Choosing Your Starting Hands in No-Limit Holdem, Part 2

This is the second in a two-part series about deciding which hands to play in a no-limit hold 'em game. In part 1, we emphasized that no-limit hold 'em is a game of implied odds, where unlike fixed-limit hold 'em-where the goal is to push every edge you have, regardless of how small it might be. The goal in no-limit hold 'em is to capture your opponent's entire stack.

Be wary of risking your entire bankroll in a deep stack, no-limit game. If you plan on playing no-limit hold 'em you should probably be willing to rebuy a couple of times without putting your entire bankroll in jeopardy. If you put everything on the line, a single, unlucky card can take you out of the game for quite some time while you look to cobble a new bankroll together. That might even mean getting a job (gulp).

Your skills can help you assess the risks you're facing; but don't carry it too far. Even when you are far superior to your opponents, don't rely too heavily on this metric. The element of luck can be very destructive if you have too much of your bankroll at risk regardless of how poorly your opponents play. The old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket rings true here.

Be willing to risk a little to win a lot. Although most players will not go all-in before the flop with a lot of money at risk, they will usually call your bets before the flop with hands that provide an opportunity to improve significantly. All skillful no-limit hold 'em players are willing to pay a small price to catch the card they need on the next wagering round in order to win all your chips.

Why restricted buy-in no-limit games are very different than traditional no-limit games. Here's a case in point. You have $200 and are playing $2-$5 no-limit game with a restricted buy-in. You raise to $20 before the flop with A-K. Two players call, and the flop is A-8-3. You make a continuation bet of approximately half to three-quarters of the pot.

Suppose an opponent raises. If you call, you have a significant portion of your money already in the pot, so you might just as well go all-in, see all five cards and hope your top pair is the best hand or improves sufficiently to win the pot. If you lose, you can re-buy for another $200.

Compare that with a no-limit game where there's no cap on the amount of the buy-in and you and your opponents each have $2,000 on the table, or even more. Even if the betting went the same way as it did in the example cited above, your decisions are much more difficult. If your opponent was lucky enough to flop a set, you can lose $2,000 instead of $200 because the raiser is likely to come out betting on the turn and keep at it until you have most or all of your chips in the center of the table. While there's always the chance that he might be bluffing with the worst hand, is it worth $2,000 to find out?

The more you have at risk, the more skill you'll need to protect your bankroll and to leverage it at just the right time.

How many chips do your opponents have and how well do they play? These considerations are also important in deciding how much to risk when you sit down to play no-limit Texas hold 'em. Always try to have at least as many chips as the weakest player at the table. But if one of your opponents is particularly tough, you might want to buy in for less, to limit your potential losses.

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