We are going to soon unveil a strategy section that will be a bit different from what most other sites do. This is an example of what those articles will look like. It’s always been said that no poker book can accurately describe how to teach people because all situations are different. This section will be a lot of information over time but I am hoping it will develop into something where people can write various articles that contradict one another and debate playing styles.

I would classify mid limits as any level 10-20 to 30-60, though many people would argue that 30-60 is a big jump and they are probably right. The biggest difference is that at 10-20 or 15-30 people are more transparent. Even the good players do not really disguise their hands very well. LIMIT POKER IS ABOUT EXTRACTING THE MOST BETS WHILE GIVING UP THE LEAST BETS. So if you are betting a player out of a hand when you have top pair you are playing wrong. Said differently losing with the best hand is more OK in limit poker because over time you should be OK with the variance. In a sense you want them to see the river.

I don’t play PokerStars that often but recently a friend sent me some money so I decided to give them a little play. Normally I like to play 30-60 up to 100-200 but I believe when you have money on a site you should play stakes that relate to that bankroll. He sent me 9k, so I played 15-30 or 300 big bets. Also when I begin playing at a new site I like to feel out the player base a bit so I am limiting myself to 1 hour sessions HU to short handed and a $500 swing either way. This is more or less an experiment but is important research when playing at a new site. At FTP for instance I will play up to 2 tables at 50-100 and will allow myself 2 hours if the conditions are right, anything more than that and I feel that my play drops off.

Let me give you an example of a recent hand and how I remember it, I will attempt to give as many details as possible as to how I was thinking throughout the hand.

I hold AQ, suits didn’t matter and they often don’t heads up, heads up is a game of position and hitting your cards. If you run cold HU Limit poker can be brutal, the same can not be said for No Limit Holdem because you are not as likely to play as aggressive with marginal draws and such because the cost to you is more extreme. In Limit poker it is just one more bet. My opponent 3 bet me and I capped it before we saw a flop.

The flop came K 5 3 and he led out and I raised, there are many reasons why I would raise here. What would he three bet me out of the Big Blind with? I don’t really know the player at this point so I tend to give players like that some credit but realize that I will need more info and this could be the hand to do that. There is also a ton of money in the pot so gaining control of the pot and using my position is important. He three bets the flop and I call. The turn brings a Q, he leads and I raise, he then three bets.

Here is the board K 5 3 Q, he either has a King or a big draw or he is overplaying a hand like 10’s, which you can never rule out. The river is a blank, he leads and I call and he shows me K 7, just about what I thought. Clearly I did not take a bad beat but I went on to crush this guys soul based on how he played this hand and other subsequent hands like second pair. The issue isn’t how he/she played this hand the issue is he/she played every hand in this manner so it made it easy for me to know when to save bets and usually when I bet and he re-raised, if I had a strong holding I was going to be able to max the bets from this player. This of course isn’t the easiest player you will encounter but its pretty dog gone close. The only easier player really doesn’t happen often heads up, if you play heads up part of the price of admission is being willing to be aggressive with the money in front of you. Which is one of the reasons why HU at 15-30 and 10-20 is so profitable, another reason is that they are good move up levels for people beating levels like 5-10 or even stuck at those levels.

If you look at the hand in question the only way he was able to extract extra bets from me was because I hit my Queen. Later in the match that Queen would have been an easy laydown as an example.

One of the reasons for this form of strategy guide is that in poker most things depend. I could play this same guy tomorrow with a completely different set of analysis but in general my point is spot on. The reason people have trouble beating higher limits is because they are too transparent.

Everything by Michael Buble