My first time (really long)

[AndysDaddy]

Ok, so up front I appologize for writing about play-money tournaments. I've been a life-long "Sat. night with the guys" player, and a couple of years ago got interested in "real" poker on a trip to Vegas playing 4-8 and 8-16 HE ring games. More recently I have become interested in NLHE. The problem is I can't really afford to play "Big bet" poker, so I figured I'll stay with tournaments - low buy in, low risk. Sure, I'll rarely see any return, but its cheaper than other hobbies and sounds like fun.

So to get to the point, I downloaded Empire and tried out their play-money single table satelites. So far things are going far too well. I've win about a third of the 1-tables I've played, and finished in the money (2nd or 3rd) about another third. I'm not so naieve to believe that this is at all indicitave of how things might go in real-money tourneys. Here are my thoughts on my success
- One, two, sometimes more of the players are absolute maniacs (it is play money afterall) and go all-in almost all the time until they bust, so its really just a seven or eight seat tourny.
- The free aspect of it draws people who would have no business at all playing for real money (skill wise)- and wouldn't be.
- Since I am viewing this as practice before playing for real I am taking these tourneys way more seriously than most of the others, making thoughtful decisions and playing more conservatively - unlike some who are "just playing for fun"

I don't know what my point is. I've been a lurker here for a long time and I'm excited at the prosepect of actually contributing a bit now and then. Along these lines, does anyone have advice on best sites for one-line tournaments? What would be the reason for choosing multi-tables over singles (or vice versa)? Thanks!

Finally, I just have to post this hand that occured during a single-table last night, the fifth or sixth hand:

Single table, start with T800, eight players left. Blinds are 10-15. Hero (T785) is dealt A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Two limpers to me in MP and I raise 30. This is surely too little, yes? Called by five. Six see a flop of: A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] HOLY S**T! How many can I get all-in before this is done? I'm thinking about how to handle this when SB bets 125 and is called by three. Not wanting to scare anyone, I just call. Five to the turn of 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. SB bets 200, BB calls, and so do I for the same reasons. Other fold. The blinds have me covered (Yea!). River is 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. SB goes all in and BB calls and I tripple through. Eventually I go on to win.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and any advice you may have. Hopefully I have some real quaestions and results to post soon...

[eMarkM]

Go to PokerStars. It's got everything for all your tourney needs. Skip the freebie tourneys and play one of the many events for $1-3. These are typically very large events where the players play far more seriously than they do in total freebies with nothing at stake. They also have freerolls that give you entries to other tourneys. Never been to Empire, but Stars is acknowledged by most as the best tourney site. Give it a try.