Wednesday, April 02, 2008

My First No-Limit Poker Tournament

As part of the continuing birthday celebrations, my friend Edward entered me into my first EVER poker tournament! It was especially exciting for me because it was also the first time ever that I've played no-limit poker! Both times I played poker in Vegas were at the $2-$4 limit table.

First off, I LOVED it!!! There were 110 entrants. I went all in on the very first hand, chasing a flush and lost. There was one rebuy allowed, which I promptly took advantage of and then managed to stay in until about halfway through, which for my first tournament ever, I think is pretty good! Edward ended up placing 13th in the tournament and won some money.

During the tournament, I sat next to "Hollywood" Tony Kayden and he was giving me tips and answering my questions. At one point, he said he was going to quit giving me tips because otherwise I'd have all his chips! It was awesome. I loved the betting! It's SO much better than the limit poker. I'm sold on the no-limit and can't wait to play again.

It's funny, I feel like I've been training for poker by playing strategy games for the last couple years. When I'm playing, it feels just like a game, just with real money instead of the fakey paper stuff! Travis lent me "Super System" so I can read about theory and what not. I think with a little practice, I could be pretty good at it. I'm willing to at least try!

8 comments:

Yes, THAT Tonya said...

You didn't tell me that you went all in on the very first hand!!! Chasing a flush??? Tsk tsk. We do have some work ahead of us here. ;)

Stephanie said...

In my defense, he was being super aggressive and I thought he had nothing, like not even paired up with anything on the board which ended up not being the case. :-)

I called someone else's all in once when I had a full house by the turn, it was awesome! He was pissed!

And then the final one, I had something so-so, but he had better. All in all, REALLY FUN!!

Anonymous said...

Seriously, limit poker is boooor-ring.

I'm jealous though, I've only played poker in home games. :)

Stephanie said...

After I was knocked out, I went downstairs to play while Edward continued in the tournament. I sat down at a limit table and about 20 minutes later, I switched to a no-limit table. No limit is SO MUCH more fun.

I am hoping to try a home game. I'd definitely like to try more tournaments though. For more practice if nothing else. Lucky for us, with all the card clubs, there's always tournaments happening of various buy-in amounts!

Yes, THAT Tonya said...

You could also check around to see if you have anything like our poker association, where you can play and practice for free. It's a tournament structure, so it's a good learning environment. What I am mostly learning right now is how to play at tables with people who drive me CRAZY!!! I'd say that's my biggest weakness- letting other people get to me. There are all types of people: newbies playing for the first time, seasoned card sharks, loose wild cards, retired people, young kids who fancy themselves prodigies, etc. It really teaches you a lot about the variance of a game. When you visit, I'll definitely take you out to play with us! :D

Stephanie said...

I want to get better, but a lot of the fun is the actual gamble of it all!! ;-)

I could see all types sitting in on tournaments.... I guess I fall into the newbie category! :-)

I can't wait to play with you! I'm taking that poker book with me to read on the plane tonight!

Edward Roske said...

You did remarkably well for your first tournament (outlasting half the field including a number of professional poker players) but more importantly, you did astoundingly well at your first no-limit poker.

If you're in the mood to do some poker reading, pick up a copy of Caro's Book of Poker Tells. It teaches you how to read someone's body language (and it works outside of poker too!).

Your welcome,
The Guy Who Gave You Your First Crack Pipe (AKA Took You to Your First Poker Tournament)

Stephanie said...

To my pusher,
Thank you for the compliments! It could all be beginner's luck too, but I'll do my best to see if it is or not. When's our next tournament??!!? :-P

While you may be impressed with that... I'm not the one with a personalized poker player profile to call my very own like somebody I know.... All in good time... all in good time...

Thanks for the book recommendation. It's on my Amazon wish list!! I'm going to start on the Poker Bible one on the way HOME from Denver since apparently I was too tired to read on the way out here.