Trying to gear down/"learn" limit

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Limit poker is more about limiting your losses

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Not even close.

Limit poker, especially very low limit poker, is about pushing very small edges. NL you can make money by scoring on the very occasional huge hand because you have such heavy implied odds, and tight-passive play is often correct because in some situations it will be very hard for your opponent to call a raise unless you are beat. In limit it can be correct to cap for value what you know isn't the best hand (in multiway pots), and you can make more marginal value bets because your opponents will generally call with weaker hands, even if they're good players who know what they're doing.

EDIT: BTW, what I've noticed is that NL players coming over to limit tend to be too loose preflop and too passive after the flop. This is because implied odds are worse in limit than in NL (meaning you can "make back" more money after the flop if you're clearly better than your opponents), but betting postflop is cheaper in limit than in NL (as in, inappropriately betting $10 into a $100 pot isn't as dangerous as inappropriately betting $80 into a $100 pot).

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I agree with all of this. Interestingly, I am just returning to limit from a stint at NL, and I had the opposite experience. I am more aggressive than I remember being before, and it didn't take long before I lost much action at the table (6 handed). Now, I may have been hit with the deck, but everything seemed to "click." Of course, now that I posted this, I will go on a x-00 BB downswing.

IMO, for internet play, the style of play advocated in SSHE works best at .50/$1.00 or higher at full-table, and $1/$2 or more short-handed. To tell you the truth, I have never came close to making money at the micro-micro's. When I started, I played too tight and had too many "bad beats." I made the "classic" mistake of moving up the limits to escape the bad beats, but as I appeared to get just as many in higher limits while starting to make a profit, I never went back. It's hard enough to put a player on a hand at $0.50/$1.00, it's near impossible in the lower limits.

I also think fuller tables are better for beginning limit because you can play tighter as you are paying less blinds. $360 seems fine for $1/$2 full-table Lim Hold'em, with the proviso of being careful. At $1/$2, you are beginning to play opponents who take the game seriously, which is both good and bad.

[Twitch1977]

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Limit poker is more about limiting your losses, No-Limit is about maximizing your profits. Can't tell you how many people I hear talk about pot odds in Limit Hold'em, and how much they lost with pot odds in their favor. Well no duh it's limit hold'em you will almost always have pot odds, but is your hand worth calling to the river. Try raising from late position with a draw hand, and watch everyone check the turn card to you...

Limit is much more of a passive game. In No-Limit agression wins hands, where as low-Limit cards win more often.

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At first I thought this post was a joke so I laughed, then I realized it wasn't and that kinda made it even more funny.

T

Once you start playing NL, it's hard to go back to Limit. After playing in strictly NL tourneys for several months, I played Limit and found it very constricting not to be able to set the pot odds.

Ironically, growing up playing poker in home games and in the park, I never played NL. It was always .25/.50 or 1/2. Then again, at that time I didn't know NL even existed.

[I am fish]

300 Big Bets is the generally recommended bankroll for full 10 max limit games. With a $360 bankroll, I would start at .5/1$ as a beginner.

Books ... Small Stakes Hold'em is the Bible for low limit games. I would also recommend King Yao's "Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker"

.5/1 games present hardly any risk, as most of them are so loose and easy to beat. My guess is you'll be itching to move up to 1/2 not long after. But I think .50/1 would be a good place for you, assuming you have a solid grasp on the basics.

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Once you start playing NL, it's hard to go back to Limit. After playing in strictly NL tourneys for several months, I played Limit and found it very constricting not to be able to set the pot odds.


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Being able to set the pot odds (variable betting) as in NL and PL, is an added factor that makes NL more difficult than Limit in my opinion. When I'm not playing stupid or anxious poker, I can consistently do well in the 1/2 limit games. On the other hand, I had limited success with NL, winning only in 10-handed (.25/.50) games - basically nut peddling. I suspect the reason for my failure at 6-way and .5/1+ NL games is due to incompetence of confusing pot odds.