the birth of limit poker

most of you know that poker , in some form, is a VERY old game. there are actually any number of games that are called poker. even in todays casinos and cardrooms you may find draw, stud, omaha, hold-em; all held together under the name of poker because they use the same deck of cards and they share common hand values such as pairs, straights, etc.


certainly huge differences exist between several of these games though. stud has little to do with omaha. but being different is not something found only in comparison of one of these games to another. take any one of these games and introduce variation in the betting structure and you can again have a huge difference.


no limit and pot limit are very similar, but compare them to limit and it is allmost two different games. limit is relatively new, and is believed to have originated within the lifetime of many who are reading this.


while you may know that the Horseshoe in Las Vegas is considered by many to be mother to tournament poker because of their world series of poker, you may be surprised to learn that an earlier manager of their poker room is generally credited with creating the limit betting structure.


limit has clearly become one of the most widely accepted ideas introduced to poker. have you thought about why it was created? why so well received? why some P/L players frown upon it?

id like to know who is this person who created the limit betting structure. as i know there were structured games in the 50 and 60's so he would have to have been running things around then or before. the horseshoe only occasionally had a poker room before the 80's as mrs. binion hated the game as benny used to lose alot when he played so she always felt he could lose what they had and vetoed the poker room. a few times they had a one or two table room with very low limits.

"no limit and pot limit are very similar"


really? because pot limit seems closer to some sort of weird spread limit to me. i guess it depends on the size of the blind(s) in relation to the stacks. some pot limit games with tiny blinds are closer to a spread limit and pot limit with bigger blinds are closer to no limit.


that said, ive noticed that some no limit games *play* just like a pot limit game.


any thoughts on this would be great.


"limit has clearly become one of the most widely accepted ideas introduced to poker. have you thought about why it was created? why so well received? why some P/L players frown upon it?"


the house favors it because bad players are less likely to go broke quickly and even very bad players can have winning sessions, certainly more often then they will experience in no/pot limit..

sorry, I can not provide a name...just spent about two hours trying to find it...I do recall that a spedific name was given in whatever I read....and yes I remember mrs binion...even which table she was allways at in the resturant downstairs (sorry they have closed it)


I played there some in the 50s, also across the street at the old gldn ngt

you could win the pot and lose money with some dealers...lol

the house profits from the number of hands dealt in an hour. if it LIMITS the betting so that for one to win or lose a large amount would take many many hands, then the house is favored because it now collects for each new hand where it collects its new rake or drop. if we played no limit for a $1 rake per pot, and the game was over in 5 hands, the house makes $5. but if we played the same buy-in for say $10-20 it would take a lot longer because the mistakes one could make are less severe in limit, and must be compunded by repetition to equal the severity of making the same mistake in no-limit.

oh so true!!! In addition to that, the weaker players lose their money more slowly--may be slow enough that they can play all month, till their next check comes, thus keeping the game running for a longer time.


LIMIT was definitely created for the benefit of the house.