So Long 3/6 Limit

So I finally got to sit down and play some No Limit poker at the boats this past weekend. I have been working every weekend since sometime in June, so it was nice to finally play some Saturday night poker. I met Tyler from KCPoker at Harrah's and they opened up a new table around 8:30 pm, so we ended up sitting at a table together and played for about 3 hours before I took off. Actually, I think Tyler ended up staying another 3 hours so he could get his stack back to even.

I sat down with $140 and never went below $100. Of course, as it was my first time sitting at a NL table with a buy in over $100, I played fairly tight and timid. There were a couple of pots that I won when they were checked down, but I don't think the outcome would have been different had I bet on the end. I don't think anyone would have called. I won a pot when I limped in with a suited Ace, hit the Ace on the flop, and hit my kicker on the river, for two pair. I bet $20 at a pot of about $30 or so, and got one caller who had also hit the Ace, but didn't hit his kicker, so I won a nice little pot there.

Another hand...I was in the BB with 7 10 spades and the flop brought two spades including the Ace. First player to act bet $10 at a pot of about $8 or so, and another player called. I figured one of them had an Ace and the other was probably drawing at the spades, and most likely had higher spades than me, so I thought about it briefly and then folded. Sure enough, a spade hit the turn and I would have made my 10-high flush. Then, both players checked down through river, and they both had an Ace, and they were afraid the other had made the flush. Soooo....had I stayed in I could have picked up another pot, but again, I was playing a bit timidly so I wouldn't lose my whole stack chasing a flush.

Overall, I had a great time, and the table was good. It wasn't nearly the experience I expected. What I THOUGHT would happen was that people would be raising to $20 pre-flop with blinds of $1 and $2 and I'd have to get my whole stack in on one hand, but luckily, there was a lot of limping and fairly small raises to $7 or $10 pre flop. Also, most people didn't overbet the pot, so I think it was a good table. In the future, if I sit at a table where they are raising 10x the BB pre flop, or overbetting the pots big time, I just won't play, or will try to move to another table, where I'm more comfortable.