The 21st century poker boom is driven by poker tournaments. Watching no-limit Texas holdem poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker on television has inspired a generation to direct their computers to online poker websites and to show up at cardrooms everywhere. All poker tournaments are not created equal, however. There are a variety of different types of poker tournaments, with varying buy-ins, structures, and formats.

If you’re new to the  poker  tournament scene, you may be surprised to learn that not all Texas holdem tournaments have a no-limit structure. There are also limit Texas holdem tournaments. To make an informed decision, read on about the distinctions between the two types of tournaments.

In a limit tournament, just as in limit holdem cash  poker games , the amount you can bet on each street is fixed. Unlike a cash game, the amount of the fixed bets rises each level, according to the blinds. For example, if the blinds are 25/50, you will be able to bet 50 (the size of the big blind) before and on the flop, and 100 on the turn and river. When the blinds go up to 50/100, you will be able to bet (and raise) 100 pre-flop and on the flop, and 200 on the turn and river. In contrast, in a no-limit tournament, you could bet as much as you wanted on the flop, providing your bet is at least the size of the big blind.

What does this mean? It means that in a limit holdem poker tournament, it is very difficult to bluff in the early rounds, as you cannot put anyone’s tournament life at risk. It also means you may get a lot of loose calls, since opponents will be more inclined to call you than in a no-limit tournament, where players will be afraid of getting tied to the hand for lots of chips. For this reason, you should be more focused on value betting, getting calls when you have the best hand.

Although you will rarely be put to a decision for all your chips early in a limit holdem tournament, in the late rounds you will often suddenly find yourself in just such a situation. Because the size of the bets, and hence, the pots they create, are fixed, the blinds in a limit tournament tend to rise much faster than the size of the stacks. Once you reach the middle rounds of a limit holdem tournament, the five or six bets that seeing a pot to the river will require may well eclipse your stack. In this way, the middle rounds of a limit tournament do resemble a no-limit tournament, as many players will suddenly find themselves moving all-in.

In both limit and no-limit  Texas holdem  tournaments, you must be aware of the size of the rising blinds, and act accordingly. Be aware that even in a limit tournament, you are likely to be put to decisions for all your chips by the middle rounds, and you must consider this before you commit a single poker chip to a pot at this stage.

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