For many years, Limit Texas Hold’em was the most popular poker variation. However, the in the past two decades No-Limit Texas Hold'em grew to become the game of choice for most poker players at online casinos. Many attribute the growth of No-Limit Texas Hold'em to televised poker tournaments and online games, which adopted no-limit poker due to its bigger prizes, fast pace, and exciting gameplay.
In this guide, we outline the differences between limit and no-limit poker, list different games, and provide tips and strategies for each. We constantly our guide, so bookmark this page and stay up to date on limit and no-limit poker games, strategies, and news.
To get an beginner’s overview on basic basic rules and strategy for poker, be sure to check out our definitive guide for all you need to know.
The Difference between No-Limit and Limit Poker Games
The main difference is that Limit Texas Hold'em features blind bets that are fixed in size, whereas No-Limit Holdem doesn’t restrict the bet amount. So while players at No-Limit Texas Hold'em can practically bet their entire stack on a single hand, an average bet in a limit game tends to be much smaller. With these basic principles, Limit and No-Limit Texas Hold'em lends itself to many other poker variations.
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In most poker games, each player is dealt a number of cards facing down (the 'hole cards'). Throughout several betting rounds, more cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table ('community cards'). To start the wagering, blinds are set as 'forced bets'. There are big and small blinds with set values. Where in most cases the big blind is double the value of the small blind.
Players are free to use the community cards in combination with their hole cards to create the best possible poker hand (in most popular versions, a hand contains 5 cards).
According to their turn and position at the table, players have three betting options:
🗣 Call: Match the amount of the big blind
☝ Raise: Increase the bet
📁 Fold: Surrender your hand and forfeit your stake
In limit poker, the raise is fixed at twice the size of the big blind.
In no-limit poker, the minimum opening raise should be at least twice the big blind. The maximum raise can be all the chips the player has in their stack (an 'all-in bet').
No-Limit Poker Games
No-limit and limit-poker games are played in a very similar way. But in some situations, players are required to make different decisions when playing at no-limit tables.
When playing no-limit poker, you can afford to place more stakes on speculative hands in some cases. For example, if you have a promising pocket pair and a player raises you, you can possibly take their entire stack of chips if you get a set.
Below are a few more examples of decisions players face when playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em:
A pocket pair will usually put you significantly ahead of other players at a no-limit table. But there are some cases a low pair will put you behind. Some players just use their intuition and bet their full stack on a high pair, while others prefer two overcards.
Ace king is a drawing hand, which pretty much means that you will need to improve your hand in every situation to win. In this case, you shouldn't be willing to raise your whole stack.
Wild players that bet aggressively and play many hands are likely to re-raise. When playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em, this can mean there is a lot of money at stake. Make sure that you are disciplined enough to fold after the flop if you aren't dominating. Even if you believe that players are bluffing.
These are only a few examples of situations where you can win with a game that has no limit on how much you can raise. Because there is no fixed size of bets, you will possibly play in a way that makes you win the pot less often. But given every win can be significantly bigger, no-limit poker gives you a chance for larger, positive returns.