Transition from NL to Limit

[FMMonty]

I have been a successful NL and PL player for about 5 years now both online and offline and have slowly moved up the stakes and I can beat the $10/$20 games quite happily BUT my experience in Limit Poker is fairly non-existent. Now I just want to improve my game in all areas and have a better understanding of limit play, but I would have to assume I would be a Fish at Limit as the strategy is vastly different (I would assume).

My question is considering I am a winning NL and PL player how hard would it be for me to be a winning player in Limit?

What advise could you give me on how to start out in Limit?

Thoughts anyone?

[Dazarath]

I think the standard advice is to read Small Stakes Hold'em and start by playing some low limits to get some experience under your belt.

[Iamafish]

You're going to hate limit, get better at NL.
Don't play fancy in limit. Start low, at 30/60 is when you get fancy, but you have to know how to fancy. Play less hands (don't raise 67s in an unraised pot on the button). Read SSH.

[theBruiser500]

limit is tough, be careful

[Boris]

Pre-flop
Play looser in early position with suited face cards. In no limit you would be kind of a sucker to play a hand like QJs up front. But in limit it is usually a playable hand from early position.

Play tighter in later position (I mean play tighter in later position relative to how you would play in a no limit game). 6-7o is not playable just because you have the button.

Play tighter with small pocket pairs. I don't think you lose anything by mucking 22-77 in early position. Do not play these hands if facing a lone raiser or one raise and one cold call. This is very different from no limit.

In general play more aggressively before the flop.

Post flop

In general you play much looser in limit after the flop. You should often be drawing to less than a nut hand. Value bet your mediocre hands much more than you would in no limit. Don't bluff as often.

[rigoletto]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't bluff as often.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is usually where NL players has most problems adopting. You have a much harder time betting people out of the pot in limit. Realize that with the betting structure people will often have odds to call your bets and raises even with gutshot straight draws and the like, so you have to put them on a wider range of hands than in NL.

[Matt Flynn]

Friends don't let friends play limit.

[siegfriedandroy]

Seems to be a good starting point. Im on the other side, playing mostly limit and considering the pros and cons of a transition to no limit. Not to hijack, but how would you advise someone going from lh to nlh? And though there are doubtless numerous threads on the issue already, what are your personal opinions about the advantages/disds of each and which is better long term for a fairly new player to specialize in? Is HOH a good place to start? Ive read a lot of it, but it seems to focus more on nl tourneys- i imagine the strategies can differ greatly between these and cash gmames.

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
Not to hijack, but how would you advise someone going from lh to nlh? And though there are doubtless numerous threads on the issue already, what are your personal opinions about the advantages/disds of each and which is better long term for a fairly new player to specialize in

[/ QUOTE ]

I've moved from limit to no limit last year, and I'm working my way up on the no limit ladder (currently at NL600 at Party). However, I still play a lot of limit (short-handed and full) to keep my game sharp and be versatile (I also play sit n' gos as well as tournaments).

That said, the transition from limit to no limit from my point of view is this:

Advantages:

(a) Your winrate will at least triple if you're an excellent no limit player from an excellent limit player (from 3 PTBB/100 to 9+ PTBB/100--or 1 big bet an hour to 3+ big bets an hour live). More bad decisions from bad players in no limit means more profit for you.
(b) Less variance. Yeah, it sucks to get stacked in no limit, but in the long run you won't suffer the really big swings (I've yet to have a downswing of more than 2 or 3 buy-ins in a 100xBB for up to NL400 in over 50,000 hands)
(c) Personal challenge. This game is very opponent dependent and makes you become a really good card reader. You must know how aggressive/passive/tight/loose a player is and collect as much information from showdowns as possible.
(d) I firmly believe that playing no limit has improved my limit game by - making me less weak tight on the expensive streets, and making me into an even better card reader and paying more attention to little details.

Disadvantages:

(a) If you're an online player and you normally play more than four tables, you simply must reduce to three or less to be on top of your game. Personally, if I'm playing seriously, I will only do two.
(b) I'm not speaking from too much experience in high limit as I haven't even cracked NL600. There's probably a ceiling in no limit in terms of limit you can go. After NL1000 5/10 blind games, there aren't too high limit games, and they are usually shark infested.
(c) I hear that if you really want to yield long term profit, multi-tabling Party $15/$30 limit is the way to go.
(d) While tilt/bad beats/bad decisions will cost you some big pots in limit, it can be absolutely deadly in no limit.

Garland

[chuddo]

pro: only having to pay just one more bet to see a showdown even though you know your strong hand is most likely no good, as opposed to a pot sized one.

con: realizing that as tempting as it is, calling that bet is often a bad idea and costing you money.