make money. You won’t do it winning the blinds. Try to sucker someone in by slow playing those monster flops. Sure, someone might draw out a miracle on you, but you’ll make money more than you’ll lose it. So don’t jerk the bait and scare the fish away. Use your pole gently.

3. If the fish ain’t biting, find another fishing hole. No one says you have to sit in your seat for hours on end letting the blinds and rake bleed you dry. If you’re at a tough table, get up and find another. There are plenty of fishing holes out there.

4. Don’t go on tilt. If you’re down a few bucks, don’t panic. There isn’t a poker player on the planet who isn’t down some money at some point or another. Some people have been known to almost panic when they get down and they end up over-playing their next pretty hands. You want to be the player that collects from someone else’s tilt, not the other way around. Keep your cool no matter how bad it gets.

5. Consider the average pot size before selecting your table. You don’t want a large average pot size. That usually indicates loose and unpredictable play. You also don’t want a small average pot size. That, of course, indicates a table full of tightwads. instead, go for something in between the high and the low and you should be happy.

6. Don’t leave the table right after paying the blinds. When you pay the big and small blinds, you’ve paid your admission price to see a whole round of starting hands for free. Not only that, but you’d also be missing out on the most advantageous betting positions at a poker table. Wait until you’ve gotten your money’s worth before getting up from the table. Otherwise, you might as well just throw your money into the middle of the table and say, “Here, everyone!”

7. Avoid pre-flop raises. If your hole cards are really good, like AA or KK, then you don’t want the table knowing that. Winning the blinds is no win at all. It isn’t tournament poker where the blinds progress. If you pre-flop raise you might as well be wearing a sign that says, “Watch out! I have a high pocket pair everyone.”

8. Never think of your Texas Hold’em winnings as anything but your money. Some people win a little bit and they think, “I’m playing with winnings now,” and they start making risky decisions. Don’t do it! It’s your money, you won it, protect it like it’s your money. Put it in the middle only if you have a viable chance of getting it back. You don’t want to gamble unnecessarily. You want to minimise risk at all times.

9. Use your Texas Hold’em betting position to your advantage. Knowing your opponents is paramount when playing position poker. If you can accurately sense weakness in your opponents then you can make them pay for that weakness. If you’re on the button look for opportunities to exploit weakness.

10. Carefully choose a time when you can do something crazy. That’s right, you need to ignore the guidelines from time to time. If not, your play will become predictable and those players who keep track of you will know exactly what you’ve got the majority of the time. You need to mix it up, but you also need to choose very carefully when to mix it up. You can portray yourself as a newbie, or a loosey-goosey, or a dimwit, whatever you please. Just make sure you do it wisely.