PokerWorks

While no limit hold’em has dominated the poker scene for the past few years, another similar form of hold’em is growing, pot limit hold’em. It is very similar to no limit except, you guessed it, you can only bet as much as what’s in the pot.

This year’s FTOPS pot limit event garnered 1468 entries, smashing the 696 players that entered the pot limit event in last year’s FTOPS I. Currently ranked 2nd in the Cardplayer Player of the Year race, and feared pot limit player, Jonathan Little explains some of the differences between the two games.

“Pot limit is a lot like no limit; it is a very similar game besides the fact that the late game is very different because you just can’t go all in as much.

Usually in the early part of the tournament there isn’t a big difference because you aren’t betting more than the pot anyways. In the later levels you can’t go all in as much. You have to be more willing to play pots with different hands. In the late levels in no limit you can be pushing with hands like K-6 and stuff but you can’t do that as much in pot limit because you can’t go all in.

You have to be a little bit tighter late and concentrate more on going all in whenever someone raises. It’s called re-pushing. They raise and then you go all in over the top of them and they probably won’t be able to call unless they have something decent.

You have to be willing to put in more chips with small pairs because you have to build pots. Another thing is you can’t slow-play nearly as much because you won’t be able to get all the money in later. You just really don’t want to be slow-playing in pot limit like you might in no limit.

As far as bet sizes go, when I am betting, I usually bet about two thirds to three fourths of the pot.

The biggest changes are later on when the blinds are higher and the stacks are bigger. That is when the major changes occur. Usually the stacks aren’t much bigger than the no limit tournaments; it’s just that you can’t bet quite as much. You really can’t play hands that have just strict showdown value. Like K-6 actually has some showdown value versus a hand like 9-8 suited. You can’t really play hands like K-6 because you can’t really put in near as much before the flop as you can in no limit.

There is a lot more limping and a lot more min-raising. There are a lot more small pots going on than there is in no limit hold’em.”

*Jonathan Little was recently signed to the Full Tilt Poker team of players*