HoldemNation.com Conservative Limit Poker Strategy

Conservative Poker Play

This is a VERY basic and brief overview of some simple limit poker strategies. In general, there are two types of hands that you should find yourself playing in limit poker: MADE HANDS and DRAWING HANDS.

Made hands are considered strong hands to be raising with preflop. The following are considered "made hands" in our definition of conservative play:

AA, KK, QQ, AK, and AQ.

Of this list, the AK and AQ are semi-made hands. That is they will most likely have to improve by pairing up with a card on the board to become a made hand. However, the odds of pairing one of these cards on the board by the river is approximately 60% (6 outs * 2% per out * 5 cards on the board). As a general rule, you want to play made hands against only one or two other players at the table. The more hands you are up against, the less likely your pair will hold up. As such, you should raise (or reraise) preflop with these hands in order to pressure players who must act after you to fold.

Drawing hands when played in the right circumstances, can be VERY profitable. Examples of drawing hands are:

A2 suited - AK suited
Pocket pairs 22 - JJ
Connected cards 45 - JQ (when suited these have added value)

Pocket pairs 22 - JJ are played hoping for three of a kind on the flop. This is also known as a "set" in poker lingo.

There are three conditions that you would like to have when playing drawing hands:

1. You would like to be in late position.
2. You would like to be up against many players.
3. You would like to see the flop cheaply.

You would like to play drawing hand against many players because when your draw hits, your hand will most likely be stronger than what everyone else is holding. Since you will often hold the strongest hand at the table when you make your draw, you would like many people to call your bets and pay you off.

You would like to see the flop cheaply with drawing hands. The odds of the flop hitting your drawing hand is relatively small. For this reason, you do not want to get in the habit of calling raises (or reraises) preflop with drawing hands. That is an excellent way to lose money quickly.

For both of these reasons, you will want to play drawing hands from late position as it gives you the two most critical pieces of information about the hand BEFORE you make your decision to play the hand. First, there is a smaller chance that you will have to call a raise if you are playing from late position as most players will have already acted by the time it is your turn. If you are on the dealer button and it has not yet been raised, you will only have to worry about a raise from the blinds...and they are in the worst position at the table to put in a raise. Secondly, when in late position, you will have a pretty good estimate of the number of players that will be involved in the hand.

Position is also important when playing drawing hands because you will often have the opportunity to raise if you have flopped a draw. By betting (or raising) the flop from position, you have the opportunity to seize control of the betting so that when the turn card comes out players will be more likely to check the action back to you. If the turn did NOT make your draw hand complete, you will often be able to check and see the river without having to pay the more expensive bet on the turn. If the turn DID make your drawing hand complete, you can continue to bet the turn and river for value. When the flop does NOT give you a good draw, you will not invest anymore money in the hand.

Let's look at an of example:

You hold the Ten and Jack of Hearts (Th Jh), you are positioned on the dealer button, and 6 players have limped in front of you. In this situation you definitely would call. In addition, the little blind will almost certainly complete the blind and you will have 8 way action with one of the best drawing hands in hold'em. Let's assume that the blinds do not raise (but even if they did, you would certainly call the raise)

The flop comes [2h 8h 9c] (2 of hearts, 8 of hearts, and 9 of clubs). You have picked up TWO strong draws with this flop. If a 7 or Queen fall (8 outs) , you will have a straight. In addition, if any heart falls (7 more not counting the 7 or Q of hearts which you counted for the straight), you will have a Jack high flush. With 15 outs left in the deck, you are actually FAVORED to win this hand as long as nobody is drawing to a larger flush.

So what should you do? If the action is checked all the way around to you, you should bet. If it is bet once anywhere in front of you, you should raise. If it is bet and the raised in front of you, you should just call. The purpose of betting or (raising the single bet) is to try to "steal" the betting action. In other words, you want the option of betting the turn or checking the turn since you do not yet know whether you will make your hand.

When the turn comes, if the card does not make your drawing hand complete, you will check if possible to see the river card for free. If someone does bet, you will call their bet, especially if there are still many players in the hand. If the turn DOES make your hand, you should bet your hand as you did on the flop. If you are raised and are holding the best possible hand on the board, you should always reraise to force other players who may be drawing to continue to pay additional money to see the river. In essence, once you make a drawing hand, your goal is to now get as many bets from your opponents into the pot as possible. If you have an aggressive player sitting to your left, you may want to try to check-raise him/her. The check-raise is self-explanatory: You check the action and when a player bets you raise when the action comes back around to you. This is especially effective if there are many players in between you and the player that you check-raise who must first act. In this situation, you may be able to get an additional 3 or 4 bets in to the pot per betting round. As long as the river card does not ruin your hand, you should always bet it. Do not try to check-raise twice in the same hand, as the second check-raise will often be ineffective and you will lose bets over the long term.

When the river comes and you have not made your hand, you can just check/fold that hand. If following this strategy, hopefully you invested a minimal amount in the hand.

Things to be careful of:

1. In general, it is not a good idea to be drawing for a straight when there is a flush possibility on the board. Drawing for a straight when someone else has already made a flush is a good way to throw away money.

2. When there are 4 cards to a straight (or flush) on the board, and you have anything less than a straight you should just call someone's bet. If someone is betting into that kind of board, and someone else is raising on the river, you would probably be doing the right thing to lay down three of a kind, two pair, or one pair.

3. Be careful of the blinds, when they limp into a hand, they could have anything. If they begin to bet and raise into you, slow down your betting and go into call mode if you think there's still a chance that you have the winning hand.

4. If you are certain that you are beat, do not call on the river.

5. Novice players call a single bet on the flop too frequently. If the flop misses your draw, let it go and look forward to your next opportunity.

6. Don't get mad when you fold the winning hand. 72 offsuit is considered the worst starting hand in hold'em, yet sometimes you will fold this hand and the flop will come 772, 722, 777, 222, or some other strong hand. This does NOT mean you should have played 72. Over time, you will lose far more money playing 72 than you will make on the hands where you play it. Just accept that sometimes you will be folding the best hand.

7. In limit hold'em, you will find that (especially when there are a lot of players in the hand) your "made hands" will not hold up. It happens because the odds of someone else catching two pair, a straight, three of a kind, etc increase as more players see the flop. This is to be expected at the lower limits where players often play more hands than they should, but improves as you move up in stakes.

8. You should slow down your betting if the board has paired up and you do not have one of those cards or a full-house. You do not want to be raising into someone else's three of a kind when you have one or two pair. Also, be aware that when there is a pair on the board, your draw to a straight or flush may be useless as there is now the possibility that someone has a full house or quads.

9. Assuming the board is not straight or flush-friendly, if you flop three of a kind or two pair, it is generally a good idea to bet the hand aggressively for the entire hand. If someone reraises back, you can return to just the check/call mode if you feel they have made a better hand, or continue to reraise if you think your hand is the best. Unless there is a flush or straight or three of a kind that is OBVIOUS on the board, you should not fold 2 pair (when both paired cards are in your hand).

With these simple guidelines to conservative play, you should be a profitable limit player. Just remember, try not to play drawing hands out of position against few players. And try to play your made hands against few players in any position.

For a great book on low-limit Texas Hold'em, visit the Poker Store page and pick up Lee Jones' Winning at Low-Limit Hold'em. In our opinion, it's the best book on Low Limit Hold'em available.

Have questions about a hand? Want to know if we think you played it correctly? Please feel free to email us the hand history and we will let you know what we think.