NL vs Limit: Which suits me better?

[iloveny161]

Hi guys,
I've been mostly an 9/45/180-man SNG player for the past few years. However, I'm looking into getting into cash games. I am unsure whether to focus more on NL or limit, but I was hoping you guys could help me a bit with my decision. I'd really appreciate it!

Anyways, I think learning limit may be a better idea for me because I heard that people who like math more are more suited for Limit holdem, although I'm not sure if this is true. Would you guys agree with this assertion? Anyways, if any more info is need, please feel free to ask. I have never played Limit before, as the SNGs have all been NL holdem, so learning from scratch could be a bad idea.

[Alobar]

play NL, way more games to choose from and its much more profitable.

[sg23]

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play NL, way more games to choose from and its much more profitable.

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I'd have to agree, I made the switch from limit to NL about a month or so ago and it's not only more profitable so far, but way less stress. For some reason getting your money in with the best of it and losing is waaaaaaay less stressful in NL than limit. NL uses math, too, and you're going to be more used to varying bet sizes etc. If you're already playing NL SNGs, why not just set aside a few buyins at a comfortably low limit and see how you like it?

[LukeSLTS]

I am primarily a limit player and I think you are better off learning no limit. Based on winrates of successful players NL provides a much higher potential return for any given bank roll. Keeping a bankroll of 300BBs in limit and generating 1.5BB/100 hands is unexciting at lower limits and there will be times when you trend downward hard for a sustained period (greater than 10K hands). When I do dabble in the NL world I find that the players there seem to be far less skilled than on a comparable limit table.

[Alobar]

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For some reason getting your money in with the best of it and losing is waaaaaaay less stressful in NL than limit.

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totally agree. I just cant see myself smashing a keyboard or going on life tilt from NL beats. Its just so much less painful. Its usually villain just makeing one horrible mistake. Where as in limit when he caps every street as a huge dog on his way to the runner gutshot gutshot straight it makes me want to kick a puppy.

[iloveny161]

Alright, thanks guys. I really appreciate the responses. I actually had two grinding sessions at NL50 the last two days, and both turned out pretty well. Definitely a lot of fish at those levels. I've been playing full ring though, so it has required a lot less thinking, but I am able to play 6 tables, whereas at 6max, I'd probably be able to play only 4 or so. Again, thanks for the advice! =)

[ckj]

I wouldn't completely toss limit out of the window. The more forms of poker you understand/are good at, the better overall you are at the games you play. Playing NL has definitely helped my limit game and vice versa. From a pure profitability standpoint, NL is definitely the money maker, but I think learning limit will boost your winrate in any game you decide to play.

[6471849653]

Limit is more profitable; nl is just moving cents around, there not being much play in it. There is no stress at limit but a lot of it at nl, it being constant stress. The stress of losing one pot at nl is huge, but there are no big pots at limit and they come all the time, reducing the fluctuations to basically nothing. Nl fits better to math people as they make less blunders; if one blunders less one makes a living playing nl but not at limit that's about subtle understanding of the whole picture that makes it possible to make subtle value bets; math people do not see the forest from the trees that subtly as they are trees oriented, and nl is a less subtle game, something one can think, something math people are good at, e.g. sit & goes are very popular among math people but are hardly ever played by limit holdem experts.

[Ulkis]

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Limit is more profitable; nl is just moving cents around, there not being much play in it. There is no stress at limit but a lot of it at nl, it being constant stress.

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I don't agree much with this statement, only with there not being as much play at NL.
I've found NL MUCH more profitable than LHE. I also find that the grinding element is very stressful in LHE, and the constant drive to utilize small equity edges and producing constant profit & loss flow is stressful too.

I feel that in NL I am not forced to act, I can wait for the right cards for the right position.

[Phytopath]

I played limit mainly for the 1st two years of my poker life and wow did it suck, making 1.5-2bb/100 with 20K hand losing stretches made me pull my hair out. The only real money I made with with RB and bonuses which more or less died for me when neteller pulled out of the Canadian market.

I switched to NL a little over a year ago with much, much better success with a high winrate the longer/even stretches are not nearly as long. There are more games going and with alot of bad players. The only downside is that most of the good players have quit limit in favor of NL now the limit games seem better than they have been in a long time, so I go back and dabble here and there in the games.