h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey, we have a quest contributor. Pitts went to the sunday no limit at the Burry. I wish I could go, but I had other plans. I will be there next time. Here is Pitts to talk about his experience.

Hey, it's Pittsey again. Here to talk about my experience at the no limit tournament held at Canterbury Card Club this last Sunday. The buy in was 50+10 with one optional rebuy. A total of 208 people entered this large tourney. The players start of with 2000 in chips and the blinds start off at 25-50. I played very tight and went with blackjack attack, only face cards. My third hand in I got Cowboys, raised it 200 preflop, I made about 600 off a drunk guy with them. I made a few bad decisions and went down to about 2,200 when I got Rockets. Under the gun raised, I followed by re-rasing him about 200, then another guy re-raised me to 1200, the original raiser folded, I went all in. I was called by 88, and doubled up. Then a 10 min break followed, I was moved to a new table where I sat down by the ultimate calling machine. My first hand was A J under the gun, I raised the now 200-400 blinds to 800, I was called by 2 people, one being the bb( the calling machine). The flop was ragged, but I figured with both people checking I could bet, 1000 was my bet. One person folded and the calling machine called. The turn was a blank, for both of us, I went all in with Ace high. He called!!! I began to cry inside and think of the horrible decision I just made, but wait!! He flipped over an open ended straight draw, 9 high! The river was a blank and once again I doubled up with Ace high. At this point the blinds are now 300-600, and I am half way through the tournament with 6,000 in chips. I began to make a few bad calls, and then it happened, small blind. I was sitting on A K, very nice. Under the gun and the next 4 players all limped in! The madness stopped when someone finally raised. I decided the pot was so huge, and with A K, I figured all in was the right move, going heads up was my goal, but I got called by 2 people!!! The flop was horrible, and both players checked the flop, turn, and river. The calling machine mucked his cards after the original raiser flipped over A 7, with the river being a 7!!!! I felt my heart sink and wanted to rip the chubby checks off the 14 year old looking kid. On the way home I came up with a few keys to large no limit tournaments, and this is the points:

1. Double up as many times as you can! If you feel you can double up and win then do not sit there and be afraid.
2. There are a lot of bad players, choose your hand carefully and take advantage of them. I folded A 10 about 4 times, because a lot of players I noticed would limp in with A J or even A Q at times.
3. Never gamble! Play very coordinated hands, that way when the flop comes if you hit, you not only hit a pair or better but you have outs to something much better. These are just a few of the ideas I thought were absolutely crucial. All in all, make sure when you do go all in, you can fold everyone out, or have only one caller. I think we all know going all in preflop and receiving two callers is a death wish. Just keep track of your chip count and the chips other people have.