- Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules For Beginners
- Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules Card Game
- Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules Regulations
- Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules 2019
One of the first and most important examples of 'poker math' that new no-limit hold'em players need to learn is how to calculate 'pot odds.' In fact, when people talk about the 'math of poker,' a lot of the time they are mostly referring to pot odds and how an understanding of them can help you decide whether to bet, raise, call, or fold.
Put most simply, pot odds represents the ratio between what you stand to gain in a hand of poker and what you have to spend in order to get it — that is, the ratio between your reward and your risk when making any given decision during a poker hand.
Mathematics: Flushes & Straights: Simple Pot Odds: Implied Odds: Reverse Implied Odds. Watch SplitSuit's video on Flushes and Flush Draws for 8 hand histories involving strategy on playing flushes in Texas Hold'em. You are on the flop with a pretty decent flush draw. You have two hearts in your hand and there are another two on the flop. Pot Limit Texas Hold'em – in these games, the minimum bet is the size of the big blind. When you raise, you must raise at least to the amount of the previous bet, or the bet in the same round. The maximum raise is the size of the pot.
Calculating Pot Odds
For example, if there is $80 in the pot and your opponent bets $20, that makes a total of $100 in the middle. That $100 is the reward you can get if you're willing to risk $20 to call the bet. Pot odds are expressed as a ratio (reward-to-risk). In this case you're having to risk $20 to win $100, so your pot odds are 100-to-20, or 5-to-1.
That's the scenario poker players most often describe when talking about pot odds — that is, when facing a bet and deciding whether or not to call or fold. You add the amount of the bet to what is already in the pot to calculate the reward, the bet you need to call represents the risk, and the pot odds 'being given' to call is that reward-to-risk ratio.
Of course, you can also talk about pot odds after a player raises. Say you decide not just to call that $20 bet described above, but to raise to $80. That would mean your opponent has to call $60 to have a chance at winning what is now $180 in the middle — 180-to-60 or 3-to-1 pot odds.
That might seem simple enough — a little bit of addition and an easy division problem, and you can calculate pot odds.
But why bother? There are lots of reasons.
One big reason why you want to stay generally aware of what your pot odds are — which means keeping track of how big the pot is at all times and being able to compare the pot size to each bet — is that doing so helps you estimate whether or not the pot odds being offered to you are favorable or unfavorable given the situation.
Let's look at three common circumstances in no-limit hold'em in which pot odds can be helpful when making decisions.
Using Pot Odds When Playing a Drawing Hand
Say you are on a flush draw and have with the board showing . There is $120 in the pot, and your opponent has bet $60. You could call to see the river card, but are the pot odds favorable enough for you to make the call?
It's easy enough to see that the reward is $180 ($120 in the pot plus the $60 bet), and so with a $60 risk you are getting 180-to-60 or 3-to-1 pot odds. Is that good or bad?
You believe you probably have to make a flush in order to make a better hand than your opponent's, so that means you have nine outs — the nine remaining clubs — to make your hand. You can see six cards (the two in your hand plus the four on the board), leaving 46 unknown cards, so you can estimate your chance of seeing a club fall on the river to be 9 out of 46, or just over 4-to-1 against.
Compare your pot odds (3-to-1 to call) to the odds you'll make your flush (a little worse than 4-to-1 against). It's clear that calling isn't such a good choice — that the pot odds aren't favorable for calling — because over the long term calling is not a profitable play.
Let's say you were to make this call 100 times. About 20 times you'd make your flush on the river (actually a little less, but we'll round it up). You'd be risking $60 x 100 or $6,000. But your reward would only be $180 x 20 or $3,600. After making this call 100 times and winning only 20 hands, you'd have lost $2,400! (Note: we aren't considering what extra money might be won or lost after the river card, but just the profitability of this particular turn call.)
Pot odds are favorable when they are greater than the odds against making your hand. If the pot odds were 5-to-1 here, it would be a good call with it being just over 4-to-1 against making the flush. But 3-to-1 pot odds are unfavorable when drawing one card to make a flush.
Using Pot Odds to Decide Whether to Call a Preflop Raise
Pot odds can also be compared not just to a specific probability (like drawing to a flush), but also to a more general estimate of your chances in a hand.
Say for example you're playing $1/$2 no-limit hold'em and get dealt in the big blind. A player raises to $7 from the button and it folds to you.
First off.. what are your pot odds here? There is $10 in the middle (the $1 small blind + the $2 big blind + the $7 raise), and you have to call $5 to stay in the hand. That's 2-to-1 pot odds.
Now, think about the prospect of playing out of position. It's a hand without a lot of potential that is almost certainly worse than whatever the player on the button who raised has. Ikbc poker 2 review. Unless you flop a couple of diamonds or perhaps trips or two pair, you're not likely to feel good about going very far with this hand. Are these 2-to-1 odds favorable?
No, they aren't. You could quantify this perhaps, noting how you with two suited cards you flop a flush draw about 11% of the time, you flop two pair about 2% of the time, and you flop trips about 1.3% of the time — that adds up to around 14% good flops, meaning it's worse than 6-to-1 against your seeing a good flop. That's just an estimate, really, but is obviously way worse than the 2-to-1 pot odds, so folding is in order.
What if a player raises to $7 from early position and five other players including the small blind call before the action reaches you in the big blind with your ? Now there's $44 in the middle and you have to pay $5 to see the flop. Those are almost 8-to-1 pot odds, which are in fact greater than the odds against your flopping something good — you might consider calling.
Using Pot Odds to Decide Whether to Call a Suspected Bluff
Pot odds can also be relevant when deciding whether or not to call what you think might be an opponent's bluff.
You've reached the river with your and the board shows . Your opponent raised before the flop and you called, and you called his bets on both the flop and turn. Now there's $100 in the middle and he's betting $50, giving you 3-to-1 pot odds to call.
You suspect strongly he could be bluffing, but you think it's possible he might have something like aces, kings, jacks, ace-queen, or king-queen and have you beat. While it's not feasible to calculate exactly the likelihood he's bluffing, you might be able to make a rough estimate — say, that he's probably bluffing at least a third of the time here.
That would make it 2-to-1 against your tens being best, making 3-to-1 pot odds favorable for you — a profitable call to make.
Conclusion
There are many other applications of pot odds in no-limit hold'em, but you can't take advantage of them until you start to become comfortable figuring out pot odds as a hand is playing out.
This is often easier to do when playing online poker, where the betting amounts and pot sizes are shown as numbers. But even when playing live, you can with practice become increasingly at ease keeping track of what's in the pot and calculating pot odds until it becomes second nature to you.
Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules For Beginners
And once you do, you can then use pot odds to help direct your decision-making in a variety of contexts.
Also in this series..
Ready to take a seat at the table? Put these hold'em tips into practice at PokerStars.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
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cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold'embeginner strategypot oddsmathpreflop strategypostflop strategyoutsdrawing handsbluffingRelated Room
Full Tilt
Over the course of the last few decades, and especially with the rise of Internet gambling since the turn of the millennium, Texas Hold'em poker has overthrown Seven Card Stud and draw games to become the high king of all poker styles.
Hold'em is a flop-style game which features five community cards dealt face up on the table – aka, 'the board'. All players can use these to create their strongest five-card hand, in conjunction with two private hole cards. This game is characterised by its four betting rounds, which allow for a range of strategic approaches – especially in No Limit Holdem (NLH), the format used for the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
How to Play Hold'em Poker
Before we are dealt any cards, the two players left of the dealer button – which moves clockwise from player to player after each hand – must post blinds. These are forced bets which ensure two things: that players must make a wager to remain in the hand; and that if everybody else folds, there is something in the pot for the last man standing. Some games use an ante instead of, or as well as blinds, but this is not especially common these days.
The player immediately left of the dealer plays the small blind, while the player left again puts up the big blind. Then each player at the table is dealt two face-down pocket cards, and the 'pre-flop' betting round begins with the player left of the big blind. They can choose either to match the big blind (call), play a larger bet (raise), or discard their cards and so forfeit the hand (fold).
Once every remaining player has matched the highest bet, the first three community cards are dealt face-up on the table. This is called 'the flop'. Betting now begins with the player on the dealer's left, as is the case for all rounds that follow. Unlike the pre-flop, before betting is opened we can choose to 'check' – that is, stay in the hand without placing an additional bet. Thus, it is possible to complete the round without any new wagers being laid.
When the flop round is settled, we enter 'the turn', where the fourth public card is dealt, and again we decide whether to check, bet, or fold. Then we proceed to the 'the river' – the fifth and final up card and the last round of betting action.
If the pot is still contested after the betting is done, then it goes to a showdown where the remaining players reveal their hole cards. The order here follows the run of play – so whoever betted first, shows first. Using any combination of hole cards and board cards, the player with the strongest five-card poker hand wins the pot.
Below is a diagram of the poker hand rankings, from highest (top left) to lowest (bottom right):
Betting Rules
Betting structure plays a huge part in defining the character of a Hold'em poker table. Some rule sets are strict and encourage more aggressive play, while others are much more liberal and require players to exercise caution and restraint.
There are four common varieties of Texas Hold'em games:
Fixed Limit
No, they aren't. You could quantify this perhaps, noting how you with two suited cards you flop a flush draw about 11% of the time, you flop two pair about 2% of the time, and you flop trips about 1.3% of the time — that adds up to around 14% good flops, meaning it's worse than 6-to-1 against your seeing a good flop. That's just an estimate, really, but is obviously way worse than the 2-to-1 pot odds, so folding is in order.
What if a player raises to $7 from early position and five other players including the small blind call before the action reaches you in the big blind with your ? Now there's $44 in the middle and you have to pay $5 to see the flop. Those are almost 8-to-1 pot odds, which are in fact greater than the odds against your flopping something good — you might consider calling.
Using Pot Odds to Decide Whether to Call a Suspected Bluff
Pot odds can also be relevant when deciding whether or not to call what you think might be an opponent's bluff.
You've reached the river with your and the board shows . Your opponent raised before the flop and you called, and you called his bets on both the flop and turn. Now there's $100 in the middle and he's betting $50, giving you 3-to-1 pot odds to call.
You suspect strongly he could be bluffing, but you think it's possible he might have something like aces, kings, jacks, ace-queen, or king-queen and have you beat. While it's not feasible to calculate exactly the likelihood he's bluffing, you might be able to make a rough estimate — say, that he's probably bluffing at least a third of the time here.
That would make it 2-to-1 against your tens being best, making 3-to-1 pot odds favorable for you — a profitable call to make.
Conclusion
There are many other applications of pot odds in no-limit hold'em, but you can't take advantage of them until you start to become comfortable figuring out pot odds as a hand is playing out.
This is often easier to do when playing online poker, where the betting amounts and pot sizes are shown as numbers. But even when playing live, you can with practice become increasingly at ease keeping track of what's in the pot and calculating pot odds until it becomes second nature to you.
Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules For Beginners
And once you do, you can then use pot odds to help direct your decision-making in a variety of contexts.
Also in this series..
Ready to take a seat at the table? Put these hold'em tips into practice at PokerStars.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
Tags
cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold'embeginner strategypot oddsmathpreflop strategypostflop strategyoutsdrawing handsbluffingRelated Room
Full Tilt
Over the course of the last few decades, and especially with the rise of Internet gambling since the turn of the millennium, Texas Hold'em poker has overthrown Seven Card Stud and draw games to become the high king of all poker styles.
Hold'em is a flop-style game which features five community cards dealt face up on the table – aka, 'the board'. All players can use these to create their strongest five-card hand, in conjunction with two private hole cards. This game is characterised by its four betting rounds, which allow for a range of strategic approaches – especially in No Limit Holdem (NLH), the format used for the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
How to Play Hold'em Poker
Before we are dealt any cards, the two players left of the dealer button – which moves clockwise from player to player after each hand – must post blinds. These are forced bets which ensure two things: that players must make a wager to remain in the hand; and that if everybody else folds, there is something in the pot for the last man standing. Some games use an ante instead of, or as well as blinds, but this is not especially common these days.
The player immediately left of the dealer plays the small blind, while the player left again puts up the big blind. Then each player at the table is dealt two face-down pocket cards, and the 'pre-flop' betting round begins with the player left of the big blind. They can choose either to match the big blind (call), play a larger bet (raise), or discard their cards and so forfeit the hand (fold).
Once every remaining player has matched the highest bet, the first three community cards are dealt face-up on the table. This is called 'the flop'. Betting now begins with the player on the dealer's left, as is the case for all rounds that follow. Unlike the pre-flop, before betting is opened we can choose to 'check' – that is, stay in the hand without placing an additional bet. Thus, it is possible to complete the round without any new wagers being laid.
When the flop round is settled, we enter 'the turn', where the fourth public card is dealt, and again we decide whether to check, bet, or fold. Then we proceed to the 'the river' – the fifth and final up card and the last round of betting action.
If the pot is still contested after the betting is done, then it goes to a showdown where the remaining players reveal their hole cards. The order here follows the run of play – so whoever betted first, shows first. Using any combination of hole cards and board cards, the player with the strongest five-card poker hand wins the pot.
Below is a diagram of the poker hand rankings, from highest (top left) to lowest (bottom right):
Betting Rules
Betting structure plays a huge part in defining the character of a Hold'em poker table. Some rule sets are strict and encourage more aggressive play, while others are much more liberal and require players to exercise caution and restraint.
There are four common varieties of Texas Hold'em games:
Fixed Limit
Often simply called Limit Hold'em, here we must stick to a set of fixed betting options. In the first two rounds of action, we can only bet and raise the same amount as the big blind – so if the big blind is $2, then all bets and raises must be to the value of $2 as well. For the turn and the river, these amounts are doubled.
As such, this type of game is referred to by the size of the small bet and the big bet – so a $2/$4 Limit Hold'em table has a $2 bet on the pre-flop and flop, and a $4 big bet on the turn and the river. The small bet is typically the same size as the big blind, while the small blind is often half that – depending on the stakes. For example: a $25/$50 Fixed Limit Holdem game would have a big blind of $25 but a small blind of $15, just for the sake of rounding up from $12.50 (half of $25) to a more convenient number.
In Fixed Limit Texas Hold'em, we are restricted to a maximum of four bets in each round. This includes our initial bet, a raise, a re-raise, and a fourth and final wager known as 'the cap'.
No Limit
This is the most prominent form of Texas Hold'em, as featured in prestigious high-roller tournaments such as the WSOP Main Event and the Aussie Millions Main Event. There is nothing ambiguous about the 'No Limit' tag – for we can bet as much as we want at any time, up to the entire amount of our stack. All raises must be at least twice the value of the call bet – so if it is $5 to call, we must bet at least $10 to raise.
Unlike fixed-limit poker, NLH games are referred to by the size of the blinds. So, for example: if the small blind is 1$ and the big blind is $2, the table would be labelled as $1/$2 No-Limit Holdem. Also, there is no cap on the number of bets or raises we can make during a round.
Pot Limit
More often seen in Omaha Hi poker (a similar flop game where players take four hole cards instead of two), pot limit rules float somewhere in between the no limit and fixed limit formats. Like NLH, all raises must be at least twice the call value, there are no caps on the number of bets per round, and games are labelled according to the size of the blinds. However, the maximum bet in Pot Limit Holdem is restricted to the total amount of cash in the pot. This means the highest possible wager increases as the hand progresses and more bets are made.
One important point which is often overlooked is that the pot limit includes all active bets on the table at any given time. For example: let's say the pot has $300 in it, made up of all the bets from previous rounds; but if there are three wagers of $50 currently in play, the live pot's actual value is $450.
Furthermore, when the betting has already been opened, we must take the cost of the call into consideration when calculating the max bet. So if there is $500 in the pot at the start of the round and Player 1 opens with a $100 bet, Player 2's maximum wager would include the $500 in the kitty, the $100 on the table, and their own $100 for calling Player 1's bet. Thus, the most Player 2 can raise by is $700.
Mixed Limit
Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules Card Game
In Mixed Limit Hold'em, we interchange between limit and no-limit poker rules after each hand. In an effort to keep the pot size relatively consistent from round to round, the blinds are often bumped up when the play reverts from NLH back to Limit Holdem.
Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules Regulations
Playing Online Texas Hold'em
Hold'em poker is ubiquitous these days, and so Australians have loads of options when it comes to playing via the Web. For our money, the best Texas Hold'em site going around is 888 Poker.
Texas Holdem Pot Limit Rules 2019
Aussies can choose from thousands of Internet cash games, multi-table tournaments, and sit-n-go poker rooms, as well as satellite events which could lead you all the way to the World Series of Poker or the Aussie Millions.
We can also indulge in special features like 3D Poker and PokerCam – exclusive to 888 – as well as mobile Hold'em for iOS, Android and other smart devices.
Top 3 Online Poker Sites for AUD Holdem:
www.888Poker.com
www.PokerStars.com
www.FullTilt.com
Holdem Strategy Tips
We could go on for ages about the finer points of hand strategy, pot odds, playing tight and loose – but we'll save that for another article. In the meantime, here's a few simple tips to abide by whenever you are at the tables.
- The golden rule of Texas Hold'em poker: never go in on an unsuited 7-2 in the hole. This is the worst hand you can be dealt in the pre-flop, and there is really no situation where betting on it is a good idea. Fold, always.
- Don't bet too hard before the flop, even with a pair of Aces or Kings. Even though you might have the strongest hand possible, you never know what cards will turn up on the board. Be quietly confident, but not reckless.
- If the flop hurts you, don't hesitate to fold – especially if you had a middling hand to begin with. There is no point getting sucked all the way down the river on a pair of Sevens when you know the draw favours anyone holding high cards. Cut your losses and move on.
- When you are the big blind, it may be worth paying to see the flop even on a weak hole hand. You've already got money on the table by default, so if the pre-flop betting stays sensible there's little harm in stumping up the call bet just to get a look at the first three cards.
- Be emotionless. Don't get attached to a solid-looking hand when you know it probably won't win, and don't get cranky when you suffer a run of awful hands or unlucky draws. This happens to everyone, but the best players are the ones who understand it's all part of the game and brush it off.
