Rafe Furst
July 17, 2006
I had the good fortune of winning my
first World Series of Poker bracelet earlier
this month in a $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold
'em event. It was an incredible thrill. For
this tip, I thought I'd share some points of
strategy that are specific to Pot-Limit Hold
'em tournaments. If you're looking to play
any Pot-Limit events, either at the WSOP or
elsewhere, you'll want to keep these things
in mind. Note that my advice is specific to
tournaments. In Pot-Limit Hold 'em ring
games, there are other adjustments you'll
want to make, but there isn't enough room to
cover them here.
There are two major differences between
Pot-Limit and No-Limit Hold 'em tournaments.
The first is that simply declaring
"all-in" usually isn't an option.
You can only bet the amount that's in the
pot. (For an open-raise, the pot size is
seven times the small blind.) In No-Limit
tournaments, when a player is on a short
stack, he will often move all-in. This puts
pressure on the other players; in order to
call, someone has to find a strong hand.
However, in Pot-Limit tournaments, unless
you're on an extremely short stack, after
you open-raise, you'll still have chips in
front of you. This gives other players a
chance to re-raise and move you off your
hand.
In Pot-Limit tournaments, I prefer to be
the player re-raising the open-raise.
Usually, this is enough to put anyone
all-in, so it's the point where you can
apply the maximum pressure to your
opponents.
The second major difference between
Pot-Limit and No-Limit Hold 'em tournaments
is that, in Pot-Limit, there are never antes
whereas, in No-Limit, antes are added to the
pot pretty early on (Level 5 of the WSOP
structure).
To understand why this is so important,
consider the math. In Level 12 of the WSOP
No-Limit Hold 'em structure, the blinds are
$600 and $1,200 and the ante is $200, making
a total pot of $3,800 prior to any action
(assuming a 10-handed table). If a player
can steal a pot by open-raising to three
times the big blind, he'll be getting some
nice value; the $3,600 bet can win him
$3,800. Stealing blinds and antes is so
important in No-Limit that a player like
Phil Hellmuth, Jr. can attribute much of his
success to his ability to steal pots once
the antes kick in.
In Pot-Limit, however, when the blinds
are $600 and $1,200, the same open-raise to
$3,600 can claim only $1,800 in profit. The
risk-reward ratio isn't nearly as favorable.
For this reason, I believe it's proper to
play tighter in Pot-Limit events than in
No-Limit events. It also provides another
reason why you want to be the player
re-raising rather than open-raising. The pot
that you'd win by open raising and stealing
the blinds isn't nearly as valuable as the
one you can pick up by re-raising the
open-raise.
In the WSOP event that I won, a few of my
opponents didn't adjust to the Pot-Limit
structure especially well and opened too
many pots. My strategy was to let my
opponents have many of these small pots. I
was waiting for occasions where I could come
over the top of an open raise with a big
re-raise. I had crafted such a tight image
that when I did re-raise, my opponents had
to give me credit for a pretty big hand.
When I took down these pots, I gathered a
significant number of chips. This worked
especially well late in the tournament, when
each decision could cost a player his
tournament life.
So, if you're heading to the WSOP, your
favorite card room or online in order to
play a Pot-Limit event, remember to play
tighter pre-flop and look for spots to
re-raise - that's where the best
opportunities lie.
Rafe Furst |