It’s no wonder No-Limit Texas Hold’em became the most popular poker game in the world. There’s nothing quite as exciting as pushing all your chips in the middle and saying “All-in.” But this isn’t the only way to play Hold’em. There are three possible betting structures for this game – as well as the Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo games at Bovada Poker. Here’s a quick look at all three:
Fixed-Limit Hold’em
Known simply as Limit Hold’em, or LHE for short, this was briefly the world’s most popular poker game in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There are only two possible bet sizes in this game: the small bet, and the big bet. This is also how you identify the game: a $2/$4 LHE game features a small bet of $2 and a big bet of $4 (with the blinds at $1 and $2). In pre-flop LHE play, and during the flop, the small bet is used. On the turn and river, the big bet is used.
It’s not just the bet size that’s limited in Limit Hold’em. Most games will cap the betting at a certain number of raises and re-raises per street, usually four or five. Then the next player to act must either call or fold. In general, these limits keep pots smaller than the other betting structures. They also make it more difficult to apply leverage on your opponents and get them to fold.
Pot-Limit Hold’em
With Pot-Limit Hold’em (PLHE), you are now able to bet any amount up to the size of the pot, and there are no caps on the number of raises and re-raises. Games are identified by the size of the blinds; for example, a $10/$20 PLHE game uses a $10 small blind and a $20 big blind. This betting structure is more commonly found in Omaha, but it will occasionally be used for Hold’em as well, especially during a big tournament festival like the World Series of Poker.
No-Limit Hold’em
This is the grandaddy of ‘em all. With No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), the gloves come off, and you can bet all the chips in your stack. There is a minimum bet size, though: the size of the big blind. There are some subtle rules for poker betting in certain situations, where you’re only allowed to call instead of raise when someone goes all-in with a short stack – you can learn more by consulting the FAQ the next time you play at Bovada Poker.