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[ErikM]

I played a home game NLHE tournament this weekend. The buy-in was $20.00 and there were 18 players, two table of nine to start.It paid out to four spots $200.00, $100.00, $40.00, $20.00, so as you can see, the only real money is in the top two spots. It didn’t matter though, I liked my chances. The majority of players were absolutely new to the game. The only players who had any sort of experience were me (1.5 years), my brother (2 years), the host Rob (1 year), and this guy Mike (I’m not sure how long he played but it was apparent that he knew what he was doing). Not to say that any of the players with experience were good… they just knew how to play the game.The rest of the people were Rob and his wife Kim’s friends that watch the WPT and WSOP and had some interest in playing NLHE. I devised a strategy going in, that was simple enough. No bluffing. No semi-bluffing because most will call and not many will raise (and if they do it won’t be much in relation to the pot) if I check. Don’t play any cards smaller than a 9, except for wired pairs if I can limp into the pot. That’s about it.We started with $4,000.00 in chips and about two hours later at our first break I had $6,850.00. I can only really remember playing two hands; A 33 that turned into a full house, and a K9 of clubs. I hit top pair on the flop and bet on every street. I got called down by my brother’s girlfriend who had second pair (8’s) with a 4 kicker.After the break our table was 8 handed but people started dropping like flies at both tables. We got to 5 handed at my table before I knew it, and the only hand I got that I was willing to play between the first break and when we were down to the final table of nine was a 77 that I ended up folding after the flop due to over cards and a bet by someone to my right.Unfortunately for me, when we got down to five at my table I had my brother to my left and Mike to the left of him, both with stacks close to mine. At this point in a tournament you should be making moves and building your stack for the final table, but with them to my left and absolutely no cards to play I was unable to do that. While in the mean time my brother and Mike were butting heads.So it gets down to the final table and my luck still hasn’t changed, I still continue to get some real garbage hands. Of the nine players I was probably fifth in chips with somewhere around $5,350.00. Rob was the HUGE chip leader. The short stacks bust out pretty quick and I get pretty low in chips. I think I got desperate to make a move because I called a raise out of position with JT only to fold it on the flop. I get down to maybe about $2,800.00 with the blinds at 300/600, there are 6 players left, and I finally bust out, two out of the money. It was obviously disappointing, especially considering I had played for five hours and showed no profit.The hand that I went out with went something like this. I had A9 of spades in the small blind. Rob was in the big blind. He had unfortunately relinquished most of his chips to Mike who sucked out on him (55 vs. KK). The action went:UTG foldsMike calls $600.00The next guy foldsKim on the button calls $600.00I decide that it is now time to make my move because this is the only ace I’ve seen for a long time and I don’t think I’ll get a better hand for a while and I certainly don’t think that I will last long enough to sneak into the money. Since no one raised I really had no reason to believe that ace high wasn’t the best hand.Finally, I decide that I should go all-in so that I’m guaranteed all five cards if I get called. Rob reluctantly folds his blind. Mike calls, which I though was awesome because I had watched him call all-ins by short stacks all day long with no hand (literally, j 4, 10 7, etc.)To my surprise, Kim also calls. The flop comes K Q rag, he checks she bets he folds. We flip our cards and she shows AQ. Couldn’t believe it. I mean… Limp on the button with AQ… with six players left?So the turn and river brought no miracles, and I was done.Now I was wondering if anyone out there in cyberspace had any insights or advice that they would care to share about playing against people who are absolutely new to the game. I don’t mean just poor players… I mean people that just have no idea. First time players…Any thoughts or suggestions would be cool. Thanks!

[apple11]

Yea i would say that you were right not to bluff obviously but maybe play some more hands it seemed as though you are playing way to tight.