How best to approach this SNG/limit game?

[Jaquen H'gar]

Wasn't sure where to post this: Home page, STT, or here since it is a mix of limit and NL.

I have been invited to sit in on a local weekly game with some of the movers & shakers in our city: 10-12 players, single table, $500 buy-in gets $500 in tourney chips.

First hour is 10-20 limit then a $250 add-on or re-buy (whichever is the individual case) is allowed for everyone willing for $250 more in tourney chips, and NL freezeout is started with blinds 5-10. The blinds are raised everytime a person is eliminated, whether it takes one minute or sixty minutes, up to $50-100 where it levels off until three players are left and it jumps to 100-200 to the finish. 3rd place pays $500, 2nd $1000, and first takes the rest. Nearly everyone rebuys so first place is around $7k.

My first experience was last week. Not having played with any of these guys before, I'm wondering am I the new meat. The players included a local judge, a restaurant owner, a car dealer, two doctors, a dentist, and others. 11 players buy-in for $500 each and the limit portion starts. First round, I'm the only one who folds pre-flop. I'm already feeling better [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Turns out, the entire group is basically loose passive during the limit hour. I get no cards and play no hands other than blinds. Interestingly, the first bettor on the turn is allowed to optionally bet $10 or $20 but a raiser can raise it $20. Here comes the rebuy and no-limit and our first twist. Apparently the first hour (10-20 limit) is optional. One can wait and show-up just prior to starting No Limit and buy in for $750 which someone did.

Anyway, the game changed from loose passive to loose aggressive once the NL started. The only bluff that seemed to work was all-in; anything less would get a call. I got zero cards and played no hands. Finally, after being slowly blinded down, I get A9s, the best hand I saw all night (2 hours of play)and the only hand where I had a card larger than a jack. My top pair/4 flush on the flop crushed me and I blinded out next hand to finish fifth. Yep, 5th out of 12 without winning a single hand the entire night. What a sucky night.

Anyway, my question concerns the optional limit portion. Since I obviously have a big edge in the limit portion, I feel I should make some hay here. I have a NL buddy telling me to show up late and make sure I enter the NL portion with a full buy-in. His point, I can only make 2 BB ($40) on average and it isn't worth it to risk NL bankroll for this $40. Any advice?