Some Newbie Questions (From a No Limit Guy)

[fsuplayer]

I am a No Limit player who is starting to become a closet limit fan . I have spent some time explaining differences to posters when switching from limit to no limit, now I need your help in transitioning the other way.

What hands should I and should I not be raising, (and more importantly,reraising preflop?). what hands should I throw away in EP and which should I raise with?


I am going to play in Biloxi in the spread limit game $1-4-8 (usually weak passive for the most part) and the $6-12 game (slightly more aggressive)


How should my style/standards change when in these games?
I have played quite a few hours of limit before, but it has been a while and I wanted a quick refresher. I feel like I know the game decently enough, but I still have some questions. I am particulary interested in how small-mid pairs, and big cards should be played preflop.
IE AJo and AJs. Three bet preflop or throw away to a EP raise? Raise in EP with it? etc
88 or 99 in MP raise? call a raise? three bet?

I know alot of this advice is situatonal, thats why I want to build my base a little before I go.


BTW I have read HEFAP twice, but get the feeling that much of the advice is too aggressive for these games.
Thanks in advance for the advice guys.
FsuPlayer

[fsuplayer]

Anyone...please /images/graemlins/confused.gif
FsuPlayer

[Keats13]

Your question is very general, and several books have been written on the subject, so it's hard to answer in a single post here.

Any 1 or 2 paragraph answer is going to just scratch the surface and leave way too much unaddressed. HEFAP, TOP, and "Winning Low Limit Holdem" are all essential reading.

And yes, most of the advice in HEFAP is aggressive. That's because you need to be tight and aggressive in LHE. When I first started getting serious about HE, I thought "Wow, this advice is extremely tight and aggressive. Maybe too much so?" Now I realize how badly I sucked at LHE before.

[blackaces13]

fsu,

I'm not an expert in either limit or NL but I'll give it a shot since no one has responded.

I think the major difference is not which hands you should be raising with but what hands you should be playing in the first place and limping with. I think that anything you would raise with in NL you can easily raise with in limit as well, but the same is not true for limping.

In EP in a typical small stakes game you can play any pair and any suited ace. In LP if the game is loose/passive you can limp with all sorts of junk. With a few limpers already in you can play any suited connectors, Kxs, suited 1 gaps all the way down to 86s, JTo, QJo, etc. The game has to be REALLY good for these types of hands to become playable but very often live games are loose/passive enough, at least in AC they are.

Unlike NL, draws are great hands in limit. If you flop a nut flush draw you should often be raising for value and attempting to get as much money in the pot as you can. OESD draws are very valuable as well, no one can cut your odds to draw here. A lot of times even gutters are playable. If you're getting 7:1 pot odds or better and are using both of your cards for the gutter and its to the nuts don't hesistate to call.

I'd imagine KQ is a better limit hand than NL hand. You can open raise this from just about anywhere and probably call MP raises with it if you don't respect the raiser too much. Beware however, a lot of small stakes limit players have very high raising standards, many of them don't even raise AA preflop! On the other hand some players raise any 2 suited cards so this is very player dependent.

Any 2 suited broadway cards should be raised from almost any position, these are my favorite hands in loose/passive games because they have so many ways to win. KJs may not be considered a great hand in NL but in limit it is. I'd raise any amount of limpers with KJs and I'd open raise from anywhere except maybe UTG with it as well.

I don't want to write a book here and as I said my opinions shouldn't be taken as fact by any means as I'm a novice in both forms of poker. Hopefully though this post breaks the ice and some others can give you better feedback.

GL with limit, I think you'll enjoy it especially if you're looking to get away from all the stress of NL play. Limit is nice and relaxing and the fish are plentiful.

[joker122]

FSU, I'll try my best here, but there are many other posters on the SS forum that know 324523 times more than me so I hope they will give comment as well.

[ QUOTE ]
What hands should I and should I not be raising, (and more importantly,reraising preflop?). what hands should I throw away in EP and which should I raise with?

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be easier if you told us your current raising routine and then we could refine it to limit play for you.

[ QUOTE ]
I am going to play in Biloxi in the spread limit game $1-4-8 (usually weak passive for the most part) and the $6-12 game (slightly more aggressive)

How should my style/standards change when in these games?


[/ QUOTE ]

The only thing I know about spread limit is that drawing hands have more value.

[ QUOTE ]
I am particulary interested in how small-mid pairs, and big cards should be played preflop

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh...that's a pretty broad question. What do you mean how should they be played? Small-mid pairs can be played from anywhere if the game is loose-passive preflop. If you are constantly fearing a raise behind you you should muck them in EP. As for big cards...well I'm still trying to figure those out for myself. In EP you probably want them to be real big (i.e. QK) or suited (i.e. KJs, ATs).

[ QUOTE ]
AJo and AJs. Three bet preflop or throw away to a EP raise? Raise in EP with it?


[/ QUOTE ]

Throw away AJo to an EP raise. You might consider raising with it yourself, but I prefer to just limp with it. I raise AJs in EP everytime. Some 3bet with AJs, some fold, some even cold call. It depends alot on the raiser.

[ QUOTE ]
88 or 99 in MP raise? call a raise? three bet?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd just limp with 88, but raise with 99. I'd fold both of them to a raise before me, however.

[ QUOTE ]
BTW I have read HEFAP twice, but get the feeling that much of the advice is too aggressive for these games.
Thanks in advance for the advice guys.


[/ QUOTE ]

You're right, it was written for higher limit games which tend to be more aggressive.


One more thing: you might find yourself getting frustrated by the river suckouts. It's just the nature of the beast. Unlike NL, there is no way to protect your hand in LH. Accordingly, drawing hands such as Axs and the suited connectors have more value.

I hope Ed Miller or Clarkmiester can add to this.

[brian0729]

If you dont have much time. Search these forums by specific subjects. You will find lots of answers to your questions quickly that way.