Low Limit Hold’em Strategy for Online Poker

Low Limit Hold’em Strategy for Online Poker


2010-06-10

Limit Hold'em is a game of edges in online poker. You can’t de-stack people like you can in the big action game of no limit, but that’s OK because in limit Hold'em, your opponents will often have no idea how much of an edge you have on them. The limited betting amounts are deceptively small but they add up to significant profits over the long term, and a stable playing lifestyle, verse the volatile No-Limit game.

A common complaint heard from new players is that in low limit games, it’s impossible to bet enough to knock your opponents out of the pot and they always just end up drawing out on you. It is true that in low limit games you will lose many pots to draws, but if you are charging your opponents by betting and raising, you will profit over the long run. Remember, any time an opponent chases against the odds, you are profiting in online poker.

You always have to look to the long term in limit Hold'em. It’s a game of swings in the short run and steady profits (hopefully) in the long run. In pursuance of that long term profit, this strategy guide is going to briefly cover five topics:

1. Bankroll
 2. Starting Hands
 3. Position
 4. Playing Tight-Aggressive
 5. Pot Odds

Bankroll

Because of the swings you will encounter in limit Hold'em, it is critical that you strictly adhere to certain bankroll guidelines. The bankroll is the poker player’s lifeblood, but it is probably the most abused, mistreated thing in the poker world. It does not matter how good you are; you will experience major downswings as a result of simple variance.

The necessary bankroll size can vary based upon your goals and poker skill. Professional players need much larger bankrolls than casual players and no bankroll is big enough for big time losing players. The casual limit Hold'em player should have a minimum bankroll of at least 300 big bets for the limit they play at. As you move up in stakes and become more serious about the game, you’ll want to increase your bankroll up to about 600 big bets. Professional players may want to keep an even larger bankroll.

Stakes 300BB 600BB .10/.25 $75 $150 .25/.50 $150 $300 .50/1.00 $300 $600 1/2 $600 $1,200 2/4 $1,200 $2,400 3/6 $1,800 $3,600 5/10 $3,000 $6,000 10/20 $6,000 $12,000 20/40 $12,000 $24,000 30/60 $18,000 $36,000


Starting Hands

When choosing your starting hands, there are several factors to consider. First of all, you need to be able to judge what constitutes a quality starting hand. Big pairs and high card hands like AK and AQ are the most desirable, with other hands becoming playable in late position and as more players enter the pot.

In early position, you will want to play extremely tight, mostly sticking to the big pairs AA-TT and AK/AQ. Feel free to mix it up occasionally, but the risk of additional raises behind you and playing the entire hand from out of position make it difficult to play many hands profitably from early position in online poker.

In late position, you can loosen up a little bit with the starting hands. If several people have entered the pot, you can enter with speculative hands like suited connectors and small pairs. You can also come in with a raise with hands like KQ, AJ and 99. If nobody has entered the pot, you can steal with a wide variety of hands, depending on how hard the players in the blind positions defend their blinds. Are you ready to try our your game? www.playersonly.com is one of the fastest growing card rooms that take USA players. Get in on the action today.

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