Friday, December 23, 2005
The Types of Texas Holdem
There are 3 types Texas Holdem poker that you can play:
1. Money/Standard - In these games you are playing with real money and can sit in or leave the table at anytime. It is important to note that the blinds are fixed. There are in fact four types of standard games:
- No Limit, NL - This refers to a table that has no limit to how much you can bet, You may bet all your chips at anytime, which is called all in. Note that there are usually maximum amounts of cash that you can bring onto a table though. This is to stop showoffs/stupid players etc... bringing for example $1,000 onto a $0.01/$0.02 table.
- Pot Limit, PL - This refers to when there is a set maximum amount that a player can bet, which is the equivilance of the pot. This means that at the maximum bets at the beginning are small but increase as the game progresses.
- Set Limit, SL - A set maximum bet throughout the game.
- Limit - The betting is very restricted.
2. Single Table Tournaments (STT) - STTs have a buy-in fee which determines the size of the prizes at the end. There are usually 6, 9 or 10 players at a table therefore the prize pool will be equal to the buy-in fee multiplied by the number of players.
Unlike standard games, in STT every player is given a set number of chips. The game carries on until only one player is left, i.e. it is a knockout game. The pot is then distributed between either the top 3 places or the winner gets all - check the tournament details to find out which it is.
Another fundamental difference between standard games of poker and STT is the fact that the blinds increase every x minutes. This is to ensure that players are eliminated as the game progresses.
3. Multi Table Tournaments (MTT) - MTT is the same as STT but with multiple tables. This means that there is a larger prize pool and therefore can yield much more cash than you invested in the first place. There can be over 100 players in these types of games and therefore it takes a very long time. Don't worry though as there are usually toilet/drink breaks every
hour.
