While no-limit hold'em has long been the tournament game of choice both for online players and in bricks-andmortar establishments, fixed-limit games still refuse to die out. In fact, they’re gaining in popularity. Fixed-limit hold’em tournaments differ from no-limit events in somewhat the same way as fixed-limit and no-limit cash games are different, but not exactly. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Fixed-limit tourneys move more slowly because your entire stack won’t be at risk until you’re short-stacked, or until the blinds have escalated and almost everyone has fewer chips than they would like. Some experts suggest that you can play more aggressively in fixed-limit games precisely because your losses are limited and you cannot be eliminated on any single hand unless you find yourself with few chips, facing large blinds and antes, or both.