To be successful, avoid them
This column includes excerpts from the expanded edition of Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-Ring and Short-Handed Games, which contains two new chapters for shorthanded games.

When browsing all of the available tables at online sites, one can see that shorthanded limit hold'em is quite a popular game. Why? Beginners and intermediate players like the action, and advanced players like the profits!

The original version of my book, Internet Texas Hold’em, focused on limit hold’em at a full table of nine or ten players. Internet Texas Hold'em New Expanded Edition has two new chapters dedicated to short-handed play.  I learned this game by playing in full ring games, but my real passion is playing in shorthanded games. I don’t play nearly as much online as I once did, but when I do, I play mostly shorthanded. Shorthanded play has more action, more hands, more strategy, more bluffing, and is simply more fun. It also is a lot more profitable.

We all have an idea of the archetypical bad limit hold’em player or ‘fish’ as they are often called. They are very loose, very passive, chase terrible draws, don’t value bet or protect their hand enough etc. The Poker Tracker fans out there might describe this player as something like 80/4/0.2 (at a full ring table), with these stats representing the percentage of time they voluntarily put money in the pot, the percentage of the time they raise pre-flop and their post-flop aggression factor (ratio of raises to calls) respectively. These types of players are extremely common, especially at the lower limits, but also at the mid-limits and sometimes even the higher limits.

After listening to Ed Miller speak at last year’s ITH convention, I made up my mind that I wanted to learn how to play no-limit cash games. Given their popularity at the moment it seemed silly not to have this game in my arsenal. Six months later I am now reasonably confident playing the game and have some nice positive numbers over a decent-sized sample. I still consider myself a relative newbie at the game. Don’t worry, I’m certainly not going to sit here and try to tell no-limit players how to improve their game. However, what I would like to do is provide some tips for limit players who are thinking about learning no-limit cash games.

I play a lot of heads-up limit hold’em. In fact, it probably accounts for about 30% of the hands that I play on a day-to-day basis. A few forum members know this and have asked for help with their heads-up game. Unfortunately it is probably more difficult to give advice on this form of holdem than any other. Any hand in isolation is virtually meaningless. The correct play in any given circumstances it almost always dependant on what you know about your opponent and how similar hands against them have played out previously in the session.

Bluffing in limit hold’em is an interesting science. In loose games it is usually inadvisable to bluff because your opponents will call down with very marginal holdings. However, today’s games are not as loose as they used to be, especially at the mid/high limits. If you play in the tougher limit games of 2007, then bluffing is something that you almost need to have in your arsenal. Not only does it stop you becoming predictable to observant opponents, but more importantly it helps you to pick up some key pots that would otherwise have slipped away. Also in tougher games, pots are more likely to be fought heads-up, which is by far the best situation in which to bluff.

You are dealt Ac Kc in early position and you raise your premium holding. Three players cold-call your raise, as do both the blinds.

The flop is a nice looking Kh 6s 4s. You bet and all five opponents call.

The turn is 9c. You bet and three of your five opponents call.

The river is Qd. You bet and get raised. You make a crying call and are shown Jd Ts for the straight.

I think this story will resonate with most poker players, especially those who play (or have played) in the lower limits. Most winning poker players realise that they need to play against inferior players to win. However, sometimes it seems like your opponents are so bad that they actually become more difficult to beat. So many players are staying around with so many random hands, that one of them are bound to hit a hand better than yours.

Beware the Short Stack
Much has been written on the impact of stack size in no-limit hold’em, including how to play both with and against a short stack. Little however has been written on how to play a short stack in limit hold’em cash games. Of course, that is because you should never allow yourself to get short-staked in a limit cash game. But just because you are sensible enough to know this, that doesn’t mean that all your opponents are too. Knowing how to play against a short stack in limit hold’em is an important skill that is often overlooked in poker literature.

A limit hold’em example
The newest buzz word in the poker world is range. “What range did you put him on?” “I put him on a wide range, so I reraised.” “With his range, there was a good chance that he liked that flop.” The word is relatively new, but the idea is simple: You assign a range of hands that your opponent is likely holding, and then you start to narrow down that range as you gather more information throughout the hand. Once you assign a range of hands, you can then select the best course of action, whether it is raise, call, check, or fold.

I am going to look at a simple limit hold’em hand to show how you can use ranges to help analyze your play. The idea works for both limit and no-limit, but I’ve chosen limit, as it is easier to assign “standard” ranges to an opponent.

Test Your Skills
These hands are taken from the, expanded edition of Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-Ring and Short-Handed Games. Take this quiz to test your skills. These are limit hold'em hands at the limits shown.

1. 25¢-50¢: You hold the A 3 in middle position. Three players call from early position, you call, and the big blind checks. Five players see the flop of 9 7 2. The player under the gun bets, the next player calls, and the next player raises. There is $2.35 in the pot. What should you do?