Warming Up to NL

A friend came into town this weekend and wanted to play some cards. We went to the Peppermill and it was hopping. I have never seen the boards so full. The 15/30 Limit was back and they had 3 1/2 NL tables and 1 3/5 NL going. Nothing higher but the stacks where 1K deep so it was running big. My friend is not the best player and always complains about the suckouts at 4/8. I didn’t want to play higher so we went to the ½ NL table.

I was pumped up for some reason and splashed around for a few hours breaking even when I finally started to settle down. I went card dead at the same time so it was easy to do. I managed to get up 100 when we started to talk about going to dinner and decided to play one more round. Of course we both got into a few hands and he was down 15 and I was only up 28 when we racked up.

After dinner I stayed focused from the start. I caught some bluffs and played well and left with +336 for the night. My friend was +250 or so. The game was very soft and I was able to put the few things I learned to practice.

Thinking back I feel that you get more bang for your buck at NL. The blinds are so small that you don’t get blinded off and if you do limp in, it is only 2 to see a flop. Its like playing 2/4 preflop and 20/40 post flop.

I still felt weak when I had JJ on a 9 high board and I was raised on the flop. I gave him way to much credit for 2 pair and lost value. I did call him down and win the pot. Earlier, in another hand, I folded to aggression only to find out I was ahead. I guess this comes with experience so I will just have to play more NL to get over it.

I haven’t lost my love for limit but I think NL may be the way to build a BR fast with minimal risk. I may be playing weak tight but it is still better then 4/8. My live play time is minimal right now but I did manage to more then triple my BR in the last two weeks. I don’t know if next weekend will be much better but after that it should be wide open.

On-line I am up slightly. I started to mix in some .5/1 tables and I think it is a little to soon. So I will stay at the .25/.5 table until I build my BR more.