Low Limit Strategy Poker Strategy

Some people like to play games with low limits. If you're used to playing no limit poker, you're going to need to adjust your low limit poker strategy.

Limited and low limit poker games require a very different approach than traditional no limit Texas Hold'em games. In fact, the style of play is so radically different that many people don't even consider them to be the same game, even though they have the same name.

If you are used to playing only no limit Hold'em games, you may not be quite prepared for what you come up against in the lower limit game.

To be honest, there are quite a few similarities. Much of the strategy of traditional Texas Hold'em poker game still applies, because both games have basically the same set of rules.

However, because betting is limited, the psychology of the game is completely different.

You don't scare me

As a no limit Texas Hold'em player, you are used to the thrills that unlimited betting provides. You also used to being able to use the size of your stack as a weapon to badger and bully your opponents.

The first thing you need to understand about low limit strategy is that stack bullying doesn't work. Since you can only raised by a very small multiple of the blind, that's never going to be a sum that adequately frightens people enough that they will fold.

This creates two problems for you. Firstly, you can't scare anyone. You will never be able to shove all in unless you genuinely have only a couple of pennies left, in which case it's not a particularly dramatic move anyway. Bullying won't work here.

Secondly, this game is going to be a lot slower than you are used to, and the pots will be very much smaller. This is simply because no one can ever raise very high.

Raise early, raise often

One possible low limit strategy is to raise pre-flop, regardless of your hand. The rationale behind this move is that, since the limits are low, it's not really costing you that much money to raise pre-flop anyway. Hopefully, another player or cotton on to what you are doing and play along.

So, what is it that you're doing? Well, you are trying to create the conditions whereby people will re-raise and re-raise, thus forcing the pots to decently high levels. If everyone cooperates, you can get a decent amount of chips on the table.

Bide your time

Another great low limit strategy is to keep folding out, but to take as long as possible in doing so. You see, the only way that betting can go up in a low limit game is when the blinds go up. Therefore, if you have to play low limit, try to choose games where the blinds go up fairly regularly.

Then, all you have to do is hang back until the numbers get big enough to be interesting, and then come in swinging. By that stage in the game, other players will have hurt their stacks a bit, and will be more wary of re-raising, allowing you to actually bluff a bit.