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All of the
interest in no-limit poker, spurred on, of course, by
the incredible growth of online poker and the saturation
of Texas holdem tournaments televised on the Travel
Channel, ESPN, Fox, and who knows
where else — I suppose a poker channel ("All poker, all
the time") can't be far off — has spurred something
quite new and different in local cardrooms and casinos.
It's the resurgence of interest in no-limit holdem cash
games, but these days it's no-limit holdem with a
difference.
What's new about it is the structure. There was a time
when you'd buy into a no-limit game with as much money
as you could muster and put it all on the line, for
better or for worse, and going broke was an occupational
hazard. Naturally, losing one's entire bankroll time and
time again put a severe crimp in the wallets,
confidence, and egos of marginal no-limit players and
sent many of them out of the poker rooms for good. After
all, it can be tough sledding when you lose a house
payment, or sometimes even the entire house, in a
friendly little poker game.
In a
structure like that, the fish never really had a chance
at all. As a result, no-limit cash games all but dried
up in the process. When all the fish were busted, the
best players went after the marginal players, and once
they finished them off, they attacked those who were
merely "good" but not "great," until there was no easy
prey left to feed on. When there's no edge, there's no
game, particularly when the stakes are big enough to
really hurt.
So,
the no-limit players gravitated toward tournament poker.
The advantage of tournament play is that you can't lose
any more than your buy-in, and while it's fun to push
$65,000 into the middle of the pot and declare yourself
all in, it's also comforting to realize that you
invested only $500 in the event, and even if your
bravado-filled push-in of $65,000 in chips goes horribly
wrong and your preflop pocket aces are cracked by a
long-shot draw, all you'll really lose is your buy-in,
which is a lot less than "65 large."
Then, came television, and the World Poker Tour,
and the World Series of Poker on ESPN, and
poker on Fox — and online poker, too. We can't
forget the incredible impact Internet poker has had on
developing a growing player base of guys and gals
wanting to become the next Chris Moneymaker or Greg
Raymer. These newcomers don't play stud, Omaha, or limit
holdem. Nope. They are born, nurtured, fed, and bred on
no-limit Texas holdem. They've all got the inclination,
and some have the knowledge, too. All many of them lack
is a big bankroll.
No-limit holdem was the next big thing, and most
cardrooms and casinos jumped on the bandwagon. Now, you
have the phenomenon of no-limit holdem with a limited
buy-in, which lessens the chances of losing very large
sums of money in one hand. You can call it "holdem with
training wheels" if you like, but I don't want that
description to be seen as pejorative. Nevertheless, the
game does provide a safety factor of sorts, but there's
no shame in working with a net when you're walking the
wire and the fall is long and hard. That's a good thing
for the casino and the majority of players, too, as many
of them have neither the bankroll nor the psychological
makeup to handle the very large losses that can
accompany a real no-limit game.
Nothing burns through a cardroom's player base faster
than a no-limit game that quickly separates the prey
from the predators. But when you have a game like $1-$2
no-limit holdem with a maximum buy-in of $100 or $200,
it protects players from losing their entire bankroll in
one fell swoop. To lose the farm in a game like this, a
player has to keep reaching into his wallet time and
time again. When players lose a few buy-ins in a limited
buy-in no-limit game, they usually quit long before
disaster strikes.
The
benefits are obvious. Cardrooms can't thrive with a
broke, shrinking player base. Limited buy-in no-limit
poker meets an obvious player demand and prevents a
cardroom from seeing its player base winnow away. The
structure affords players a chance to explore the
thrills of no-limit holdem in a traditional poker room
environment, while limiting potential losses to an
affordable amount. This hybrid game is no-limit poker
with an insurance policy, and I think it's a terrific
opportunity for those who want to play no-limit cash
games without risking their entire bankroll on the turn
of a card.
If
you haven't played one of these games before, give it a
go. It comes with all the drama and heart palpitations
of high-stakes no-limit holdem, but there's a safety net
to limit your losses. It's like a tournament in that
regard, because you can't lose any more than your
initial buy-in, regardless of the game's life-or-death
structure. The game also plays true to traditional
no-limit holdem — the kind played without a safety net.
When I played this game, I didn't experience the kind of
maniacal betting I thought I might encounter because
players could go all in at the drop of a hat, realizing
they couldn't lose any more than their buy-in. While any
game's texture depends upon the players, I was
encouraged to see that this safety-net version of
no-limit holdem provided all the drama of a traditional
no-limit game, and wasn't corrupted by the buy-in
restrictions.
If
you're normally a $4-$8 or $10-$20 limit holdem player
who buys into his or her game for between $200 and $500,
a $1-$2 no-limit holdem game with a maximum buy-in of
between $100 and $200 is right within your limits. Give
it a try. You just might find it exhilarating.
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