Playing in the big blind in limit hold’em

Play in the big blind against steal raisers is a very key part of limit hold’em. This applies whether you are playing full-ring or six handed. Playing beyond the flop is always one of the key areas of limit play for the simple reason being that you will be receiving decent pot odds in many situations so you will be forced to play.

But playing from the flop onwards in any form of poker is always more complex than playing pre-flop as whole new variables open up with the arrival of the community board cards. So any form of poker where you are seeing a lot of flops will be a highly skilled form of the game.

It is for this reason why many people look at limit hold’em incorrectly and who judge no-limit hold’em to be the ultimate test of skill. I don’t necessarily buy into this argument because each form of poker requires different skills. No-limit play is based on discipline and betting skill and knowing how much you can bet and when. It is also a game where bluffs carry a far greater meaning.

But limit hold’em requires tremendous post flop skill in order to play well. A bad limit player can lose their bankroll just like a no-limit player can. But instead of it being quick and brutal, it can literally be like death by a thousand cuts in limit play.

In six handed limit, playing in and around the blinds will make or break you as a player. You will be placing chips into the pot in 33% of your hands in six max play whether you like it or not. Aggression is so crucial to winning six handed limit play and if you are getting attacked from steal seats then you just have to fight fire with fire.

You simply cannot let your opponents dictate the play post flop and keep the initiative. Let us look at an example, you see 9-9 in the big blind in six max limit play and it is folded around to the button who raises and the small blind folds. Rather than call, why not re-raise and take the lead?

If you opponent raised with Q-8 and you call with 9-9, then on many flops you may end up having to be defensive and that can lead to you folding the best hand or calling down with the worst hand simply because you didn’t find out where you were in the hand.