No Limit Poker - What You Need to Know

No limit poker, more specifically no limit Texas Holdem, is the most popular poker game in the world today. Millions of people play it every day for fun and for real money at both live games and at online poker sites.

A big part of poker's popularity comes from the fact that anyone can make money with it. Most hobbies cost money but if you become a skilled Texas Holdem player, you can actually make money on a consistent basis. Some of the best poker players in the world bring home more than a million dollars a year.

Granted, these people are the exception but it still gives poker that aura of "anything's possible." If you perform well in the right no limit poker tournament, you can win a few hundred thousand dollars over the course of just several hours. Even though it doesn't happen often, everyone knows it's possible with the right skills and a little luck. And that's exactly why no limit Texas Holdem is so popular.

Limit vs. No Limit Poker

Texas Holdem can be played in either a no-limit format or a fixed limit format. In fixed limit, the size of each bet is limited to a certain amount. For example, in $5/$10 fixed limit, the bets in the early stages of the hand must be made in increments of $5 and the bets later on in the hand must be made in increments of $10.

In no limit poker, there are no constraints on the size of the bets you can make. You can bet all the money you want, whenever you want. The ability to bet any amount of money adds an extra psychology dimension that you won't find in fixed limit Holdem.

The ability to put pressure on your opponents with big bets, or even the threat of big bets, changes the game completely. You'll see no limit Holdem players use all sorts of tricks in an attempt to control the size of the pot. The difficult part is manipulating the size of the pot without letting your opponents know that that's exactly what you're doing.

A Game of Information

No limit Texas Holdem is a game of information. You're constantly trying to gain information on what your opponents hold so that you can decide whether to put money in the pot or fold. It's a simple concept to understand but it is incredibly difficult to implement in the real world.

The thing about Texas Holdem is that it strikes a perfect balance between information and a lack of information. You get to see five community cards but your opponents' hole cards are always hidden. In the end, you get a gist of what your opponent might have, but can never quite tell for sure.

No Limit Poker on the Internet

In the age of the internet, it was only a matter of time before no limit poker made its way online. In the beginning, poker was only played for fake chips at cheesy websites. Eventually someone got the idea to create a poker site for real money and the rest is history.

Despite the success of online poker, some people remain skeptical of the safety and fairness of playing for real money on the internet. It's completely understandable but online poker is so mainstream now that it's just as safe doing your Christmas shopping online. If you stick to large, reputable sites, you'll be fine every time.

In an industry dominated by trust, the top poker sites treat security like gold. If a poker site loses its reputation as safe and fair, it's going to lose most of its business. Without having to hire staff or pay for a building, online poker rooms are insanely profitable. It just wouldn't make sense to try to steal players' money when you're already bringing in millions of dollars a month as a well-known poker site.

In addition to that, these poker sites have to be licensed by the government jurisdictions in which they operate. These licenses require the poker sites to submit to regular security checks and adhere to certain standards of customer service.

If you'd like to give no limit poker a shot, I recommend you give PlayersOnly Poker a try. It's one of the softest poker sites on the internet. Check out my PlayersOnly Poker Review for more information and to learn how to earn a $1000 deposit bonus.

Adjusting From Online No Limit Cash Games To Live Poker

These days everyone seems to be hooked on online poker and the majority of the new generation of poker players almost exclusively play online and have probably never seen or played in a live cash game. Back in the days before poker became a global phenomenon it was only played in brick and mortar cardrooms, in casinos, or in illegal cardrooms, there was no internet poker and the game was played in its original normal fashion. Although Internet Poker may be convenient, easily accessible and extremely fast paced, all factors which allow you to maximize your profits efficiently and quickly, there is just simply nothing like a good live game of poker. Personally I need to get away from the constant hustle of online poker every now and then and get my much needed dosage of live poker, Whether it's the fact you get to socialize and meet new people or maybe because you can read and analyze your opponents more accurately, poker is a game that is enjoyed most while you are playing live. If you've never played a live cash game or haven't been to your local casino in a while then there are some adjustments you will have to make to your game before you step into a live game of poker.

The First adjustment you will have to make is to tighten up and not play too many hands, in online poker the pace is very fast and you get to see about 50-70 hands per hour, whereas in a live casino you usually have a dealer and you will only see about 20-30 hands per hour. What does this mean for you?, well as an online player you are probably used to the quick pace and perhaps play more than 1 table which means you're used to seeing over 150 hands an hour. Out of these 150 hands the majority are folded and you probably win around 4-5 big pots in a couple of hours, but in Brick and mortar casinos were the pace is much slower you will maybe only win 1-2 big hands in a hour and get garbage hands for a whole hour straight. So you will have to be a lot more patient and adjust to the slower pace, you cannot get bored and start playing too many hands. A lot of tight internet players will approach a live game and get involved in a large number of hands with weak holding just because they are sick of folding. If you cannot adjust to the different pace of the game then you will be giving up a significant part of your edge and giving the other players at the table a considerable advantage.

If the slower pace causes you to be impatient you should do something to occupy yourself, start Talking to the other players around you, go for a dinner break, or practice your hand reading skills on the hands you're not involved in. You may even want to start reading a book or playing your PSP if it is allowed in the casino, also you should keep an eye on players that have become impatient with the game or are on tilt and are starting to make rash decisions, these are the players you would like to target.

The next thing you should be ready for in live poker is some ridiculous bad beats, I don't know if it's the atmosphere in the casino or something else, but people tend to gamble a lot more when they are playing live. Don't be surprised to see people chase gut shot straights or call you till the river with pocket 4s and then hit their set on the river to crack your AK, loose players in the casino will chase long shot draws and if they miraculously suck out on you shouldn't immediately go on tilt. Remember in the long run your stronger hands will hold up against these loose players and eventually you will collect a lot more money than them, the luck factor in poker always evens out so continue to play a solid game and you will reap the rewards. A good way to counteract the bad players at the table is to loosen up your hand selection pre-flop, you may want to start playing with suited connectors and suited aces and face cards a bit more. These hands will fare well in multi-way pots because if you hit your straight or flush you will get a lot of callers and take down a huge pot.

Another adjustment you will have to make is to bring your poker face and reading abilities to the table. In online poker you have around 30 seconds to make a decision on each street and obviously you cannot see your opponents, this takes out a big factor of play in poker, you are unable to read and analyze your opponents based on their reactions and behaviors (also known as tells), hence you usually have to make a decision based on the strength of your cards unless you have previous knowledge of whether the player is loose, tight or aggressive ( Poker Odds Calculators can help you obtain this information).

In live poker there are a lot more factors to consider, in a live game, a large part of a good player's edge comes from reading his opponents hands based on a "feel" or instincts about what's going on in the hand, and sometimes this can take awhile so take your time and analyze your opponents correctly. Often in a live game you will know if you can bet your marginal hand for value or whether your opponent has flopped a very strong hand simply based on their physical behavior and betting patterns, so be weary of this and train yourself to read and analyze your opponents accurately, this is one of the main factors in becoming a successful Live Poker Player.

So if you were wondering why you can make a killing of online poker, But end up going bust every time you go and play in a live cash game. Then make some of these adjustments and you should see a major improvement in your overall live poker play.

For more great poker strategy articles and tips check out Poker Room Hustle, online poker blog covering Sit-N-Go Poker, No Limit Cash Games, Poker Tournaments and general updated poker Information.

The 90-10 No Limit Holdem Rule to Poker Winning Success

In 1906 Italian economist, sociologist and philosopher Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of Italian property was owned by 20% of the population. This was later generalized into the "80/20 Rule" or the Pareto Principle. Most people have heard of the 80/20 rule. 80% of sales in a company are made by 20% of the salespeople. 80% your results are created by 20% of your time. There are a whole host of 80/20 rules that float around. Knowing this principle is only useful if you can apply it intelligently and consistently to a situation. When applied to the situation of No Limit Ring Poker (I'll specifically be referring to Hold-em, although I'm sure it applies to other games) the rule becomes much more pointed. Once you learn this poker principle you should allow it have a great impact on how you play.

With all due respect to Mr. Pareto, he never played NL Ring Holdem, so we are going to call this rule "Winning Legal Online Poker's 90/10 NL Ring Rule". First let me tell you that this rule is real, and it's statistically accurate. If you believe that AA is statistically more advantageous to play than 72, then you need to put this rule in the same part of your poker brain. Ponder it and find new ways to make it work for you.

Here's Winning Legal Online Poker's 90/10 NL Ring Rule:

90% of the MONEY you win playing NL Ring is won with the top 10% of poker hands... AND (for most tight/aggressive poker players) 90% of the money you LOSE playing NL Ring is lost to the top 10% of poker hands.

The first part of this rule is absolutely true for almost any NL Ring poker player. The 2nd part is only true if you aren't a fish. Also, the 2nd part of the rule is a good way to monitor your play. If you are losing most of your money to hands like Top Pair Top Kicker (TPTK) or worse, then you really need to focus on learning how to play NL Ring Poker better. If you already read the book "Winning Legal Online Poker" then you will have already noticed that your sessions are pretty consistent. You win good money when your strong hands hold up. You lose some money when your strong hands keep running into better hands. But you win TONS of money when you have have top 10% hands hold up. And you lose a buyin plus when your really good hands run into top 10% hands.

Winning Legal Online Poker doesn't change the 90/10 rule. It's a rule, and as such it IS REALITY. However, the rule doesn't state that you will lose 90% of the money you WIN to top 10% hands. It states that 90% of the money you lose is lost to top 10% hands. That may seem like word play, but it means you can reduce your losses, and thus increase your poker profits by managing your game with the 90/10 rule. Winning Legal Online Poker teaches you how to spot the top 10% hands and lose less $$$ to them, although as a % of money lost you'll still find that 90% of your lost money will go to top 10% hands - EVEN WHEN YOU FOLD BEFORE THE RIVER.

There are plenty of instances where you fold AA or TPTK or even a better hand to a made flush or straight. You may have invested quite a bit of money into the pot, but you lost that money to a top 10% hand. Winning Legal Online Poker is devised to help you spot those instances when your good hands are beat by a top 10% hand and lose less money. Now the other part of the rule is that you will win 90% of your money with top 10% hands.

You see this happen all the time. You flop a set against a big pocket pair. You make a full house against a flush. You turn a straight against 2 pair. Of course there are times when the other person simply over values his hand and gives you chips. But you're double-ups are generally these top 10% hands. This rule doesn't mean that your top 10% hands ALWAYS make big money. In order to make big money with a top 10% hand Winning Legal Online Poker's "Contested Pot Rule" (which is discussed in another article) must also be in effect. But there's no doubt that your big wins come from these big hands. So how does this apply to your game? It's pretty simple.

If 90% of your wins come from big hands and 90% of your losses are to other big hands, then you need to play the # of hands required to get more of the first while avoiding giving too much money to the 2nd. This is where the term "nut hunting" comes from. A lot of quality players are just playing for nut hands. That doesn't mean they don't play value hands for value, however. But you need to understand the Winning Legal Online Poker 90/10 rule and the Winning Legal Online Poker Contested Pot Rule as you play NL Ring poker.

If you are putting "extraordinary" amounts of money behind "ordinary" hands you are going to be a victim of the 90/10 rule. Each hand has a certain value. It has "card" value, but it also has MONEY value. Pocket tens preflop are not that great. You can make money with them, but you won't make great money with them. You should play them for the value that they have, and not over-value them. As the hand plays their value may drop precariously (as overcards hit). However, if overcards DON'T hit then they still just have a certain maximum value, because you will generally get very limited action. If your TT remains the best hand on the board then no one else will want to put much money in the pot. The pot will be small. It will be a TT POT!! However, if you notice the pot going well beyond a TT pot, then you have to understand that your competition probably has better than a TT hand (even if the board doesn't show it). This is how you can observe the 90/10 rule in action.

Preflop AA is a top 10% hand. It's the best hand!! If you can get all your money and all someone else's money in the pot preflop when you have AA then the 90/10 rule is working for you. However, once the flop hits AA drops off the top 10% list, and you must be aware of that. On ANY flop the best hand is at least a set of the top card flopped. So, with a flop of 269, the best possible hand is a set of 9's. And any set is a top 10% hand at this point. As the hand plays out the AA becomes a weaker and weaker hand. You should continue playing it like TPTK at least, but you also must be aware of the value that you are giving your AA as the hand unfolds. You may be seriously over valuing your AA. If you raised it preflop and bet it on the flop, then on the turn, and you get raised, what does that say? First you're starting to see a pot that is more valuable than your AA and 2nd you have just walked into a "Contested Pot" scenario. If you get into a raise/reraise situation and all you have is pocket AA, then you are most probably going to be on the losing end of the 90/10 rule. Disciplined players know how to fold. Winning players know that keeping their winnings is more important that "going down" with AA, just because it WAS the best hand preflop. All AA is is TPTK, until someone prove otherwise by getting a better hand.

Another way to look at this is when you are playing "drawing odds". You may start with a suited connector or a small to mid pocket pair. These are not top 10% hands, but they have the potential of becoming top 10% hands. When they do, hopefully your competition will over value his hand and contest the pot with you. The "Contested Pot Rule" will then go into effect in your favor and you will make lots of money.

Another ramification of the 90/10 rule is that the rest of the hands you play in a typical session (good, bad or indifferent) are just background noise. They are just "keeping up with the blinds". You may use them to create a table image to set up your top 10% hands or you may just fold, fold, fold. You can bluff and steal small pots. You can c-bet and take small pots. You may stick around with draws and lose small pots or play small pots that you turn out losing or winning.

But the reality is 90% of the money you win is made off top 10% hands and vice verse.

Think about this rule. Find ways to apply it to your game. Review the "Contested Pot Rule" also. If you don't have a consistently winning NL Ring game then take the Winning Legal Online Poker Challenge to learn the skills and gain the vision to play quality winning poker. Will the 90/10 rule turn you into a "nut hunter"? Maybe! There are thousands of winning "nut hunters" online every day. There are many thousand more players who hate nut hunters. Many quality, winning players hate nut hunters. However, even quality, experienced, winning online players fall within the 90/10 rule. They may proclaim that they don't. They may hate the idea that all their "moves" and "action", their "reads" and sophisticated play is really just background noise. But for most players that's all it is - Background Noise, Keeping up with the Blinds. If they analyzed their play they would find that the 90/10 rule applies to them too. The 90/10 rule is very consistent for No Limit Ring play. If you play MTT's or Sit-n-Go's then who knows? I haven't analyzed the rule against them. They have their own dynamic. But if you play NL Ring Holdem, then make sure you understand and think about this rule as you play.

Summary:

90% of the money you win is won with the top 10% of hands.

The top 10% changes as the hand unfolds. AA is a top 10% hand preflop, by the river it may be a bad pocket pair.

90% of the money you lose is lost to top 10% hands. Find ways to spot them earlier in the hand.

Most of your other hands and action is just background noise. You need to play them to keep up with the blinds and maintain a reasonable table image, but understand that they are just a small part of your winnings/losings.

If you find that you lose most of your money to non-top 10% hands then you need to take the at least read, understand and apply the Winning Legal Online Poker book (and associated chart) and get your game right!!

Anthony Okrongly is a professional online poker player, trainer and author of numerous underground poker books, insider guides and rapid poker improvement systems. His methods are at times as controversial as they are effective for both beginners and experienced players alike. You can find his books and articles on http://www.legalonlinepokerchallenge.com/