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My book, The Course: Serious Hold ‘Em Strategy For Smart Players, is a practical guide to winning in live no-limit cash games. It starts with what you need to stop losing at $1-$2, and it adds on skills until you get to what you need to beat $5-$10. I’m devoting a few articles to give you a taste for my recipe to conquer everyday cash games. Jul 11, 2011  For someone who's up to speed on the basics of good cash-game strategy, it's also the main source of their poker profit. From Vegas to Atlantic City and everywhere in between, the average live $1/$2 No-Limit Cash Game table features a motley crew of fish waiting to give their money away. No Limit Hold'em Cash Game Strategy. In modern low stakes cash games, the field is filled with amateurs, which are just begging to pay you off. Complex moves, plays and bluffs sometimes get in the way of the main idea, which is to make a profit. Playing basic poker strategy is perfect for beginners aiming to make a profit.

I was recently told about a hand from a $1-$2 no-limit cash game that illustrates a few errors many recreational players make on a regular basis. Two players limped from middle position and our Hero raised to $10 out of her $304 stack from the button with A 10.

Raising limpers with your best hands is almost always a right play. Do not feel like you should limp behind with your strong hands simply because a few other players limped before you.

The small blind and big blind, a tight aggressive player, called. The two limpers folded.

I cannot fathom limping with a presumably playable hand and then folding for only $8 more, essentially closing the action with strong relative position. Most of the time on the flop, everyone will check around to Hero, who will bet. From there, the players in the blinds have to act before the limpers, giving the limpers somewhat reliable information, despite being out of position against the preflop raiser. If you are going to develop a limping range, it should be structured such that you can call reasonably sized raises and see lots of flops. There is no point in limping junky hands like A-8 offsuit or 9-8 offsuit. It is fine to fold your junk before the flop!

The flop came A 9 3. The blinds checked to Hero, who bet $15 into the $34 pot.

Hero chose an excellent bet size. By betting small on a dry board, Hero induces the opponents to stick around with all sorts of junk that is drawing thin. Notice that if Hero bets larger, her opponents will fold almost all unpaired hands and perhaps even some pairs. Especially when trying to extract value from recreational players, choose a bet size they can call with their inferior made hands.

Both opponents called. The turn was the 10. The small blind checked and the big blind led for $30 into the $79 pot.

This is an interesting spot to lead because if Hero has a strong made hand, she will certainly continue betting on this innocuous turn. This makes me think that most likely, the big blind has some sort of draw that is trying to get fold equity, but that may not be possible if he folds most of his backdoor draws on the flop (remember, he is known to be a tight player). If he does not have many draws in his range, he probably has mostly made hands, almost all of which Hero beats. In order to confirm Hero is in good shape, spend a moment counting the combinations of value hands that Hero beats and compare those to the value hands that beat Hero.

Hero beats six combinations of A-9 (two remaining aces X three remaining nines = 2 X 3 = 6), six combinations of A-3, and six combinations of 10-9. He loses to one combinations of 10-10, three combinations of 9-9 and three combinations of 3-3. This means that in the likely worst-case scenario, the opponent has 18 hands Hero beats and only seven hands that beat Hero, meaning Hero should certainly continue.

If the opponent is only leading with value hands and will confidently play for all his money with all of them, Hero should raise, looking to get all-in, despite the fact that she will lose about 28 percent (7/25) of the time. If the opponent will fold 10-9 and perhaps A-3 to a raise, then Hero should instead call. If the opponent’s range also contains numerous junky made hands that will fold to a raise, such as A-6, Hero should also call.

Hero raised to $75. The small blind folded and the big blind went all-in for $249 total.

This is a nasty spot, but if the previous analysis holds true that the opponent will go all-in with 10-9 and better made hands, Hero has an easy call because she will win 72 percent of the time and she only needs to win 32 percent of the time based on the pot odds (204/637). If he will only go all-in with A-9 and better made hands, Hero still wins 6/13 = 46 percent of the time. The only time Hero can possibly justify folding is if she knows with a high degree of certainty that the opponent has exactly a set and will never play draws in this manner. Given you will rarely have such an accurate read, Hero has to call.

Hero called and lost to 3-3. Tough luck! ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup.

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According to famous poker player and author Doyle Brunson, no-limit hold'em is the Cadillac of all poker games. The skill involved with no-limit games is tremendous, even seasoned professionals admit that they still have a lot to learn at no-limit hold'em. However, don't let this scare you; no-limit hold'em is, in my opinion, the most fun of all poker games as well. It can also be profitable, sometimes even for beginners.
After playing no-limit extensively, I've noticed that the keys to winning no-limit are one's knowledge of the game and his ability to adapt to his opponents' knowledge. You must know what your skills are at no-limit and what stages of the game you have mastered. Once you realize how good you are at no-limit, you must then apply this to how others at your table play no-limit badly.
For the sake of simplicity, I am going to divide the skills of no-limit into several stages. After mastering each of these stages, one can expect his or her profit potential at no-limit hold'em to increase.
Pot odds
You must understand what odds you are getting if you call a bet with a draw. Since you can decide the size of the bet (it's not fixed), you should know if you are getting or giving good odds to someone.

Poker Strategy Cash No Limit

For example, calling an unraised pot preflop with 5 5 is good odds. If you hit a set, you can expect to make a lot of money (people will not expect it, so they will call with top pair). However, let's say you have a flush draw after the turn. The pot is $10 and someone bets $20 all-in, you are getting horrible odds. You have roughly a 1 in 5 shot of hitting on the river, and you would be betting $20 to win $50.
As basic as this may be, many no-limit players have not even mastered this stage! So, if you are still insecure about pot odds, don't worry. Many others are too, and often they don't even realize it.
Knowing the differences between Limit and No-Limit
Attempting to check-raising for value is far less valuable when playing a no-limit game than a limit one because you may be giving your opponent's a deadly free card. In limit poker, if you have the second-best hand, you will lose a little bit. In no-limit, you could lose your entire stack!
Aggression
Betting is generally preferable to calling in a no-limit game. When you bet, you can win if you have the better hand or if your opponent folds. If you call, you can only win if you have your opponent beaten. If you bet, you determine the bet size. You determine the pot odds. If you call, you are accepting someone else's odds.
If you bet, you force people to pay off when you have a good hand. If you are a caller, you have to hope someone else will willingly pay you off. The importance of aggression is why tight-passive players can win a lot more at limit than no-limit.
Quick Adjustment
Different types of games require different amounts of aggression. Games with fewer players require one to be looser and more aggressive. However, if you're up against many loose opponents, you must tighten up and wait until you have a strong hand. Generally, the opposite of what the game is does well. If the game is very loose, tighten up. If the game is very tight, take advantage and steal pots.
You also must adjust to your opponent's quality. If you are up against weak players, simply giving them bad pot odds and taking money from them bit by bit works well. If you are against better players, you must set some traps.
Reading skills
Getting an idea of your opponent's cards is very important. This takes time and experience. However, a way to improve your reading skills is what I call the 'three question technique.' Always ask yourself these three questions when someone makes or calls a bet:
• What does my opponent have?
• What does my opponent think I have?
• What does my opponent think I think he has?
Psychology and Traps

Live No Limit Holdem Strategy

When you hold the nuts and your opponent also has a good hand, what's the best way to get all of his chips? Learning to get out of and set traps is very difficult and only experience will help in this department.
Fundamentally, game psychology and traps are used to manipulate the three questions mentioned earlier. For example, if you overbet the pot with a flush draw and then check when you hold the flush, either your opponent will fall for the trap, thinking you had top pair, or he will recognize the trap and check-fold to you on river. This slowplay is used to manipulate the variable: what does he think I have?
Generally, this sort of game psychology is only used on good players (players that have mastered the first four steps). Against weaker players, you should just build a good hand and extract money out of them bit by bit. Weaker players just play their hand; they don't think about what you have.

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Check Raise

10nl 6 max - AQo on the Button

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