Almost 3 years ago, in the June 29, 1990 Card Player, I wrote an article entitled “The Most Skillful Form of Poker” , wherein I concluded that the most skillful form of poker would be “some hybrid of no-limit and limit (but generally slanted toward no-limit)”. After much discussion, I went on to describe such a hybrid form of hold’em or Omaha, known as “Cavern Rules”, which combines limit betting before the flop (limit is two or three times big blind), pot-limit after the flop, and no-limit after the last two rounds.

In the March 26, 1993 Card Player, Bob Ciaffone astutely stated, “In the years to come, poker must improve by offering new betting structures. These should incorporate the good points of both pot-limit and limit play into a good blend. A couple of examples would be to use limit play before the flop and pot-limit afterward, …”. Clearly we are thinking along the same lines.

Every poker theorist that I know agrees that the skill level in no-limit poker would be greatly increased by eliminating going all-in before the flop, thus transferring the more skillful big decisions to after the flop. Too many no-limit tournaments degenerate to before-the-flop “popping” contests, which may require some amount of “poker skill”, but the large luck factor tends to equate the brazen with the more knowledgeable players. If you disagree, then you probably like holding ace-king suited when someone sticks their stack in your face.

The reason I like pot-limit after the flop is that it allows some degree of hand protection, yet provides an intermediate step that delays the really big action until the next round(s). One of the reasons that I like progressing to no-limit after the fourth card, especially in Omaha, is that it allows you to “pop” (go all-in) with the nuts without having to worry about facing a big bet after a non-brick last card, thereby depriving the (unworthy) outdrawer of further remuneration.

So why doesn’t some forward looking tournament promoter give these rules a try? Such a tournament would clearly be a reasonable alternative to a no-limit tournament.