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Longhand Limit Texas Hold'em
Contrary to the shorthand version, longhand poker refers to games with more than 6 players. That which follows below is an overview of some helpful hints that can improve your play at longhand limit Texas Hold'em. Keep in mind, however, that this section is directed more towards strategy at lower limit tables.
Starting hands/pre-flop:
This is the moment most beginning poker players commit errors. Put succinctly, they play too many hands. What beginners fail to realize is that longhand limit Hold'em is a game of patience. As sad as it seems, you can literally just wait to be dealt the quality hands and just win with those.
So what are the quality hands? David Sklansky, a poker expert and author of numerous books on poker strategy, has grouped hands into 8 categories. We've decided to simplify his method a little bit by not separating the suited cards and keeping it to 5 categories (trust us; it's much less complicated like this). If you'd like a comprehensive look at poker strategy - stuff that's on the "very advanced" level - we highly recommend checking out one of Mr. Sklansky's excellent books. In the meantime, let's move along to the ranking of hands.
Category 1
A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K
These are the best hands, period. You should raise or re-raise with them, pre-flop. If you hold A-A, you especially want to put as much money into the pot as possible.
Category 2
T-T, 9-9, A-Q, Q-K
These are good hands, but they aren't amazing. You usually need help from the board. Almost always in low-limit poker, you'll need to hit a set with T-T or 9-9 in order to win.
Category 3
A-J, A-T, K-J, Q-J, 10-J
These are good hands as well. However, be careful playing A-J, A-T and K-J because these hands are vulnerable to losing to a higher kicker (ex. if an ace is on the board, but another person has A-K, you would lose because he has a higher "kicker"). You should generally play these hands only if/when they’re suited.
Category 4
8-8, 7-7, 6-6, 10-9, 9-8, 8-7, 7-6 (only play the connecting cards if they are suited)
These hands are “OK”, but usually don't win. They need a lot of help from the board.
Category 5
5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2 (basically, small pocket pairs)
Category 1 hands should almost always be played. The only exception is if you hold A-K or, say, J-J and you are certain that someone has K-K or A-A from the manner in which they’re raising. These hands in general should be raised from any position and you want to make a lot of money at the pre-flop stage. But remember, for A-K you need to hit an ace or a king. Don't get in a raising war with 1 person because that person is likely to already be holding a pocket pair.
Category 2 hands should generally be played. These hands fare better with less people, so you should raise to knock people out. Don't jam the pot, however, because these hands have little value before you see the board. Don't call 3 bets cold with these hands The reason not to call three bets cold is because you clearly don't have an advantage going into the flop. AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IN LIMIT Hold'em IS THAT YOU WANT TO HAVE AN ADVANTAGE GOING INTO THE FLOP. Go ahead and call one raise in a late position, unless the raiser was in an early position and is a very good player (here, your opponent unfortunately probably has you beat with a category 1 hand).
Category 3: Proceed carefully with these hands. They’re easily beat by category 1 or 2 hands, so these are best played with less people in the pot who don't have category 1 or 2 hands. Put another way, raise to knock people out, but don't call a raise with something of this value.
Category 4/5: These hands are very different. With these, you’re looking for a large, multi-way pot. The reason is that 95% of the time, these hands are garbage...worthless. But 5% of the time, these hands are fantastic (if you make a straight, flush, or trips). So, you want to be paid off big when you actually hit something with these hands and this is why you want a lot of people in the pot. Check out this illustration: You hold 6-7, the board is ace-5-8, you call a bet on the flop, 9 comes on the turn and then you jam the pot. Therefore, you want to commit as few chips as possible pre-flop with these hands while praying that a lot of people go into the flop. If you are the dealer, then, and one guy is in with a raise, fold. However, if you are the big blind, and five people have called a raise, go ahead and call and see the flop.
Flop play
Once you hit the flop, you'll be in 1 of 5 situations:
1. You'll be winning, but you'll have a beatable hand. You'll have a top pair, a top kicker, for instance, or an over-pair (i.e Q-Q and the board is J-T-5). You’re going to want to jam the pot and knock people out. Therefore, you want someone to bet to you and then to raise if you are in early position. If you are in late position and no one has bet, you’ve got to bet to knock people out.
2. You'll have a boss hand. In all likelihood, you will have three of a kind or perhaps even a full house at the flop. There's no need really to knock people out because you’ll probably win. In these situations, it's usually the best idea to wait until the turn to really jam the pot but jam the pot on the flop if you think a crazy draw is out there that will beat you.
3. You'll have the second-best hand. If you follow our pre-flop strategy, this is unlikely, but it could still happen. An example of this would be if you have A-Q and K-Q-4 is on the board. In which case, treat the hand as a drawing hand or simply fold, unless of course you REALLY believe that you may have the best hand at the moment (this is unlikely in a larger, multi-way pot because someone is destined to have the king).
4. You'll have a drawing hand such as two spades in the hole with two on the board. For these hands, you must consult outs/pot odds.
5. You'll have nothing. An example would be if you have 6-6 and flop is A-K-7. You're clearly beat; simply fold as soon as you can.
This is the basic way to win at limit longhand. There really aren't that many tricky situations to come across. Just keep in mind, the more people, the greater the likelihood that someone’s got the boss hand that's out there on the board so be careful of that. Don't get attached to A-K if A-Q-Q is on the board, because somebody’s probably got the queen.
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