Okay, by now it's all been said and done, so here's my little story
I decided to get in a $1/$2 no limit game, namely because it was the lowest stakes there and I wanted to "challenge myself", because I'd never played a no limit cash game before. It can't be THAT different from a sitngo, right? Heh heh...I'm kidding.
So I put down $140 (Canadian, mind you) and started playing. It was all quite overwhelming, there were so many people / noises / distractions etc. but I quickly settled into the table, trying to figure out what was what. I could pick up the amateurs from the non-amateurs pretty quickly.
It was a table jsut as t1riel suggested, people were raising between 10 and 20 dollars preflop.
So my strategy was to just play super tight aggressive, because it was my first time and I did not want to try anything fancy. About 8-10
hands in the guy to my right, who had just lost a big pot because he "had to go home" pushes all in for the last $20 or so dollars he has. I look and see AK hearts, so I call. And another gentleman on the other side of the table (who I've noticed has been aggressive) calls too.
The flop came out 6 J Q. I check, the gentleman across checks, and the turn is a 10! Yay! I bet $15 (first time I've thrown a bet out at the table). He thinks about it for a second, calls. My pulse goes crazy. River is a 9. No possible flush on the board, so I raise another $20. He calls, turns over A10 and the guy who had went all in showed A8. So I took a decent sized pot (the largest I've ever won, anyway) and felt pretty happy.
From there on out not too much happened, I won another hand from the big blind with a pair of jacks for around $30 or so. I got a calling station to fold on the turn, that was a small victory for me.
Then there was the hand that nearly busted me. SHOULD'VE busted me. There was a kid sitting at the table, looked my age or younger, with a
pokerstars t-shirt on. So, okay, I get it he knows how to play. He's being tight, folding a lot etc. I'm in middle position and I get KJ offsuit, so I call. The guy to the left of me raises to $8. Everyone folds, the young kid calls. I put him on a legitimate hand. Against probably my better judgement, I call the extra $6.
The flop comes J J 3. Oh boy! I'm first to act, I raise $12. They both call. As soon as the young kid calls I am angry because I put him on Ace Jack. The turn is a blank, checks all around, the river is a blank, I check, the guy next to me bets $20, the kid re-raises to $75 (all in for him). I know I'm beat, but who likes laying down trips? After some thought, I fold, and the guy next to me calls. He turns over pocket queens. The kid turns over Ace Jack. I commend myself for a good read and continue on.
It never really got going again, and I stopped myself when I dropped down to $100. So I lost $40, but I just won $50 the other night playing with friends, so I guess this was like a free trial on a live game at a casino. It's a lot different than online, that's an understatement I'm sure you all agree.
Something else that was a bit suspicious I noticed at the table - there was a father and son playing. They were both really loose and aggressive, it was rare to see them lay down a hand. And a lot of the times they ended up heads up against each other, raising like crazy with absolute crap (2 5 os on a AQJ board) I mean c'mon, is something going on here? The guy to the left of me was making comments like "Look at how they're tag teaming the table" and etc. I was just wondering if this is a common way people hustle poker tables? Has anyone ever run into this sort of thing? Maybe they just wanted everyone to THINK they were just two average guys playing horribly, when in reality they were making serious bank (they did win a lot of chips when I was there). Maybe I'm thinking too much about it. Probably.
All in all, interesting experience. A little dissappointed because I didn't come out ahead, and it's hard to not be upset when your friends win $700 in 10 minutes playing
blackjack and you play poker for 3 hours and wind up 40 in the hole. Oh well.
This is a long post. Thanks for reading. Happy new year !