Lately I’ve had a chance to play some pot limit and no limit Hold’em and Omaha. I definitely like both of these better then structured limit, but I’m pretty new to these forms of poker, and was wondering what skills are unique to each form of betting. Which one do most people (who’ve played both) prefer, and why.

Answer 1:

I certainly prefer NL (even PL) over structured limit games. Primarily because you can protect good hands with big bets and collect from people who like to hang in there with draws. But in general these are purer forms of poker where there are subtler forms of manipulation of your opponents available as well.

Answer 2:

Indeed! Much more mental action than grinding it out at limit! As for NL vs POT, depends on the game. Pot is fine for Holdem, but I prefer NL for Omaha. Omaha is a draw out game. What you are trying to do is to make your opponent make mistakes; either putting his money in there when he shouldn’t, or not putting his money in there when he should. When you bet the pot with the best hand, he is getting 2 to 1 odds to call, and given the nature of the 4 card game, he probably has enough outs to justify calling. You need to be able to over bet the pot. In Holdem you don’t have that problem as the guy with the best hand usually has much the best of it.

Answer 3:

I have been playing pot limit holdem for about 4 months and it has become my favorite game. In some ways it is more complex then no limit, while you are trying to trap your opponent you still have to some how build the pot blending both of these actions is the
true art of pot limit.