A lot of you are familiar with my story. I have always been a NL SNG and MTT player, but since I have started commuting into the city I have a lot less time to play at home so I started playing NL ring on my commute into the city since I don't have the time to play a full SNG or MTT in that timeframe. Weekday nights are now out of the question since I now have to get up at 5:00 am.

Well to put it mildly I have been taking a pounding playing NL ring. I am sure I am just hitting a downturn but I really don't want to deal with the large swings from a NL ring game. I am thinking of making a change over to small stakes limit in order to learn limit with minimal risk to my bankroll while trying to pass the time on the train.

The question sounds simple enough, but probably isn't.

What are the primary differences one should keep in mind when transitioining to limit.

I think I will play small stakes limit during the week on my commute and play NL tourneys (which is my forte') during the week. I figure this will help round out my poker game while keeping my bankroll intact for my weekend tourneys.

Who knows...maybe I will be able to grind it out to higher limits. What else have I got to do on the train?

I've been told that variance is higher in limit. I guess i would need someone to confirm that for me though.

Variance is lower in Limit.... its just the nature of the game... You can only lose 12 bets at a time in limit... NL you can lose your whole stack. By the time you have gotten to the 12th bet, you have had plenty of time to decide whats going on, and 12 bets in you better win, or take the Bad beat jackpot...... NL You can push in with AA PF and get called by crap and see a very bad flop. LImit you can release this post flop.

Limit is about inflicting the most damage when you can, and haveing excellent damage control when you're not. NL is about that one sniper shot to take down a big pot, limit is about the artillery barrage to beat it out of them.

Ok... I've been playing too much command and conquer lately.

Originally Posted by Marm

Variance is lower in Limit....

Since when?

Post your SD for limit and NL

My instincts tell me Marm is correct just by the nature of the game. But I a sure someone will come up with some statistics to show Bonch is correct.

I guess I need to read some limit books to have my question answered, but what I am looking for is some of the subtle differences between playing the two games.

I would tend to think that bluffing would be less effective in limit. Are different hands more or less playable? I wonder if mid PP's have as much value since you don't get the implied odds you can get in a NL game. I know there a lot of you who play both games. What say you?

I've also heard that variance is lower in NL.

I don't play FL so I wouldn't have any stats to look at.

Originally Posted by bonchkid

Since when?

Post your SD for limit and NL

if it isnt then why would you need a bigger BR for NL?


IF you think he is wrong than post your numbers.

I don't have the experience that some on here do but here's my .02. You don't really have the ability to push people around in limit like you can in NL and you can't control the pot odds as easily either. So at times it can make sense for people to chase draws. That in itself sometimes can make quite a difference to get used to...you can't just push on the flop to chase people out. Not saying you can't make bluffs and so forth, they just may not work as much.

If you're in a game where alot of people are seeing the flop drawing hands can go up in value, suited connectors, Ax suited...If you're going to do some reading like many others have said (and I know it helped me) definately get SSH, there's even a starting hand breakdown in there on what to play, from what positions, for loose and tight games.

Like I said I'm far from an expert on this, just some thoughts...BTW if you generally prefer NL, have you considered something like pot limit? Seems to me like you can control the pot odds better against drawing hands and maybe the variance is slightly less than NL? I've never played pot limit ring so I'm just throwing it out there.

read small stakes holdem by sklansky if you want to be good at limit.

and varience is lower in limit.

From what I've seen/looked at - it seems that the variance in limit is a bit higher than in NL.

It's wrong to compare the limits directly though.

If you play 0.05/0.1 NL this seems to be equivalent in playing ability, number of tables available, pot sizes and cash flow to 0.5/1 (or just below) limit.