Limit Cashgame Strategy

This is a short Strategy Guide to Limit Texas Hold'em Cash Games. If you follow these guidelines in the lower stake games, you will not lose money in the long run! We tested this strategy for approximately 1 hour a day over a period of 2 months on Pokerroom.com and even made a small profit.
In our experience, if you play 3 tables at the same time at the 0.25 / 0.50$ Level your average profit will be about 5$ per hour. Sure, you will not be able to make a living this way, but for beginners this is a wonderful opportunity to play many hands of Limit Hold'em without losing a lot of money. Watch what the big winners and losers are doing at your tables and your game will improve! In Poker the following rule always applies: The more experience (played hands), the better! We suggest you start using this strategy at Pokerroom.com at Limits of 0.15 / 0.30 $, or try it at Everest Poker - known for it's large selection of tables with low limits - with Limits of 0.05 / 0.10 $ or 0.10 / 0.20 $.

In the following article we are talking about phases of a hand. We use the following terms:

Preflop Strategy: The betting before the Flop (first 3 community cards)
Flop Strategy: The betting after the Flop (first 3 community cards)
Turn Strategy: The betting after the Turn Card (4th community card)
River Strategy: The betting after the River Card (5th and last community card)

The following assumptions apply:
- We are playing at a Texas Hold'em Limit Cash Game!
- There are no less than 8 Players at the table
- The Blinds are not higher than 0.50 / 1.00 $
If you really want to improve your Limit Cash Game abilities and start playing slightly higher limits, we recommend you reading Hold'em Poker von David Sklansky and only start playing the higher limits, when you really have understood it's contents.

The Pocket Cards (Hole Cards) are described in the following way:
AA = A Pair of Aces
QJ = A Queen and a Jack of different suits
T9s = A Ten and a Nine of the same suit.

Preflop Strategy

Raise as often as possible:
AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AK

Raise only once, and then just call if you are reraised:
AQs, AQ, AJs, JJ, TT

Call with the following hands, if only one player raised before you, otherwise fold:
ATs, AT, KQs, KQ, KJs, QJs, 99, 88, 77

Call with the following hands only, if only one player raised before you and no more than 3 players are still to act behind you:
KJ, KTs, QJ, QTs, JTs
If two players raise behind you, then fold. If only one player reraises after you, then call.

Call with the following hands, if no one raised before you and you are not sitting in one of the first 4 seats (meaning there are no more than 5 players after you to act):
66, 55, 44, 33, 22
Fold, if two people raise behind you. If only one player raises after you, you call.

Fold all other hands!

Flop Strategy

Depending on the Flop you will be confronted with one of the following situations:

1) You can beat Top Pair. Example: On the board lies J-7-3, your hole cards are KK, thus you can beat Top Pair. If your hole cards are 77, you also can beat Top Pair! Also with 7-3 you'd beat top pair because you hit two pair. With 7-3 you should only see the flop if you had to post the Big Blind and no one raised before the flop!

2) You have Top Pair. Example: The Flop is J-7-3 and you have QJ.

3) You have an Open Ended Straight Draw (OESD). This means, that you need one card to complete your Straight and you have two possibilities to do so (meaning you have 8 outs). Example Flop J-T-4. Your hole cards are KQ. Like this you can complete the Straight with any Ace or Nine on the Turn (or the River).

4) You have a Flush Draw. This means, you have 4 Cards of the same suit.

In Case 1) Raise as often as you can!

In Case 2) Raise once. If there was a raise before you, you can reraise. If there was a raise and a reraise before you, call only if you have Top Kicker. If you raise and someone else reraises, you have to be careful. Depending on your opponent, a fold might even be correct.

In case of 3 and 4) If someone raised, just call. If you raised preflop, raise once if no one raised in front of you. otherwise: Check

If none of the four Cases applies, then check. If someone raised, fold.

Turn Strategy

1) 2) 3) and 4) still apply to the four situations described in the "Flop Strategy" part of this article.

1) Raise as often as you can.

2) Raise once. If there is a raise and a reraise before you, you should fold. If you know your opponents well, and the table is very 'loose' you may think about making a call.s

Situations 3) and 4) Use the same tactics as described on the Flop.

All other situations: check or fold.

River Strategy

1) Raise once or call all raises made before you.

2) Look at the situation on the turn. If you were the last player to raise on the Turn, then you should raise again. otherwise just Check or Call if someone bets. If there are two raises in front of you, it is usually correct to fold.

With a Three-of-a-Kind you should make as many bets as possible, except if there are obvious Straight of Flush possibilities. Then you should check or call a raise.

If you can beat a Three-of-a-Kind, then raise as much as possible.