No Limit Texas Holdem
No limit Texas Holdem is the card game of choice these days - and for good reason. The fact that anyone can decide to push a large raise or all of their chips into the pot by going 'all-in' at any moment, adds an exciting dimension to the game. Unlike limit Texas Holdem, where each round of betting takes place in prescribed, fixed increments, no limit Texas Holdem is as varied as the players at the table, since everyone chooses their own betting style and approach.
Here we describe the No Limit Texas Holdem poker game, its rules, its difference to ordinary Texas Holdem game, tips and recommendations.
No Limit Texas Holdem is quite the same in rules to the ordinary type of Texas Holdem game, but has a different betting structure. No Limit Texas Holdem is a game, where bets are grown very quickly and game tempo is much faster too. This is more for fun than a game and is mostly played by professionals, whose reaction is set quicker upon the circumstances, so this type of game is not recommended for beginners. Let's watch closer over the game's structure.
No Limit game begins with posting blinds, just as in usual game. Right at the start, No Limit Holdem is quite different to it's ordinary counterpart. All players are allowed to raise any amount. For example, if the Small and the Big blinds are $10 and $15 accordingly, and the first betting player wants to bet $1000 - he can, although very rare. However, No Limit Holdem has the minimum bet too. The allowed size of minimum bet is at least the last bet multiplied by 2. For instance, if the last bet was $20, the next bet must be $40, because it is a raise of the previous bet multiplied by 2. Due to the beginning of the game, if posted blinds are equal $10 and $15 accordingly, the first bet should be at least $30. During the game you can buy chips only in-between hands - you may not buy any chips in the middle of a hand.
If you have less chips than your opponent has, it doesn't mean that you are dropped out of the hand. You can call for any number of chips and if nobody else is in the pot, then the player who made the bet retreats his chips and the hand is played with no additional betting, but if there are any other players in the pot - an additional pot (the Side Pot) is created.
What is the Side Pot, how is it determined and played?
The side pots happen both in Limit and No Limit Texas Holdem, but is more common in No Limit Holdem because of the large bets.
Let's take a look at the following situation: - There are three players. They have: 1st player - $2,000 in chips, 2nd - $800 in chips and 3rd - $5,000. The Small and the Big blinds are $10 and $20 accordingly. In pre-flop betting round, the 1st player bets $100, the 2nd and the 3rd players call. There are no players except these ones remaining in the game. The pot is equal $330. In the second betting round, when the flop is already dealt, the 1st player bets $1000, but the 2nd has only $700 left. However he likes his hand and calls all-in for $700 remaining. If the 3rd player folds, the 1st player will receive $300 back and the hand will be played with no more raising because of the 2nd player's empty bankroll. If the third player considers his hand a strong one and decides to go on, he can choose from two options.
a. Call the 1st player's $1000, which will create a side-pot of $600 between the 1st and 3rd players. The 3rd player is out of this pot, even if his hand forms the strongest one among the three players, but he is still in the main pot, which contains $330 and $700 from each player's bankroll, this equals $2100 of the $2430 total. All three players are in this pot.
b. If the 3rd player considers his hand as a winning one, he may move all-in instead of calling the 1st player's $1000 bet. The 1st player has only $900 remaining, this equals raising the 1st player's $900 bet.
As you can see, the raise does not equal the previous bet x2, but is allowed, because each player is always allowed to raise all-in, as he is allowed to call for all chips, even if they have no funds to call a full bet. If after the last bet the 1st player has decided that it is better to fold, then the 2nd and the 3rd players remain to play for the main pot of $2430. Iif the 1st player has decided to call the 3rd player's all-in rise, there are still two pots in the game.
The general pot (created during pre-flop) of $1430, is awarded to the best of the three players and is declared the winner of the main pot. The remaining side-pot is equal $2400 now and is played among the 1st and the 3rd players, while the 2nd player is out of the pot, because he was unable to bet. So the strongest hand among the 1st and the 3rd players wins the side pot. If one of these hands is stronger than the 2nd players hand - that player takes both main and the side-pot together.
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