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Articles > Advanced Limit Hold'em Tips
Limit Hold'em Ring Game Tips
By TwoGunC
Limit Hold'em ring games are very popular at Empire Poker. Winning at these games requires employing certain strategies. Some are more basic than others, such as starting hand selection. Other techniques are more complicated and are useful only under specific conditions. The following are three advanced tips that may come in handy when you play Limit Hold'em ring games:
1. Raise with a drawing hand to buy a free card.
When you flop a flush draw or a straight draw, most players will generally just call with these hands. Most of the time, calling with draws is the correct play. However, sometimes the best play instead might be to raise. One time when you should consider raising with a draw is when you think it might buy you a free card on the turn.
For example, suppose the pot is between you and one other opponent. You have position on your opponent. The flop is Qh Jh 8s, and you hold Ah 4h. Your opponent bets. More than likely, your opponent has a better hand than you. However, you possess a flush draw. Instead of calling and hoping to catch a heart or perhaps an ace, you should probably raise. Your opponent will probably call your raise and check to you on the turn. This way, if the turn brings you a heart, you can bet the turn, and if you miss the turn, you can still check along and see if the river brings you a heart. However, if you had only called your opponent, your opponent would likely bet the turn as well. Thus, if you call, you end up calling a small bet and a big bet to see the river; if you raise, you just end up committing two small bets to see the river.
Of course, your decision to raise or to call will ultimately depend on other factors as well. Nevertheless, consider the ability to buy a free card as a potential reason to raise.
2. Call on the river with a strong but vulnerable hand.
To win more money, you should generally bet and raise with strong hands. However, there are circumstances when you should only call. On the river there will be situations where you might possess a strong hand that is not the nuts (the nuts is the best possible hand). If there are multiple people in the pot, you should sometimes consider just calling with these hands instead of raising.
For example, suppose you hold TT and four players are in the pot. The board is T952J. You had had the nut hand until the river, which completed a potential straight draw. You probably still have the best hand, but there is the possibility that someone outdrew your hand on the river.
Now suppose someone bets in front of you and there are two players to act after you. What should you do? I advise calling. First, suppose you have a better hand than the bettor; more than likely, the bettor will only call your raise, so you end up winning one more bet from raising. However, if the bettor has a better hand than you, you will lose two bets from raising because he will most likely re-raise.
Also, if you raise, you probably will scare out the other two players unless they have the straight. If you only call, these other players may call after you with hands such as QJ or AT. So you may win their bets as well if you have the better hand. However, if you raise, they will most likely know they are beaten and will fold.
Basically, if you call, you have the potential of winning extra bets if your hand is the winner because players after you might call as well. If you raise, however, you lose this potential to win extra calls, and you then put yourself into the position of seriously paying off someone who has a better hand than you.
3. Take advantage of people's expectations of the pre-flop raiser
When someone makes a raise pre-flop, people generally expect that person to bet out at the flop, no matter what. While it is sometimes advisable to always bet out at the flop if you had raised pre-flop in certain shorthand or no-limit games, this is not the case with Limit Hold'em when many people see the flop. If there are five or more people who see the flop, it is certainly pointless to try to bluff that flop if you had missed it. However, people seem to expect the pre-flop raiser to always bet, so a pre-flop raiser in late position may end up being able to see the turn for free because other players are waiting to check-raise the pre-flop raiser.
You can also use this psychology to your advantage if you are not the pre-flop raiser. If someone else raises pre-flop and only a few people see the flop, you can probably expect that person to bet at the flop, especially if that person is aggressive. Thus, in these circumstances, you can probably wait and go for the check-raise.
Basically, pay attention to what the table expects from the pre-flop raiser. Sometimes people expect the pre-flop raiser to always bet, even when it is clearly silly to do so (unless the pre-flop raiser hits the flop). Analyze how the table's dynamic works, and see if you can use it to your advantage.
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