Why Are You Still Playing NL Holdem!?

Like most of you I started out playing holdem and I guess it would be the most exciting form of poker.

But have you ever though to yourself "why do I play"?? Is it for the money? Are you interesting making extra cash every day?

If so..why the hell are you playing holdem!

Unless you have dreams of winning the WSOP and being a poker celeb..there's no need to play NL Holdem as your main game..if you keep losing/breaking even...because being decent in a limit game, you will be winning money more than you lose it...nearly every time you play!

The amount of bad beat stories we see here is crazy and there's a reason for that......holdem is a lot about luck. Whether you like it or not...it's true and a big reason why is the NO LIMIT part.

How many times have you played a cash table, built up your buyin to 5 times the amount and then lost it all in 1 hand? Stop letting it happen!

Start playing the limit/less popular games, Razz, 2-7, Limit holdem, Stud etc and you will find you will keep more of your money and lose less of it when you do get sucked out on.

Limt..unsurpisingly limits your variance and your losses.

In a limit game you have more decisions to make and if you are a good player at chosen game, you will easily do well. Nobody can easily bluff you out of a pot with a losing hand, nobody can go all in after the river when they hit their straight and make you lose you whole stack!

There is a big money to be made in the less known limit games and these will only grow in popularity in the future, so get in on them now before they turn out like holdem

Do you want to be a NL poker celeb (with all the variance stress mind you) or earn a consitent profit and having winning sessions most of the time)

Just something to think about.

A lot of the guys on here make upwards of $3-4k a month playing NLHE, tell them to go and play limit razz instead.

I've never built up my buyin to 5x the amount and then lost it all, b/c i have discipline and know that deepstack poker is not my strongest point, if i have 500bb's on a table and someone on the same table has, by some miracle, the same amount, then i will most definitely be leaving said table in the near future.

I know i play a good game with between 100 & 150bb stacks, so if i ever get over that and there's someone at the table who can stack me, i generally leave, or avoid getting into pots with him without the near nuts.

I have no aspirations to win the WSOP, don't even play tournaments for that matter, and i never want to be a poker celeb, i just wanna be like a few posters on this forum, grinding out a few extra k per month for a couple of nice holidays a year for my family.

"Nobody can easily bluff you out of a pot with a losing hand, nobody can go all in after the river when they hit their straight and make you lose you whole stack!" - Are you a station by any chance?? Sounds to me like you hate folding and that might possibly be the reason behind your hatred of simple variance. You don't have to call that big bet on the river remember, and if your practicing good SPR and the like, then you'd have already commited yourself by the turn anyways so who care's if he hit his miracle card, all that matters is that you set him up to get stacked when the odds were greatly in your favour, keep doing that and your doing good.

Whilst i'm not saying that you shouldn't have a few different games under your belt, for the majority of posters on here getting good at NLHE should be their main point of focus, there's no point being a jack of all trades - master of none, type poker player, better to get yourself comfortably beating one game at a decent standard and then broaden your horizons imo.

Orangpeelo I didnt mean to offend any NL players, my post was mainly targeted towards LOSING players who feel like NL is the only game they should play, and that with a limited bankroll, any of the limit games may suit them better as there are more fish in the unknown games and the variance normally isnt as bad.

You know I think newcomers see the pros all playing NL Holdem and feel thats what they need to play and never decide to try the other mixed/limit games which are definitely easier to make money in.

PS: Don't knock Razz lol

Yeah ofc, if someones a losing player at NL then it might be a good idea to move to limit, but i think that when people do that it sometimes just leads to more bad play, as the losses are less significant in the short term, over the long haul though moving to limit probably wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to someone's bad play, the basics are still the same, and if they don't get those down then they'll fail at any other sort of poker imo.

Take PLO for example, if someone isn't a winning player at NLHE then it would be quite foolish, imo, to think that they could master PLO, as obv instead of just thinking about one hand they could get themselves into situations where they have to think of maybe 3 combo's of cards that have all hit the flop in some way, if they can't get their head around pot-odds etc when they only have say 4 outs, how are they supposed to get their head around having a wrap with fd and fh outs! lol

Not knocking your ideas at all, and like i said, i think it does someone no harm to branch out, but imo, this can't be thought about until you have the real basics of HE down, its the easiest one to understand imo, you can't see other peoples hole cards so there's no need to remember whether some of your outs are dead, there's only two cards so your draws are always really easy to spot and work out etc etc

1. Pretty much just being short-term results oriented there. Over a long period of hands, it becomes painfully obvious that NLHE is not a "luck" game

2. You'll lose less true, but you will also win a lot less.

3. I believe limit is actually a pretty high variance game. If you have a hand, you may find it harder to protect that hand when you can only fire out a certain amount, giving others odds to draw to flushes, etc.

I rarely play HE ring, I play old games I grew up with, TYVM.

HE MTT is just because of the overlays when they come along.

Omaha is cool tho...

NLHE is great game but I am not a specialist (blinkered) like most of u kids...

I think it is a great game. Keeps the mind fresh and a great way to meet very skilled players. It can challenge your skills and thought process to try to get better.

For the cash, and, building it, then, losing it in one hand. I would think you can easily get trapped with the attitude I can't lose. The quick lose should be a lesson learned, chalk it up to experience, and move on to bigger and better things.

Some good points, OP. Not for all players I don't think, but many would be well served to try other games.

And especially then you see in the mixed/horse games, and notice what players shy away from certain of the games.

I play NL Holdem because I just think its exciting.
A decent to good player could go in to a tournament with pros, and with a bit of luck go far!
Thats what I love about it.
Everyones different but if you dont enjoy what your playing theres no point!