fixed vs NL

Hi guys, I've been playing fixed limit holdem for quite a while now and feel fairly confident that I can hold my own. However, I'm going to start playing No limit and I was looking for some advice on the differences of the game.

I've been watching it on TV for quite some time but find that with so many styles, it is hard to choose one to model myself on.

Is there a standard guide/formulae 'when playing x amount of players bet y amount with z hand' available?

e.g. when playing 4 players, bet 3 bets with 9, 9 in second position.

Any tips/advice appreciated.

Well, the first question I have for you is are you playing tournaments or ring tables. I think that limit holdem is much better for ring tables. That is mostly all that I play, but I think that NL is better for tournaments. I barely ever play limit tournaments. The reason NL is better for tournaments is because you need to get chips/money much faster in tourneys. There are time limits where the blinds go up, and you need to stay with those, or you are done for. In NL, you can double up with just one bet and someone calling you. For limit tournaments, until the blinds are very high, it takes a while to get a lot of chips. But in ring tables, you have not set time period in which you need to win money. The blinds never go up. Nothing ever changes. That is why limit is much better for ring tables. You can take your time, pick your hands, be very conservative if you want and still do well. In NL ring tables, the game is much faster. There is a lot of betting and you can go all-in at any given point. I think this is much dangerous because you are playing directly with your money, instead of indirectly like in tournaments.

As for your question, it is impossible to set specific guidelines that will fit to every situation. Even the same sort of situations, like the same amount of players, is always very different everytime you play. In NL, you can bluff a lot easier, because of the fact that you can make your bets whatever you want. You can push your good starting hands more than just one more bet and almost eliminate all people calling with crap hands. You can usually make people fold their draws, even though some players never fold a flush draw or open-ended straight draw. I think playing full tables (9 or 10 players) is better for both limit and NL, but other people might feel differently. I play tight aggressive in NL, and just a little bit looser in limit, but not very loose.

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cky12 - PokerStars
cky12 - FullTilt

My Poker Journal

Yea your not gonna be able to play as many drawing hands in NL as you can in limit because people will make you pay dearly for chasing. Also position and bluffing are a lot more important as kikolo said you can get people off their weaker hands with bigger bets and such. Just as in anything the more u play the better you will get

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The only thing worst than getting a bad beat is getting outplayed...

Here are a few key ideas to take on board

1) start with freerolls, particularly 1 table sng's till you get a feel for the game
2) hands such as 56s are much more playable and hands like a9 much less.
3) in NL tourneys the gap concept applies - What this means is that if a solid player such as Fonz or xtra bets then you need a slightly better hand to call than you would if they had not bet but that with the same hand you could legitimately bet on otherwise but against other , looser players you can call cheap with trash because you are more likely to get lots of their chips if they hit a hand
4) Play solid initially and never try to bluff - only introduce bluffing once you are comfortable with your game
5) make your standard post flop bet 50%-66% pot (i.e. check or bet this amount)
6) initially go all in every time you get AA or KK. Watch how other players play these hands before you consider slowplaying
7) reading opponents is even more important than in limit. Against many opponents slow playing a hand is often an excellent tactic in NL but not against calling stations/ chasers
8) in middle stages of tourneys target the short stacks.
9) in terms of bluffing Kaarts bluffing guide is a reasonable place to start (theories section)

Here is basically what you need to know if you are playing lower limits....Just play simple poker.....dont try and get fancy all the time with check raises, slow playing and the like...If you have a hand, bet it strongly and if you don't, fold it. I think ScottishBen has a more definative outline so follow that but just remember to check the fancy stuff at the door. When you get into the higher limits is when you are going to play a little more creatively..,.....Simple poker is very boring at times but you can have fun with the money you win later.

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Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.

And please forget everything you have seen on tv. There is no set guidlines to follow, it all depends on the situation. Go with your gut and listen to it. If you feel you are beat you most likely are.

Go all in every time you get AA or KK, why? thats silly poker. If you do that you will probably almost never lose with them, but you will not win much either. Much better too make a 4xBB rasie and then go all in if you are raised.