What's the point of PL?

[LondonBroil]

Serious question. It just seems unnecessary to me. Why not just have Limit and NL? What does PL have that NL doesn't?

[tbach24]

A cap on the size of the bet you can make.

[LondonBroil]

Obvious answers aside, why would a good player want that? I've seen the better players make huge overbets in NL (which are sometimes called) that they wouldn't be able to make in PL.

[djr]

there are advantages to playing PL, but really it all comes down to your comfort level. Depending on my mood I switch from limit to PL to NL, and really don't see much difference in my win rates between PL/NL.

[BobboFitos]

[ QUOTE ]
Obvious answers aside, why would a good player want that? I've seen the better players make huge overbets in NL (which are sometimes called) that they wouldn't be able to make in PL.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's really (actually, this is a complete guess, but it makes sense, so hear this out) all about preflop play. In NL you can manipulate preflop action to the point where less flops are taken and therefore the greater edge of a better player is less effective. (fewer flops = less of a chance for a better player to make a better move)

In PL the max open allows players to take more flops and thereby "bust" other players on the flop and beyond.

really, I have no idea, I play NL and PL very similarly. I'm not too keen on big overbets.

[LondonBroil]

I've started using the overbet occasionally after reading an old post by Natedogg. It works just fine at the Party $25NL a lot of the time.

Part of Natedogg's post:
"When someone makes a bluff at a pot, it's often way out of proportion to the pot. A $400 bet to win the $150 pot on the river. Ironically, it's the best players who do this, not the worst. If a bad player goes all in on the river to win a $150 pot, he's got you beat, almost every time. Several times I have folded with a decent hand to a pot size bet on the river from the tricky players. Several times they have showed me a monster. Conversely, I've called pot size or smaller bets from bad players with only top pair and won."


Tommy's Response:
"Be VERY careful there. When a good player makes that play, he will almost always have a MONSTER hand. Why? Because betting $150 will drive out all bad hands, just the same as betting $400. But the good players know that the only way to get paid off big is if the other guy has a big hand too. So he bets $400 with the nuts on the river instead of $150. If everyone folds, it doesn't matter what he bet, right? But if a weak player is going to call $150, they'll often call $400 as well, especially after the overbet makes it look like an "obvious bluff.""

[BobboFitos]

Yeah, I understand that.

I like building my pots with big hands so my 'big bets' on the end aren't too big in proportion with the pot.