Low Limit Poker Strategy – Defending the Blinds

1/5 of the pot is normally an amount you’d consider the least of your worries, quite frankly. With a min-raise of 15xBB, the pot-odds ratio is 1.5:1, and with the blinds at 20% of the pot, you’re about 25% behind in the hand pre-flop. It’s not the kinds of odds that chase a hand from behind, even if it might be the best low hand.

anded poker is all about value. If you’re getting paid 3:1 for the privilege of seeing the flop, you should see the flop if you can. This means getting into the betting when you’re behind and keeping it when you’re ahead. This is poker mathematics.

On the other words, in a full ring game it makes more sense to be a bit more tight and selective, Especially in later stages when the blinds are higher and your winnings more valuable.

Low Limit Poker Strategy

 

  • If you’re playing lower limits, you’ll see a lot less flops and you’ll therefore see a lot less hands. This makes it easy to be impatient and play hands that should be folded at higher limits, or to chase hands that “look good” when you’re up against a lot of other people. As a general rule, you’re probably looking at having 5% or less of the total hands played by the average person.
  • Because of the smaller number of hands, it’s easy to say “I have big pair!” or “I have AK”. Because there’s a low amount of hands played, you can often look farther ahead and see what the hands will be before you act. This is particularly crucial at higher levels where the overall number of active players is growing.
  • In a full ring game it’s okay to call raises with hands like A3 suited, if the pot’s small. But you should be much more selective against the higher pairs in later position, especially with no limit games.
  • If you’re into limit poker, a lot of beginning players have a hard time using the lower limits to make a bit of a bankroll. It’s tough when the blinds are low, and players have to call raises every few minutes with just about any hand. If you only have $500, and you’re playing $1/2, it’s easy to let your blinds ride on anything. But if you’re playing $10/20, you can’t be that kind of fool.
  • If you find yourself in the latter category, I recommend playing a full bankroll, even if you’re only playing part of it at a low limit. Odds are you’ll come through better after a few sessions. You can’t afford to wait for pocket Aces to lose your whole bankroll, because that’s an unlikely scenario. You might get it back, but be sure to be more selective in the later stages of a limit game.

Don’t beat yourself up by playing too low though.

Low Limit Poker Strategy

You’re going to find that a lot of players will be playing a very tight game, which is much less lucrative. There’s nothing wrong with playing tight in the beginning, but you want to win the majority of your money back as opposed to winning just a little bit.

Another progression required in limit poker is to take a step back once you’re ahead. While you’re in the blinds, you should be playing similarly to the players in the blinds while you’re winning small pots. Once you’re either up or ahead, you should definitely be folding most of your hands and playing aggressively.

Increasing Your Advantage Over The Various Low Limit Poker Players

Once you’re playing at a limit that’s comfortable for you, you should watch for poor players to rumble. You should open your eyes and eyes to blind steal opportunities in the by now and to small raises to steal by the continuation bet. While you’re tightening up, you should be doing this too, albeit not to the extent that you’re playing your hand too tight.

Once you’ve damaged your advantage over the various low limit players, you can open your game up a bit. You’ll be playing against competent opponents and there’s very little chance of your significant other calling you preflop to punt to you, so you can relax a bit longer, although not too far.