No-Limit Texas Hold'em: A Complete Course

By Angel Largay

Thousands have paid big bucks to learn winning poker strategies from Angel Largay — one of the world’s most consistent winners in maximum buy-in no-limit games. Now, Largay offers a wider audience his poker teaching expertise in No-Limit Texas Hold’em.

Although millions play, only a few have the skill to cash in on the explosion fueled by maximum buy-in no-limit games. Whether you’re a novice or a veteran, an online player, casino regular, or home game specialist, Largay’s progressive teaching method takes you step-by-step through the intricacies of the game.

Largay shows students what works and what doesn’t, common mistakes, and how to get beyond them. Today, many of his students are full-time professional players. If you’re aspiring to become a professional — or simply to play like one — No-Limit Texas Hold’em will help you make it happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781554902750

Book preview

NO-LIMIT Texas Hold’em

NO-LIMIT Texas Hold’em

A COMPLETE COURSE

ANGEL LARGAY

Copyright © Angel Largay, 2006

Published by ECW PRESS

2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW PRESS.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Largay, Angel

No-limit Texas hold’em : a complete course / Angel Largay.

Includes index.

ISBN1-55022-742-4

1. Poker. i. Title.

GV1251.l37 2006 795.412 C2006-903596-2

Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan

Production: Mary Bowness

Printing: Webcom

This book is set in Garamond and Franklin Gothic

5432

DISTRIBUTION

CANADA: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Ave., Georgetown, ON l7g 5s4 UNITED STATES: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL60610

PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Low-Limit No-Limit Game

The Low-Limit No-Limit Differences

Structural Difference

Nonstructural Differences

Chapter 1: Basics and Review

Reading the Board

Quiz 1: Reading the Board

Recognizing Draws

Flush Draws

Straight Draws

Other Draws

Quiz 2: Finding Draws

Outs

Quiz 3: Finding Outs

Raise, Call, or Fold?

What If They’re Bluffing?

The Object of Low-Limit No-Limit

Choosing the Right Game

Qualities to Look for in a Game

The Game Selection Gap Concept

Chapter 2: Mathematics

Card Odds

Quiz 4: Card Odds

Pot Odds

Quiz 5: Pot Odds

Combining Card Odds and Pot Odds

Quiz 6: Combining Card Odds and Pot Odds

Implied Odds

Quiz 7: Implied Odds

Reverse Implied Odds

Quiz 8: Reverse Implied Odds

Expectation

Quiz 9: Expectation

Pot Equity

Quiz 10: Pot Equity

Chapter 3: Meet the People

The Four Basic Player Types

Adjusting to Player Types

The Loose-Aggressive Player

The Loose-Passive Player

The Tight-Passive Player

The Tight-Aggressive Player

Final Thoughts

Chapter 4: RIF: Reading Is Fun

Reading the Players

Reading the Cards

Quiz 11: Reading the Cards

Chapter 5: Pre-Flop

General Pre-Flop Guidelines by Game Type

Pre-Flop Strategy

Hand Strength Criteria

Playing Big Pairs Pre-Flop

Playing Other Pairs

Playing AK and AKs Pre-Flop

The Suited Connectors

Trouble Hands

Size Counts

Chapter 6: Post-Flop: Who Is More Likely to Go Broke?

The 12 Mistakes

Parlaying Decisions: When to Get the Money In

When the Situation Is Close

Building a Stack

Small Bet Poker

Flopping a Draw

Types of Draws

When You’re Both on a Draw

When an Overcard Comes

Coordinated Boards and an Overpair

JT on the Flop

Beware the Blinds

The Double-Paired Board

Avoiding Situations in Which You Are Drawing Dead

Nuts with a Free-Roll

Follow-Through Is Critical

Minimizing Risk against a Calling Station

The Semi-Bluff

When to Slow-Play

When to Give a Free Card

The Check-Raise

Playing against a Short Stack

Playing against a Big Stack

Playing a Small Stack

Playing a Big Stack

Short-Handed Play

Chapter 7: Four-Way Examples

Example1

Example2

Example3

Glossary

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Dedicated to my greatest teachers:

My father for teaching me what it is to be loved, and Na’Le’Na for teaching me what it is to love.

Acknowledgements

When I started this project I had no idea how much went into writing a book, nor how many people would ultimately be involved in it reaching fruition. Thanks to all of you, specifically:

Thanks to my friend Jim Sherwood, without whose nagging it may never have reached completion. That, of course, is in jest. In truth, this book may have never gotten past the some day stages without his help. Between editing, allowing me to use him as a guinea pig for explanations, encouragement, general sounding board, buying lunch that one day after he found out I just ate, accepting my teasing as well as simply being a friend, he has been invaluable.

To all my students who have come through my classes in the past year, your questions and support have taught me more than I would have thought possible when I began. To my teachers at the table over the past 20 years who pummeled me and my bankroll until I got it, there have been many more than I could ever begin to name but amongst those who stand out from my early poker days in Alaska:

Charlie cj Jerling, who taught me tenacity.

Black Dave, who taught me aggression.

Dave Templeton, who taught me position.

Jimmy Mickey Knix, who taught me that it’s all a ’P’ thing.

Perry Green, who taught me that kindness does not mean weakness — at the table or away.

And Stan Goldstein from California, for the one line that changed my game forever.

To the authors and poker educators who came before me and helped me on my way:

Doyle Brunson: SuperSystem changed the face of poker books and began the trend of producing poker educational materials that actually taught. David Sklansky: There isn’t a professional poker player alive who doesn’t owe David Sklansky for improving the quality of their game. Even those who have not actively learned from him through his books have learned passively from him through playing against others at the table who have. Mike Caro: For his many years of effort maintaining and improving the integrity of the game as well as his groundbreaking work on the people aspect of the game. To Alan Dr. Al Schoonmaker for his encouragement and to John Vorhaus for his instant responses to my e-mail questions on the whole process.

To Suzanne Searby for her superhuman effort to edit the entire manuscript in record time so I could hear from the publisher what an incredibly clean copy it was. To my publisher, Jack David, for being so supportive, helpful and for having a great sense of humor.

To Larry Stephens and Chris Salum for the many poker discussions which helped me clarify my thoughts on a wide variety of topics covered in this book. To Renee Wexler who gave the manuscript its first reading and feedback. To Dennis Batman Fleig for ’getting it’ before he ever read it and just because I promised. Thanks to Rick Gadziola, Rob Kelepouris and Brian Petersen for previewing the manuscript and all their suggestions and fixes.

Finally, to Shirley Morrill, whose cherished memory kept me company for many evenings as I completed this book.

Introduction

I want to share an article with you I wrote a while back:

About a year ago, I was the subject of an interview that has never been published; I can only imagine that my answers were not quite what the interviewer had in mind, and so it was scrapped. I’m fairly confident that I know the fatal answer. I was asked, To what do you attribute your poker talent? My response? I laughed. Then I chuckled. I think there was a guffaw thrown in there somewhere too, but I can’t really be sure as I’m a little fuzzy on the difference between a guffaw and a chortle. They frowned. This was not the response they were hoping for. Finally I collected myself and informed them that, as far as I knew, I had no extraordinary poker talent whatsoever.

Aren’t you glad you’re reading this article now? I mean, here’s a guy with no poker talent whatsoever who’s going to be bringing his ideas about poker to you. What makes me think I can deliver anything worth reading? Good question, and for the answer let’s pick up where we left off in the interview process. . . .

Angel, you’ve made a living playing cash games for over 10 years; how can you say you have no talent?

You want talent, I told them, there are some incredibly talented players in the pit right now blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars of poker winnings on craps and roulette. Some are at the bar. Quite a few are in the sports book making ridiculously large wagers trying to somehow, miraculously, fade the juice. Go talk to them if you want talent.

They frowned again. So what do you attribute your success to over the past 10 or 15 years?

I told them it was a secret. They were not amused. I was amused though, and that’s what really counts, so I got busy chuckling and then filled them in on the secret that they found unfit to print — and now I’ll fill you in, assuming that my publisher decides to print this.

I wanted it bad. I wanted it really bad. Wanting it really bad wasn’t enough in and of itself; I was also willing to do what it took to get there. So I worked hard. I worked really hard. My first year as a pro — if that’s what you want to call it — I earned $900 for the year. Seems almost criminal to call that pro, doesn’t it? I rented a trailer for $35 a month on a farm a few miles away from the card room and drove a beat-up Escort back and forth every day. I had no electricity, no running water — though there was a cinder block enclosure with a garden hose hanging over the top and connected with the remnants of a clothes hanger where I used to take my showers: outside, regardless of the weather, 365 days a year. I’d take my car battery out every day and bring it in to the trailer so that I could run a 60-watt light off it, then break out the cards and shuffle and deal over and over again — recording the results in notebook after notebook till I passed out in mid-shuffle hours later. I ate nothing but comped casino food for a year trying to make it at $3/$6. After expenses that first year, my $1,000 bankroll had climbed to a paltry $1,060, but I had made it. It was a beginning.

There are thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of players out there who have more than enough talent to play poker professionally, but they don’t want it bad enough. Poker rooms are filled with people these days who have flocked to the tables, their preparation consisting of nothing more than having watched three episodes of the World Poker Tour on television and having bought a really cool pair of sunglasses. They come to the poker tables totally unprepared to do battle, and they are usually soon separated from their bankrolls. They had the same vision I did many years ago — quit your day job and play poker for a living — but they weren’t prepared to make the sacrifices necessary. You aren’t going to get a job in the real world making six figures without great deals of effort, education, and drive, and you aren’t going to do it at the poker tables either.

Does that mean you’re going to have to struggle the way I did if you aspire to become a professional? Unlikely. There are resources today that simply weren’t available to me. There are books, software, and classes available today that simply weren’t there back when. Certainly not everyone is harboring a dream to become a professional poker player; millions of people play poker for the pure fun of it, and to those millions — thank you kindly, and please keep playing recreationally. There are, however, a growing number of people who have The Dream. If you’re one of them, you’re probably asking yourself if you have what it takes. For what it’s worth, I’m here to tell you that, if you want it bad enough and are willing to expend the effort to get there, then you do.

Three months into this trial, I decided that $3/$6 limit poker wasn’t going to sustain me no matter how good I got at it, but I was determined to finish the year and turn a profit. When the year ended, so did my first foray into professional poker. I had found my calling; there was no longer any doubt what I wanted to be when I grew up. I decided that, if I was going to make it, I would have to play in a bigger game, and to do that I would need a bigger bankroll. That meant going back to work. I was in California at the time and discovered that there were more than a couple of private games back home in Alaska. Funny that I had to go to California to find out where to play back home, but the plan started taking shape. I would go home, get a job, and play poker on the side. I’d build my bankroll until I could quit my job and play full time. How long could it take?

I arrived back in Alaska, plan in hand, and promptly got a job driving a taxi. I checked out some of the games in town and discovered that, though some limit poker did exist, it was a pot-limit kind of town. No problem; how much different could it be? I drove my cab 12 hours a day and then headed over to the poker game with my daily bread. The only positive thing I can say about those days is that I got plenty of sleep. I was usually broke and home in bed in no time. This wasn’t working.

Shortly thereafter, I got offered a job dealing poker at one of the games. The pay was fantastic: $20/hour and tips, which figured to be about $60/hour. Now, $80/hour should have built a bankroll quickly, but there was a catch. The nature of the game was that a dealer dealt for an hour and then, if there was a seat open, had to play for an hour — with his own money. I was losing more than I was winning at first, but I came to think of it as on-the-job training. It was a long journeymanship; my training lasted five years.

Once upon a time, Alaska had the best games in the world. Folks who aren’t quite qualified to work at a convenience store today were bringing home thousands of dollars a week then due to the pipeline. As the oil money began to dry up and the oil companies started to cut back, there was less and less dead money in the games. I showed up just as the change began and over the next five years found myself, unbeknownst to me, facing tougher and tougher competition. Although I was winning consistently by this time, the amount I was winning was actually quite frustrating. Despite an incredible amount of studying and effort, I was not making anywhere near the money I had expected and was losing hope. Then I decided to take a short weekend trip to Vegas.

I was pretty nervous sitting down to play poker in Vegas for the first time. I told them right off I was from Alaska and immediately regretted it. These guys were waiting for someone like me, some tourist who was going to be easy pickings. Then an odd thing happened. I won. Then another odd thing happened. I started noticing that they were making mistakes. I decided that this tough Vegas crowd was setting me up and was going to move in for the kill at any moment. I destroyed the game on Saturday, making $1,700 in a $10/$20 limit game. I came back on Sunday and reminded them that I was going home the next day. I was curious to see if their play would change. It didn’t, and I picked up another $1,200. I flew back to Alaska and stopped at the travel agent to book another trip two weeks from then before I even got home.

My next trip was nearly as profitable as the first. A few of the locals remembered me and didn’t give me nearly as much action this time around. I played with a couple of local pros who seemed to be talking to me on almost an egalitarian level. Eventually they got around to asking me if I knew or had ever played with certain players they knew were from Alaska. I responded a bit too matter of factly that I did and that I played with them regularly. Do you have any idea how good so and so is, they asked? I didn’t, but I was starting to get the idea that I might be better than I’d thought.

I spent the next few years playing in Alaska, with frequent trips to California and Las Vegas. As the games in Alaska became less frequent, I decided that it was time to take the plunge and moved to Los Angeles, where the best poker action in the world lives. There I settled in to a $40/$80 limit game and found that at this level the skills I’d picked up playing pot-limit weren’t carrying over quite as well as they were in the $10/$20 and $20/$40 games. I was still winning, but I would have to go back to school.

I was fortunate at this point to be playing with a couple of the best limit hold’em players in the world and learned quite a bit from them as they generously beat my brains in day after day. Also fortunate was that California has some of the biggest whales in existence, and they allowed me to keep my head above water during the early days of my return to full-time limit poker. I did a lot of traveling during the next few years, playing poker as I went. New Orleans, Biloxi, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, and more, the games being more or less the same wherever I ended up. I eventually headed back to Los Angeles and southern California, where I comfortably and quietly beat the games for years — till a fateful trip to Las Vegas.

While in Vegas to help a friend out for a couple of weeks, I was approached about the prospect of opening a poker school. Seems they asked around, and my name came up. The folks wanted to know if I’d be interested in developing a curriculum and teaching hold’em. Sounded like fun. What it didn’t sound like and should have was work. What followed was the busiest and most hectic year and a half of my life. I developed almost 1,000 pages of curriculum and about 150 hours of classroom instruction. In a nine-month period, I had about 1,000 students, from three countries and dozens of states, come through my classes, and I didn’t have a day off for the entire nine months. While it was an incredible amount of work, it was fun, and from that experience came this book as well as the material for two future books, which will be coming to you soon.

The Low-Limit No-Limit Game

While the proliferation of new poker books has been unprecedented in the past couple of years, the poker canon fails to address the actual game that is fueling the poker explosion. This game is low-limit no-limit (LLNL), and it refers to a very special form of no-limit in which there is a maximum amount that you can buy-in. Casinos typically refer to this game as no-limit, but in fact it is a very special form that can’t be successfully addressed in the same way as a traditional no-limit game. The game plays so much differently than traditional no-limit that you might do well to consider it a unique structure.

One reason there is so little material written on this particular form of poker despite its explosive popularity is that few professionals have taken to the game. The reason is twofold.

1. The game simply appears too small, and frankly the egos of many expert players demand that they play in a larger game. I know you have watched poker on television and find it hard to believe that some profes sional poker players have oversized egos, but you’ll have to trust me on this one.

2. Those experts who have decided to give this game a shot have discovered that their expert no-limit skills are not completely portable to a LLNL. Many expert players come to a LLNL table armed with their regular no-limit skills and, making no adjustments, walk away disillusioned.

Let’s look at the size of the game first. Many of the games we will be addressing have buy-ins that range from as little as $40 to a maximum of $100 or even less¹ — they often have the same amount of chips on the table as you might find in a typical $2/$4 limit game. In fact, I have often observed players signing up for a seat putting themselves on both the $2/$4 limit and the $1/$2 no-limit lists simultaneously. Just as Lee Jones’s book Winning Low Limit Hold’em recognized the need for a book that addressed the specific strategies necessary to beat the no fold’em hold’em games, there are specific strategies for beating a no-limit game played by the same players.

Yet the appearance of this as a small game is very deceptive. What could an expert player expect to win in a $2/$4 game? Typically expectation in a limit game is referred to by the number of

Reviews for No-Limit Texas Hold'em

[Brian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A comprehensive book aimed towards intermediate level players looking to improve specifically there Low Limit No Limit Hold'em game. Highly recommended.