Poker Strategy: No Limit Hold’em
What are the two most powerful words in poker? I’m all-in.
You can win or lose entire stacks in a single hand of No Limit Hold’em, and this excitement accounts for much of the popularity of the game. It’s not just a contest of having the best hand when all the chips go in the middle though. Well before that point, you should have created a plan for every street of the hand and formulated – in advance – your responses to every action your opponent takes. This isn’t magic but rather a science, and we’ll show you how to do it right. The articles below cover starting hand selection, the advantages of being aggressive, the stack-to-pot ratio, preflop three-betting, and the other concepts that you must master before you can truly become a proficient practitioner of NLHE. Once you achieve a certain level of skill, you’ll find yourself with numerous opportunities to practice it because No Limit Texas Hold’em is currently the most commonly spread form of poker in the world.
Featured No Limit Hold’em Articles
Nine Noobie Myths About Microstakes NLHE
I feel like tons of the noobies in the BC have serious misconceptions about microstakes poker. Here are a few I've seen lately. 1. The micros are just too fishy to be beat for any decent win rate. 2. The micros are too hard to be beat since UIGEA. 3. The FTR regs at...
ISF – Forming Ranges
Something I like to do, and what I always advocate people who seek poker help from me, is to break down the elements of poker so we can understand concepts behind them and further apply them. I feel like most of the problems with people stuck at low and midstakes is...
Continuation Betting in NL Hold’em
An easily digestible explanation of continuation betting in No Limit Texam Hold’em. This article demonstrates which hands are ideal for c-bets, which aren’t and how, when and against whom a c-bet should be used to maximize winnings. It also explains how much you should bet in certain situations.
Blind Stealing 101
A few people have been posting stats threads lately and I've seen a trend that really needs to be addressed. Most of the people I've seen stats on are not stealing blinds nearly enough, and aren't defending their blinds nearly enough. I've decided to type up something...
ISF Theorem
Amazingly, when I was high yesterday from some horrible weed, I came to a breakthrough thought in my poker game. I called sauce up and explained to him what I just realized and he had no idea why it was so amazing. It took me awhile, but then I realized that the...
Most Recent No Limit Hold’em Articles
Spenda’s 5 Biggest Leaks of a Losing NL Player – Leak 3
#3 Value Betting and Bet-Sizing Being able to size bets correctly in No-Limit Hold’em is a critical factor in improving your win-rate. Bet-sizing as a concept is not the easiest to explain or master but I will do my best. There are many different types of bets one...
ISF – Revision Of ISF Theorem
For the original ISF theorem post go here: ISF Theorem When I wrote ISF Theorem a half year ago, I was at a very frustrating point in my game. I was a very marginal winner at 200nl and was going on two straight losing months, which was absolutely devastating to my...
How to Make Actual Adjustments While Playing
Talking about making adjustments to your play is easier than actually making them at the table. Read through this example of how to make an adjustment to learn how to pull them off when you’re playing. Studying examples of successful adjustments will help you learn to execute them under pressure.
Bluff or Check? Missing the Flop in NLHE (Part 1): Introduction
There are several factors that you have to learn about when deciding whether or not to bluff when you’ve missed the flop, and we’ll cover them in detail.
Betting to Protect Your Hand in Poker
There are times when it can be profitable to bet purely for the sake of protecting your hand even when it doesn’t work out as profitable as a value bet or bluff by itself.
Leading the Flop and the Relationships to Continuation Betting
Leading the flop when you were not the pre-flop aggressor is very similar to continuation betting. You have a range, your opponent has a range, and you have now made a bet that your opponent will have to react to. However, there is another relationship that leading on...
The True Essence of Poker
Poker strategy almost completely surrounds knowing how to handle these two situations that we’re covering this week.
Limit vs No Limit Texas Holdem Poker
Limit Texas Holdem vs. No Limit Texas Holdem – the debate goes on. Which game should you master? Well, everyone here at FTR has their own opinion. We have very skilled and profitable players profiting from both forms of the game. I have my opinion too, and No Limit...
Balance is the Key
Recently I have switched poker sites again, I do this periodically if I find good games and plenty of fish. I don’t play anywhere near as much poker these days and most of that is at between NL50 and NL200 full-ring NLHE. Recently I have been watching the games...
ISF – Forming Ranges: Part 2
In my first strategy post on forming ranges, I mostly touched on preflop. But postflop, as we all know, is where the big money is at. And it’s postflop where forming ranges is the most important, it’s just a whole lot harder! The basic premise of forming ranges is...
Applications of EV Calculations (Part 1): Dealing With Short Stacks
To kick off our series on the applications of EV equations, we’re going to look at how to deal with all-in situations against short stacks as both the aggressor and the person facing the final bet.
Adjusting to PokerStars Buy-in Levels
Recently the world's largest poker site, PokerStars, announced the way they were handling the minimum/maximum buy-in amounts at their cash game tables. This mainly affects NL/PL Hold'em as well as Pot-Limit Omaha games as shallow/deep stacks in limit games means next...
Nine Noobie Myths About Microstakes NLHE
I feel like tons of the noobies in the BC have serious misconceptions about microstakes poker. Here are a few I've seen lately. 1. The micros are just too fishy to be beat for any decent win rate. 2. The micros are too hard to be beat since UIGEA. 3. The FTR regs at...
Delayed Continuation Betting
This is my winning essay, cross-posted in the win money, coaching from nutsinho thread. I agree with nutsinho that I should have discussed bluffing more. I also suspect that many will have a problem with my supposed ranges. I wrote the essay as a FR player guessing at...
Spenda’s 5 Biggest Leaks of a Losing NL Player – Leak 5
#5 Hand-Reading Being able to process information from your opponent, the texture of the board, and past experiences will help you become a better hand-reader. Improving your hand-reading skills will allow you to make more “correct” decisions in a session, thus...
