Recently a limit play said he couldn't play NL because he didn't get bet sizing. But bet sizing is Not as hard as you think. Bet sizing is not the "important" skill. Hand reading is.

Basic guide for transitioning to NL:

Preflop: open for 2.5 times the BB. If raising after others have limped in the pot, raise to 2/3rds the pot. If 3 betting, Raise 2.5 times the bet you are raising.

Flop, turn, river: bet 1/2 to 2/3rds the pot. If raising, Raise 2.5 times the bet you are raising, OR make it 2/3rds the pot, whichever is greater.


As a practical example, in a 1/2 blind game, we have a PF bet of 6, three handed to the flop, and the bet is 12, HU to the turn where the bet is 30, and on the river 70.

Other:

• Position is more important.
• Implied odds are more important than pot odds, particularly when stacks are deep.
• Controlling the pot and pot size is more important than bare aggression.
• Deception is substantially more important, as deception improves implied odds - but this means that you need to have a balanced range and not be too polarized, more than trying to be too "fancy".
• individual player profiles are critically more important in NL, as is the specific image you are projecting at any given point in time.

The two biggest problems I see limit players think/do is:

1) Overplay hands and make the pot too big for the hand they actually have. It's still important to make thin value bets, but a "thin" value bet in NL is not nearly "as thin" as in limit. For instance, thin is betting the second nut straight, or non-nut flush on the river in multiway pots after a big turn bet was called - Which leads us to:

2) Mis-interpreting big river bets. In limit it is rarely correct to fold for one big bet on the river with a reasonable holding, especially HU. In NL, it is rarely correct to call a big river bet (I.e. a 2/3rd pot bet or larger) unless you are fairly convinced that your relative hand strength is best.

When facing a large river bet, it is important to consider that bet within the entire context of all action in the hand up to that point, and evaluate if the story the bettor is telling makes credible sense. If the story seems to have plot holes, then you may have to call lighter and bluff catch - but you can't be calling river bets regularly just "cuz you might be good".

At the same time, you can't be folding all your medium strength hands just "cuz you might be beat". There are times when a strong river bet is pure air - picking those off is a very profitable play when your read is correct.


As such, hand reading is by far the single most important skill in NL. It is also the hardest to acquire, since deception is used more often.


The importance of the river bet interpretation, points to the importance of turn action per #1 above - in NL, you can check the turn for value with a lot of hands. While in limit you never check the turn with any decent holding, you always bet the turn for value. (I don't think you could even use the terms "value check" and "bluff check" in limit, while the value check is an important concept in NL).


Cliffs notes:

When moving from limit to no limit, it's convenient to think of it (initially) as a limit game, where each street has a bigger bet. I.e. instead of 4/4/8/8 limit, think of it as 4/8/16/32 limit.