Personally I really enjoy limit games and would like to see higher stakes limit games. something like 1000/2000 and 4000/8000 fixed limit games would be very appreciated. Fixed limit games are a great way to practice and learn the game and i encourage more people to play them! Also, from my experience, if a limit game is for example 100/200 that means the small bet and the big bet are 100 200 respectively while the blinds would be 50/100. I noticed that the limit stakes on this site state the blinds and antes rather then the size of the big and small bet.
Dennis9, your desire to play higher limit poker is unrealistic and illustrates why these “free” money sites are destructive to the game of poker.
Go to Vegas sometime and observe the high limit games at Bellagio. You will find that the highest limit games played, by the likes of Negraneau, Brunson, Esfandiari, Ezra, et al are usually $400-$800, with an occasional bump up to as high as $1000-$2000. But these guys are playing for real money, not “play” money.
So, get real, dude!
I’m a little confused about your objection, of course world class players are going to play on the highest stakes they can win at. World class players also play at the highest tournament stakes they can as well, but there are high stakes tournaments on this site. Many players have a large enough bankroll on this site that the limit games are just way to small, and I’m sure there are people who like Limit games that would want to play at a stake level that effects their bankroll. Plus limit games are fun and very helpful for learning the games and improving. So I would very much appreciate if a mod would add a higher stakes limit games for holdem, Omaha and Omaha hi/lo around the stakes i suggested above. I would really appreciate this and I’m sure others would as well if you would add these games.
Cheers!
Some Thoughts on Poker
Though the differences between fixed limit poker and no limit poker effect only the betting, the difference in play is so profound they are almost two different games that happen to share the same deck of cards and the same ranking of hands.
Playing a limit game, one where the amounts of the bets are predetermined, probably also having a ceiling on the raises, is mostly a game of “good cards.” The player puts a certain amount of chips at risk knowing in advance the maximum possible expense for that particular bet. For example, in a $2 - $4 Holdem game with a maximum of three raises, the player knows absolutely that it cannot cost more than $8 to see the flop, and will usually cost less. It is therefore to the player’s advantage to play the best hands he get, not the worst ones. That’s why the game is played with blind bets by the first players to the left of the button, to force some hands in with less than perfect cards. In the instance described, the $2 bets are before and after the flop, the two $4 bets are after the Turn and River cards. If a player goes in with better cards, he should–on average–come out with better hands. Because of the predetermined fixed limit bets, bluffs can fail because it simply isn’t possible to bet enough to frighten or discourage many opponents. Thus, limit poker is a game of “good cards.” If you have them, you play, if you don’t, you fold. Simplicity itself. Pot odds for draws are relatively easy to compute, decisions are usually easily made.
No Limit, on the other hand, allows the player to be anything at any time when it’s that player’s turn to act. Anything means everything the player has (usually, it must be on the table in the form of chips or cash, players are not usually allowed to take money out of their pocket during a hand; also, you usually cannot bet Aunt Mamie’s chicken farm). This one feature so radically alters the game that calculating pot odds becomes more of an art than a science. How does one make a rational decision based on whether or not someone else will suddenly raise all in for everything that player has in front of him? A hand that might be worth a raise in a limit game, say two medium pairs, may not be worth even a call if a wrong decision sends you home broke.
So, while good cards are still important, their importance is diminished. It’s nice to hold good cards, and they often win. But, what you really want is a good situation.
A good situation is when you know–without any chance of doubt–that your hand, however large or small it may be, is the best hand possible. The nuts. The immortal. Sometimes, the nuts can be tied, but never can they be beaten.
Because Holdem is played with only two cards in the hand, and players are allowed to play the board, it is possible for the nuts to consist of a single card (the fourth card to trips on the board or the missing card in a four-card straight flush, for example). In limit poker, the payoff for holding that card is low. In No Limit, the payoff is as high as you can find someone willing to call, often quite high. That’s why you are looking for good situations, rather than just good cards.
Don’t misunderstand. Good cards are still important in no limit, simply not as important as they are in limit poker because of the increased chance of being paid off handsomely. And, good cards have the same chance to be part of “the nuts” more often than bad ones.
The reason live casinos don’t often offer limit games much over $400-$800 is based only on a dearth of players willing to risk that much real cash money. As inflation raises all bets and prices, these too will come up in time. Other poker sites do offer fixed-limits much higher than Replay in their free chip play. I played in those games for many years. I enjoyed them. I’ve been at Replay since 15 Dec 2015, and just crossed the $1M chip mark a few days ago, playing only the NL and PL games currently offered.
I’d enjoy playing a fixed limit game here, at whatever levels RP decides to provide access to. The pots will still be raked at the same 5%, no doubt, so chip inflation will be no more problem than it is already.
I suspect you’ll be shocked at how many players jump on this ship simply to avoid the bingo players. In a limit game with a three-raise limit–except when heads-up–no bingo player or even three of them can force you all in preflop. This alone will appeal to many players, me among them.
Please give this serious thought.
Ron P. (Alan25main)
Hey Alan or a Mod, can Alan’s post be reformatted so I can read it without scrolling all over hell left and right??? or can you re-post Alan ?
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Sarah, I wrote it in WordPerfect, copied and pasted it here. As you can see, it didn’t translate well. I think it has to do with the word-wrapping, but that’s beyond my area of knowledge. I doubt a moderator will find the time to do it, if they can. I have sent you a friend request. If you accept, I can send you the whole thing as a message. Then, if you choose, you can unfriend me, LOL, and never hear from me again. Ron P. (Alan25main) PS I hardly ever bite friends.
Alan, I did finally read, offsite, your post. While I agree with most of your post, I must say FL(fixed limit) is the most boring game there is. You can’t scare ppl off hands so you amost have to bingo it anyway. Wait till you got the best hand, max bet every street, and pray it holds up.
So Alan, exactly how am I supposed to scare you off a hand so I don’t get sucked out on ??? If your bankroll is 20m and mine 750k, you can rebuy far longer than I can and on FL tables any player can’t stop ppl from rebuy’n.
The fact is that limit games are not played often on the site. Especially not the higher blinds, the table Coral Room with the blinds 5/10 is used most often.
For making limit games more attractive Replay Poker added the Mixed Limit games (cause a lot of players complained about all in or high pre-flop raises), strange enough even these tables are not used very ofen.
Dennis9, you missed the point I was trying to convey. To take the “play money” games seriously, one should be able to relate to the real world. As I said in my posting, even the super-stars like Negraneau, Brunson, Esfandiari, Ezra, et al seldom play a limit game at higher than $400-$800. And, as for no-limit, you will seldom see a game with higher blinds than $100-$200. So, to blithely sit down at a “play money” table with blinds of $1000-$2000 is simply out-of-this-world. I doubt that you could assemble a full 9-seat table of seasoned pros who would play that high (barring, of course, some multi-millionaire backers). Incidentally, the buy in for such a game would be a minimum of $40,000, but most of the top pros would want to have at least $100 K on the table. Try to relate to the real world, dude.
Kenneth Dameron
oinkjohnson2@aol.com
Oink,
While I do not dissagree with you, Poker is a game… games are played to be won… stakes irreguardless… it is possible to have serious poker for free…
Even though Limit games are hardly played on this site does not mean there should not be a option for a higher stakes game. I really do not see a down side to adding a higher stakes limit game, all you need is two players to play. The extra 3-9 lobbies would hardly clutter up the lobby screen, the extra games would not divide the already small pool of limit players, since the players in the higher stakes games do not play limit simply because there are no stake levels that effect their bankroll. I see no downside to having the higher limit tables, even if they are empty 6 days a week there really is no downside that I am aware of to having the larger stake tables. I filled the highest stake limit ring yesterday so there definitely is a player base on this site that enjoys limit holdem from time to time, and should have stake levels that meaningfully effect their bankroll so they will actually play in the games.
Thanks for your feedback, we will review the limit ring game schedule shortly!
New FL Hold’em:
Zircon Room, blinds 200/400
Citrine Room, blinds 1K/2K
Kyanite Room, blinds 5K/10K
New PL Hold’em:
Peridot Room, blinds 2K/4K
Have fun!
Thank you nice to know that the mods and devs take feedback, now all i have to do is get someone to sit with me lol.
Thanks again, Cheers!
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I Have to agree with you on this one Sass… What would be even better than just a more fixed limit game is if this company/website could implement at least 2 more variants of poker that require a tad more skill: i.e. 5 draw & 7 stud.
Voltron, betting limits and game types are independant of each other… And did you happen to think about it… Texas Hold’em is a variant of 7 card stud, but if you want … maybe Hold’em Hi-Lo(less than 1 pr)…Since this orig thread was about limits, may I also say that the biggest hands(pot size) usually are not because of limits… they are because 2 or more ppl think they have the best hand and will not back away.