Let's talk Limit Poker, shall we?

[Prolaznik]

i tried limit at the casino cause i was crushing it on bovada. the pots were always pretty massive b/c ppl simply would not fold. sitting down with 100 i was out in half an hour although i played mostly premiums and would hit the flop, i was always getting outdrawn by garbage

You didn't say what was the limit.
Anyway, it seems as a very good game, you just should provide more money for the game...

 

[winslowlee]

Don't count on it. You can find really good players at fixed limit too.

The A Number One difference between no-limit and fixed-limit is that, in no-limit, you're looking for a made hand that can play for stacks. You're not often playing for stacks at fixed-limit.

What you want for fixed-limit are hands that have staying power. Preflop, you don't have the fold equity (either actual or implied) since all your players know just how much it'll cost them to enter a pot. Expect to get called, and by more players, pre. Since you're going multi-way to the flop, you want hands that can play well against multiple hands: big straight draws, big flush draws. This means big cards most of the time. Medium and small connectors can be played only from late positions, and then if they don't cost more than a single bet. Even if you flop big, your ability to capitalize is, well, limited at FL.

This makes some hands better for fixed limit: something like Ad,6d is very playable at FL. If you flop a flush draw, you're often getting the odds to call, and there's nothing your opponents can do about it to deny you odds.

Other very playable hands are TPTK, TPGK and overpairs. You'll get them often, and these are almost always through tickets to the river, and should be played fast. They'll win you a lot of bets, but don't cost you very much when they get beat. Hands like this need to be played cautiously at NL when deep stacked.

Sub nut flush draws also become more valuable, and for the same reason: they can win a lot of chips, but don't cost you your entire stack when they don't. It's worth pursuing these draws if you're getting a good price. You avoid these hands at no-limit as they can cost you your entire stack.

Your aim at no-limit is to get stacks in. At FL, it's maximizing the number of bets you win. Sometimes it's correct to smooth call instead of raising to keep players in even though this increases the chances of a suck-out. Look for opportunities to get in more than one bet. That could mean a c/r instead of leading out for a call to collect two bets instead of one. It depends on whether you believe there will be a bet if you check, and where you expect that bet to come from.

As for bluffing, the rewards are greater, but so is the incentive to the caller to look you up. Double and triple barrelling isn't going to work as frequently, and should be done only against players known to be timid. Also, don't expect c-bets to work as often, so don't make automatic c-bets: they can cost you a lot of bets.

The biggest mistake FL players make at NL is overplaying TPTK/overpairs and getting stacked. The biggest mistake NL players make at FL is folding too easily. If you have (7c,7s) and the flop is: (Kd, 7d, 2d) you have a through ticket to the river, even if the pot's jammed when it gets to you. Here, a NL player just might fold, thinking someone's got a flush. He's probably right about that, but wrong to not chase with his 10-out hand. Even if he doesn't bink a Full, he should still call a river bet. Yes, it'll lose often, but that's not the disaster that folding the best is. It's just one more bet and the pot contains many bets: you don't have to be right all that often. Calling here can never be more than a minor mathematical error, and for table image, may not even be an error.

"How do you guys play mid pairs, (6's, 7's, 8's) in early pos.? Raise the pot? Just limp & hope to catch a wicked flop?"

It depends. I'd raise it if I had a good reason to believe that the raise would significantly cut down the field. That means a passive, weak/tight type of game. You can open limp if your opponents are the type to trail in, but unlikely to raise behind you. See a cheap flop and see if you bink. If you do, and you have a lot of opponents still in, that's very good indeed. The other place to call is FL games with unusually small ante/blind structures.

How many big blinds do you all buy in for? since you stated you dont play to stack off, and why did you choose that number?

 

[cally]

Had a good run on Friday 2/5 (Kill table) +170. Most memorable Pot (Kill in early pos), Im mid pos get AA, I raise, get re-raised (best feeling in poker), and cap it at 20 pre flop. I stay aggressive, get called to river Aces are good (2p, board is paired). Pot is around 120-130$. Felt really good after that.

 

[CardDead711]

Many more people with more knowledge giving great advice, but for the newbies out there, thought I would throw out this rule that I did not know when I first started playing limit (before I went to NL). When you get heads-up with someone (at least where I played live at) the betting became no-limit. Someone can probably explain the rule better, but basically heads-up there is no cap on how many raises you can put in. You can't shove, but you and your opponent can continually raise each other until stacks are in. I have only been involved in that once and it worked out quite nicely.
Good luck!!!

 

[cally]

Many more people with more knowledge giving great advice, but for the newbies out there, thought I would throw out this rule that I did not know when I first started playing limit (before I went to NL). When you get heads-up with someone (at least where I played live at) the betting became no-limit. Someone can probably explain the rule better, but basically heads-up there is no cap on how many raises you can put in. You can't shove, but you and your opponent can continually raise each other until stacks are in. I have only been involved in that once and it worked out quite nicely.
Good luck!!!

I'd like to hear this out definitely. I did not see any indication of this whatsoever, but the likelyhood of being heads up in a 10way limit table is next to zero. So I did not experience this.

 

[NCDaddy]

I've seen it. It's rare, but it does happen.

 

[CardDead711]

This was a while ago, but was at a popular card room. The tables were 9-handed, and in 1 session of a few hours I saw it happened a few times, including the hand I was involved in. I wasn't aware of the rule either when I was playing, but once another player and I got heads-up, the dealer declared either "heads-up" or "no-limit", sorry I can't remember which. I'm sure if you ask the poker room you play at they can let you know if they do that.
Good luck!!!

 

[cally]

This was a while ago, but was at a popular card room. The tables were 9-handed, and in 1 session of a few hours I saw it happened a few times, including the hand I was involved in. I wasn't aware of the rule either when I was playing, but once another player and I got heads-up, the dealer declared either "heads-up" or "no-limit", sorry I can't remember which. I'm sure if you ask the poker room you play at they can let you know if they do that.
Good luck!!!

Will do, thank you sir. Every time we went heads up late in pots there wasn't much re-raising to be had, perhaps they were cognoscente of this rule.