NLHE Tournaments

I played a couple of no-limit tournaments yesterday, aiming to get back a feel for playing no-limit, which is such a different game to limit. There are far fewer showdowns in no-limit - you really need to get a good feel for the strength and weakness of opponent's hands and be prepared to make a move with what might be only a mediocre hand.

The first tourney was a short-handed single table Sit 'n Go for miniscule stakes. Being short handed, being prepared to steal blinds and small pots is essential, especially as the blinds get bigger. I felt like I played pretty well despite a pretty poor run of cards. I got myself heads-up as 2-1 chip leader, but lost a big chunk of stack with K6 against K9, going all-in when the king appeared on the flop. I busted out after going all-in preflop with QQ vs A3, and the turn killed me when the ace showed up.

The second tourney was a satellite for some other event. Again, I felt like I read the play reasonably well, moving at the right time to pick up some decent pots without actually hitting any great hands. In my final hand, with 6 left at the table I called a raise of 600 from the big blind (200) with K9 of diamonds. I was pretty happy when the flop came down KQ7 rainbow and bet 1000. The villain raised all-in (about 1500) - and obviously I was a bit worried about AK or KQ. The table was short though, and I figured that I probably still had the best of it I called, and the villain showed a pair of threes! Well wouldn't you know it, the turn has it in for me as a three popped up and shot my kings dead. Still, I felt happy enough with 11th place and a better feel for no-limit holdem - which I suspect will be my game in the long run.