No- Limit

I played in my first no-limit hold'em tournament on Sunday and here are two hands that came up. (both took a chunk out of my stack, the latter eliminating me)


First NL Tournament


I have aprox 5,000 in chips, I call the blinds of 400 in late position


(A, 10 diamonds)


4 Players see the flop


Ah Kd 2d


1st player who is ultra-aggressive, or at least was. ( he made big bets on the first 5-6 pots and took the blinds each time) Moves all in for aprox 7,000


I called with my 5,000 aganist this player and even when he turned over his pocket kings I still felt confident. Then as I was eliminated by the lack of diamonds- I continued to feel confident that I made the right play. Then as I was sitting in the corner crying I lost some of the confidence I had in making a draw to the nut flush in this situation.


Some thoughts on the play?

Short answer:


1. Players in NL are very likely to NOT go all-in without something that will beat top pair.


2. This is especially true online.


3. This is very especially true in tournaments. One of the fundamental principles in winning tournaments is to save your chips.


4. Here, you were put on the defensive. You should be raising with this hand with all your chips, not calling with them.

Unless you have miracle read on him, there's no way you could muck toppair+nut flush draw here, esp. not against an aggressive player. You played the hand just fine - no need to second-guess yourself.


cu


Ignatius