1st Time Sitting Down at a No Limit RING game...1st hand, got...

This is my 1st post here, so I beg your indulgence if I make an error. Last night, I sat down in a $1-$2 NO LIMIT Ring game on FT. I have played $3-$6 limit games, and lower limits. Even in the $3-$6 games there was considerable bluffing by my opponents. for the record, I'm not much of a bluffer, because it seems everytime I do, I get caught. But I know it goes on against me and I therefore guard against it. Last night, on FT, I went to this HENL game, and only brought $80 to the table. Several of the players at the table had in excess of $200. Others did not. This is the VERY 1st time I have EVER PLAYED IN A CASH NO
LIMIT GAME, and I was a little nervous. First hand I sit down to, I get JJ in the BB. A few people called the $2 BB and when it got to the big stack, this guy had approx $283. he bet the pot, which was $9. I thought two things prior to betting: the big stack is stealing the blinds or he's bluffing. And I raised (while quickly taking my own blood pressure AND pulse to determine why I was mentally/physically ill enough to even be at the table) to $30.00. His response? Drumroll...ALL-IN what was I going to do? I already put $32 in the pot, it was preflop and I had JJ. So I called my entire stack of $58. he flipped over his cards. A-K offsuit. The flop came: rag, rag, rag. the turn: Jack, river: rag. My very 1st no limit hand, I doubled up. I never got another good pocket pair after that and was able to only drop about $9 for the next hour and a half. My question to those of you who have played more than one time in a NL ring game is, Did I do the right thing? Would you have played it this way? let me know? thanks!

Don't post results in the future if you want good analysis.

Fairly standard play for your stack size.

If it were for full stacks, I don't think I'm putting all my money in with JJ. At best I think this would be a coin flip. But you have come in short stacked here and you have put in just over 1/3 of it pre flop. So I think calling here is a must.

I don't know what your bankroll is, but you shouldn't have gone to the table with only $80. All of the good players here recommend buying in for the full amount in NL ring games. It was a risky call for the all-in but with the money you had left and already in the pot I probably would have called too. If you had a full stack I don't think he would have pushed all-in pre-flop.

I wouldn't recommend starting at the $200 tables if this is your first time, thats pretty insane actually. I'd recommend starting at the $25-50 tables depending on your bankroll until you get some more experience otherwise you're just asking for trouble. Also it sounds like you're playing with scared money. If you can't or don't want to buy into a table for the max, then... you probably shouldn't be buying in to a table of that limit in the first place. As far as the hand goes I would've called starting with less than half a stack but I'd fully expect some kind of race in this situation. Jacks are the most difficult hand to play in NLHE because you usually either win a little or lose a lot with them, they're very tricky to play. The advantage of AK is being able to push all-in and have folding equity (the chance your opponent may fold and you take down the pot right there) while at the same time you're probably not much worse than a coin flip or a bit better which is what this hand shows perfectly because I'm sure you considered folding. On a side note, if the hands were reversed and you made this play with AK and he pushed in I would probably not call if you weren't so pot committed already. A general rule of thumb is you can push all-in preflop with AK but hardly is it ever worth *calling* an all-in with AK. Hope this helps. What exactly is your bankroll by the way?

Use the profit from that double up and sit at MUCH lower stakes until you are very comfortable playing with 100 big blinds at a no-limit table. And definitely find an article on bankroll management to see what stakes you have the bankroll to play at - 20 buy-ins (1 buy-in = 100 BBs) is the general rule of thumb.

Guys,
I think you might have misread what I wrote, originally. It was a $1-$2 no limit table. the site automatically put in the amount they suggested I bring to the table. the site automatically put in $80. I was saying some o of the players had stacks in the $200+range but others had stacks around the site suggested $80 Br. Sorry if I was confusing?!?!

You can't buy-in for $100? Either way I don't recommend starting out at the $1 NLHE tables. I'd say start at the 0.25 tables untill you get better.

oops, thought I was answering a criticism of why I only came in with...

Jace,
I'm here to learn, thanks for the advice

Congrats on the first hand win, and Welcome to Cardschat.

pkrplr4116 said:

Guys,
I think you might have misread what I wrote, originally. It was a $1-$2 no limit table. the site automatically put in the amount they suggested I bring to the table. the site automatically put in $80. I was saying some o of the players had stacks in the $200+range but others had stacks around the site suggested $80 Br. Sorry if I was confusing?!?!

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all sites have a default amount and you have to be very good player to play shortstacking tables.

you can buy in at a 1/2 game for $200 though, which you should but like has been said you should not be that nervous when you play. Obviously you were over your head, as for the hand it all depends on opponent. If its first couple hands im folding JJ here becuase I have no idea of his range. Once I get the idea I can make the call regardless of my stack size be it $5, $80 or $10,000.

Hand sounds pretty standard with small stack vs late position raiser.

it didnt matter if u had $8, $80, or $8000, he was allin preflop with the most overrated, overplayed, "IM GONNA WIN THIS EFFIN POT" hand there is out there.....

30-50% of ur money already in when he pushes, u made the right call...and always remember

SKEERT money dont make money...

good luck!!!!

Surely SOME of you know there is a difference between...

Thank you very kindly for the nice replies. However, to those of you thought it was the right thing to do to tell me how scared I was to lose the measly $80.00, let me be the first to tell you THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING NERVOUS in playing the game, period, and being afraid to lose the moeny I brought to the table. If those of you who lambasted me for not knowing how much to bring to the table expected me to believe you've never been nervous and you've never been at a type of game for the very time 1st time and you knew, instinctively how to do everything perfectly despite never having done it before, you're not only lying to me, but to yourselves. If those of you who were so quick to call me out for playing, are unable to tell the difference between being nervous and being afraid to lose the money may I be the first to say you need to check yourselves and your egos and don't be so quick to be nasty.
For the record, I began playing online 2 yrs ago. No, my official tournament ranking isn't very good, but, it will tell you, however that I have won in excess of $10,000 online in various tournaments, including $6,700 in a single game at Doyle's Room, $1800 on another online game, $1,700 several smaller amouts in the hundreds and more recently, $10,000 in a live tourney in Puerto Rico and I recently spent a whopping $15 in a $5 rebuy sat to FTOPs 5. That $100 + 9.00 admin, was a rebuy. I neither had to rebuy nor add on. I came in 127th and I outlasted 14 of the 15 PROFESSIONAL poker players (Alan Cunningham was the ONLY pro remaining when I got knocked out in 127th). I took home $595.25 for the $5 entry. So, please turn the haughty, "I'm better than you, you dolt, Jane, and you should go to the .25-.50 games." And "You shouldn'tplay with scared money..." because, while I'm not telling you I'm better than you, at least I have won more than $ 20,000 in 2 yrs, with NO PRIOR POKER KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE. Please get off your egos and stop berating me. :banghead:

pkrplr4116 said:

Thank you very kindly for the nice replies. However, to those of you thought it was the right thing to do to tell me how scared I was to lose the measly $80.00, let me be the first to tell you THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING NERVOUS in playing the game, period, and being afraid to lose the moeny I brought to the table. If those of you who lambasted me for not knowing how much to bring to the table expected me to believe you've never been nervous and you've never been at a type of game for the very time 1st time and you knew, instinctively how to do everything perfectly despite never having done it before, you're not only lying to me, but to yourselves. If those of you who were so quick to call me out for playing, are unable to tell the difference between being nervous and being afraid to lose the money may I be the first to say you need to check yourselves and your egos and don't be so quick to be nasty.
For the record, I began playing online 2 yrs ago. No, my official tournament ranking isn't very good, but, it will tell you, however that I have won in excess of $10,000 online in various tournaments, including $6,700 in a single game at Doyle's Room, $1800 on another online game, $1,700 several smaller amouts in the hundreds and more recently, $10,000 in a live tourney in Puerto Rico and I recently spent a whopping $15 in a $5 rebuy sat to FTOPs 5. That $100 + 9.00 admin, was a rebuy. I neither had to rebuy nor add on. I came in 127th and I outlasted 14 of the 15 PROFESSIONAL poker players (Alan Cunningham was the ONLY pro remaining when I got knocked out in 127th). I took home $595.25 for the $5 entry. So, please turn the haughty, "I'm better than you, you dolt, Jane, and you should go to the .25-.50 games." And "You shouldn'tplay with scared money..." because, while I'm not telling you I'm better than you, at least I have won more than $ 20,000 in 2 yrs, with NO PRIOR POKER KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE. Please get off your egos and stop berating me. :banghead:

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whatever that was...congrats...only one ego here...u will figure them out...skeert money dont make money is just a statement...thats all...u played the hand exactly as u shouldve..IMO...and in no way was i berating you, your play, or your bankroll.....if anything i was berating the other guys play....

stick around buddy...the ego will berate you b4 long!!!!

I don't think anyone was trying to be nasty, and I can't see anything nasty in any of the posts above. They were just trying to be helpful and saying you'd be better off buying in for the maximum, which is true.

If you've had all this tournament success, I really can't see why you're posting such a simple hand to which you should know the answer already.

The big re raise pre flop was most likely not necessary...since you had so little info against the player just making the call would be good enough to win a small pot on the flop and maybe on the turn. Anyways, congratulations on the big win, and hopefully more to come

I can't really comment on your play, but congrats on your winnings. My blood pressure rises tremendously everytime I have jacks. I can't seem to win with them and I always seem to lose against them.

You were not blasted in any of the above posts. You posted in the hand analysis section and asked if you did the right thing. If you are going to do that you need to be prepared to have some people disagree with your play and your decisions.

standart, considering your stack size. Fold for bigger stack

wkonevich said:

The big re raise pre flop was most likely not necessary...since you had so little info against the player just making the call would be good enough to win a small pot on the flop and maybe on the turn. Anyways, congratulations on the big win, and hopefully more to come

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I think the 3bet size was good, nevertheless I get your point, considering that Hero`s stack size was only 80$ it could have been less. However, it sucks to play JJ oop there, so I as weel make a big 3bet and try to get it in preflop. Overcards will flop about 60% of the time.

yes......no.......mabey see i also would have gone down to 2 conclusions bully.... or he has aq ak but i wouldn't think for a moment a better pocket pair then jj because of the way he bet it was what 9 dollars witch tells me he has a good hand but i think betting only nine getting raised then going all in don't look too fresh!