Limit Poker System

Pot Limit

Pot Limit. As indicated, this popular limit system is exactly the way its name sounds: The maximum bet permissible at any particular time is the size of the pot at the moment. The only point of confusion arises when a player raises. An example will clear this up. Say the pot contains $10. Player A bets the pot, which now grows to $20. Player B wants to raise the maximum amount. First he calls player A's bet, which puts a total jackpot of $30 into the. Pot (the original $10 plus A's bet plus B's call). This is the maximum amount that B can raise. After Braises $30, player C can call and then raise $90.
Some groups play half-pot limit, which makes a mighty good session. Others combine pot limit with table stakes. A few groups also play pot limit with a ceiling or maximum bet. With a ceiling of $50, for example, any player can bet or raise the size of the pot up to, but not more than, $50. Having a ceiling is a wise curb in social groups where players are permitted to put checks into the pot, pull shy, and so on. Without such a ceiling or a table stake limitation, someone, sooner or later, will get in over his head.

Raising the Bet

Bet the Raise. In this limit system, a player may bet as much as was previously put into the pot at one time. For example, player A bets $2. Player B may raise $2 by putting $4 into the pot (the call plus the raise). Player C may raise $4 by putting $8 into the pot (the $4 call plus the $4 raise). Player D may raise $8, and so on. Fixed Limit Poker. By far the most popular method of limiting what's at stake in a poker session is to fix a minimum and maximum bet, where the minimum bet is usually the same as the ante. Some of the more common limits are nickels and quarter; quarter and a dollar, half and two; one and ten; and so on. Some groups, especially where draw poker is popular, have three limits; in 10-20-30, for example, the minimum bet is ten units, the maximum bet before the draw is 20 units, and the maximum bet after the draw is 30 units.

The Game Poker "Banana"

A maximum limit of $10 or $20 with an ante of $1 per player is a much more expensive game than pot limit or table stakes with a 25; ante. I want to emphasize also that the limit alone is not necessarily indicative of how expensive a particular poker session is. I once sat in on a loose game in Tennessee. There were 12 players. The limit was $5 with a maximum of three raises. They called the game Banana, but it was only an expensive variation of Omaha. The first betting interval followed the first down Omaha cards, thus making for a total of seven betting intervals.
On the 'Very first hand I played, the man under the gun bet $5. There were three raises before it was my turn to act. I held a queen and finally called (because the raising and calling seemed to indicate that the other players had each other's aces and kings). On the next down card, I caught another queen and again there were three raises in front of me and again I called a total of $20. The first widow card was also a lady, and of course I was raring to go then. At the showdown, my triplets were beaten in two places. One guy made a flush, and another hit a runt straight I my losses on that one hand were well over $100. After playing in two more sessions with that Banana bunch, I decided that it was too expensive (and too much of a gamble) for my blood-although I continued playing online poker in a regular pot limit session with a ceiling bet of $50, as well as occasionally sitting on a table stakes house game.