Someone asked me the other week what the secret was to playing limit holdem. I had to think about this for a while before I finally said that it was accepting the variance and accepting that this was a true bankroll game.
What I mean by that is that it is essential that a player realises that their bankroll at limit holdem is there for a reason. If you have 250 or 300 or even 400 big bets, chances are that you have this much because you have read it either in some book or on some website. Well guess what, these figures havent just been plucked out of thin air. This is because the level of variance in limit holdem is severe.
But heres another thing, if you play more passively at this form of poker and try to reduce the variance by playing say in a tight passive mode, you may get away with only needing a bankroll of only say 100-150 big bets but dont let that fool you. This is a losing style of play and will probably be a losing style of play even with rakeback.
I am of course referring to six max play here and not full ring. Six max play is a game that demands aggression and you need to be aggressive whenever you can. This doesnt mean raising and re-raising all over the place, just in selective instances.
Limit holdem when playing six max is sometimes like flipping coins with a slight positive expectation. This is how I liken the play and the variance. You may three bet someone with the best hand and get outdrawn, you may even three bet someone with the worst hand and be dominated, these lead to larger swings but an aggressive style is a money making style. But I like the coin flipping analogy because the variance in limit means that it is very similar to that in nature.
EXAMPLE…….Folded to cut-off who raises and you three bet on the button to attempt to isolate with position with Q-10….cut off has K-9. Both blinds fold making some needed dead money in the pot. This hand is almost even with the K-9 being a slight favourite. But that is offset by you having the lead and position. So you have definitely made a +EV play here by three betting. But your opponent could win that coin flip and hit this flop seven times straight or simply call you down when you have nothing either because they had a draw or because they were simply weak.
You need to not only have the bankroll to withstand these swings but to also be willing to use it as well and that is basically short handed limit holdem.
Hope you found that interesting
see ya soon
CAKE POKER……..THE SITE WHERE YOU CAN AVOID THE USERS OF TRACKING SOFTWARE AND THE HOME OF ONE OF THE BEST RAKE DEALS ON THE NET!
