In a no-limit game, you could potentially win the size of your opponent's stack on the river (assuming you have him covered). You'd calculate your pot odds, but add in the amount you might also win on the river if you hit your flush and bet and your opponent called. Say you had that flush draw and faced having to call a bet on the turn. Specifically, out of the total of 46 unseen cards, the odds are 37-to-9 or a little worse than 4-to-1 against you making your flush.įinally, 'implied odds' are the pot odds as calculated above but also adding the money you might win on future betting rounds, too. If you're drawing to a flush on the river, your drawing odds are the total number of unseen cards that don't help your hand compared to the number of cards that will give you the flush. 'Drawing odds' refers to the probability that you won't make your hand. If there's $800 in the pot and your opponent bets $200, to call means paying $200 with a chance at winning $1,000 total - in other words, you're getting 5-to-1 pot odds with your call. 'Pot odds' refers to the amount of money you may win when you call a bet compared to the cost of calling that bet. In no-limit poker implied odds are hugely important, while in fixed-limit games the significance of implied odds is, well, limited.įor those of you not familiar with the term, a quick primer on 'pot odds,' 'drawing odds' and 'implied odds' is necessary. Then in a follow-up we'll talk further about some of the other most important adjustments players need to make when moving from no-limit to limit.

In this article I'd like to focus on the most significant difference between no-limit and fixed-limit games - implied odds.

games online, and with casinos spreading limit games especially during major tournaments like the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, it's useful to understand some key conceptual differences between the two formats. Toward that end, with the availability of limit hold'em, H.O.S.E. Today, however, since most players at the tables now cut their teeth on no-limit, they've got to learn the old form of the game if they're going to become winning limit players.

It used to be that skilled poker players - who mostly played fixed-limit games - needed to learn how to adapt their games to no-limit once the NL hold'em 'boom' hit.

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