Short-handed no limit hold’em poker is considered by many players to be a dream come true. They get lots of action and can concentrate on beating just a few players, rather than having to focus on a full eight or nine opponents. A type of short-handed no limit Texas hold’em that can be extremely lucrative but also very dangerous is the unrestricted buy-in game.

An unrestricted buy-in game means that you can buy-in for as much money as you want. The level of the game is determined by the size of the blinds. You can play an unrestricted buy-in game with blinds of $1/$2 or with blinds of $10/$20, and sit down with the same $1000 in either game, if you so choose. These types of games are easy to find at most online poker sites, in both full ring game form and short-handed. These are two very different types of games though, with different strategies to keep in mind.

Play Lots of Hands...

In any short-handed no limit hold’em game, you want to play a lot more hands than you would in a full ring game, due to the fact that your good hands are more likely to be the best, since you are up against fewer opponents and fewer cards that can beat you. This “playing many hands” poker strategy is even more true in an unrestricted buy-in game, since any hand can double your whole stack, or at least result in a very large increase in said stack. Although it can be a scary proposition, you should be more willing to get involved in hands against the deeper stacks, since a short stacked opponent may not yield you the profit you need if you get lucky with an unusual hand.

…But Stay Out of Trouble

The other side of this is that you must tread very carefully and avoid getting too involved with “trouble hands.” Your opponents can and will be looking to relieve you of your stack just as often as you will be trying to do that to them, and the best way they can do that is if you over commit. Trouble hands in Texas Holdem like AQ or AJ have the potential to get you broke when an ace flops if you are not careful. If you did not raise before the flop, a short-handed specialist who snuck in with 8 5 suited may break you on a flop of A 8 5, and even if you did raise, anyone with, say an AK or even an A5 will very often be happy to play against you. Similarly, if you sneaked in with the 8c 5c and the flop comes Tc 7c 8s, you may be tempted to take this hand further than its strength merits, which could prove disastrous.

Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gunfight

If you’re playing in an unrestricted buy-in game, you’ve got to be well armed with a sufficient bankroll. If the blinds are $1/$2, a roll of $200 or so may be okay to start with, but you’d better have a few more of those buy-ins in reserve. Players with $1000 or more in their stack may have a lot of gamble in them, which can be great for you, but only if you have enough money to weather the swings until the poker odds catch up with them.