Installment #6:

Seldom Raise Before the Flop

	Unless you have a big pair such as aces, kings or queens, you are usually better off not raising before the flop in low-limit hold’em games. There is good logic behind this advice. In low-limit games, lots of players often call raises before the flop. Although big pairs can win the pot without getting any help from the board cards, almost all your other starting hands will need improvement in order to win. Remember, even an A-K suited is still a drawing hand. When you have Big Slick, you will only flop a pair about 30 percent of the time, and will flop a flush draw only about 11 percent of the time.  Do most of your gambling after you see the flop, not before, unless you hold one of the three biggest pairs. That way you can get away from (fold) your hand cheaply if you don’t flop anything good. And if you flop something you like, you can charge your opponents a heavy price to draw against you.

Bluffing is over-rated in limit Hold'em

	People get the idea that bluffing is a big part of limit hold’em because they’ve seen players bluff in no-limit hold’em tournaments on television. It is exciting to watch, but what may work in a no-limit hold’em game will not work in a small limit hold’em game. Heed the advice that tournament champion T.J. Cloutier and I wrote in Championship Hold’em: “All forms of limit poker are designed to have a showdown. Players frequently bluff in big-bet poker, in pot-limit and no-limit games. But remember that in limit games, the pot may have 20 bets in it and it is only going to cost an opponent one more bet to call. He’s going to make that call most of the time if he has any kind of hand at all. Therefore you simply cannot steal many pots by bluffing in limit hold’em.” Limit hold’em games are designed to have a showdown on the river. The pot is often so large that players with very marginal hands will call. They only have to call a single bet to try to win a pot that may already contain 15 or more bets. Also, a “sheriff” usually is sitting at the table. The sheriff wants to keep everybody honest, and won’t be able to sleep at night if he thinks he has been bluffed. These are two reasons why bluffing too often is a mistake in low-limit hold’em games. When can you bluff? The three game conditions you are looking for when you attempt a bluff are: (1) when the pot is small; (2) when you have superior position over your opponents; and (3) you are playing against only one or two opponents who are conservative players.

Get ready to show down the best hand in low-limit, multiway pots

	In hotly contested pots with three or four players, your opponents will seldom fold at the river because it costs only a single bet to call. And oftentimes there will be more than one caller at the showdown. After all, if the pot is multiway and several players have stayed to the river, they must have some sort of hand.  When several players have invested lots of bets, the pot becomes a “protected pot.” A single bet at the river will never induce anyone with even a remote chance of winning to fold for that final bet because the pot is “protected” from theft by its grandiose size. Even players with the second-best and third-best hands usually will call. Therefore you simply must have the best hand to win a multiway pot at the river—or at least a better hand than anyone else has. You cannot steal a protected pot by bluffing.

Next Month's Installment #7:

Get to know the playing styles of your opponents as soon as possible

Big pairs and high cards are the boss hands in no-limit hold’em

Play fewer hands than you would play in limit hold'em