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View Full Version : Limit or NL? I was wondering if math can back this up?


Landon_McFly
11-30-2005, 05:52 AM
Here's the bulk of a reply someone made to someone asking if they should play limit or NL holdem.

[ QUOTE ]
This has been discussed here repeatedly.
The math has been done. A good player will have much lower variance and higher win rate playing NL holdem vs. Limit holdem. A bad player can hang on to his $ longer at limit. This is both mathematically true AND logical. It's not open to debate.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this really true?

Why or why not?

Can you try to explain this to me?

I've heard this debate at least 5 times, but they were all before I stumbled upon the poker information mecca of 2+2. I was wondering what math is behind this statement.

I apologize if it's been covered before, but I'd like a straight up answer to this age old question.

Respect,
Lando

pzhon
11-30-2005, 08:18 AM
Playing NL $100 well can give you the swings of $3-$6 limit (SD $90/100) but the win rate of $5-$10 limit ($20/100).

Of course, your win rates depend on exactly how well you play, and your variance in NL depends much more on your playing style than in limit. But in general, when you normalize not to the blind sizes but the win rate/100 hands, typical winning NL players have smaller swings than typical winning limit players.

Balancing this might be that many people find it easier to multitable limit.

TomCollins
11-30-2005, 06:58 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Here's the bulk of a reply someone made to someone asking if they should play limit or NL holdem.

[ QUOTE ]
This has been discussed here repeatedly.
The math has been done. A good player will have much lower variance and higher win rate playing NL holdem vs. Limit holdem. A bad player can hang on to his $ longer at limit. This is both mathematically true AND logical. It's not open to debate.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this really true?

Why or why not?

Can you try to explain this to me?

I've heard this debate at least 5 times, but they were all before I stumbled upon the poker information mecca of 2+2. I was wondering what math is behind this statement.

I apologize if it's been covered before, but I'd like a straight up answer to this age old question.

Respect,
Lando

[/ QUOTE ]

You have more ways to extract money from opponents, and make them pay more for their mistakes in NL. This causes the edge a good player has in NL to be higher than a good player in limit. Besides the increased complexity of decisionmaking in NL, typical beginner mistakes are much costlier in NL than limit. Chasing cards can be deadly in NL, but in limit, it may only be a small mistake and cost you a fraction of a bet. Much more in limit deals with how the cards fall. In the long run, you will profit, but in any hand, this may not be true.