DISSAPOINTED! Wasn’t happy to learn that this year’s poker tourney is to be No Limit Hold’em. I think this is a mistake and effectively relegates too many players into the “dead money” class. This is not a knock on the folks that make this event happen or the participants that think NL is the way to go this year. I figure I’ll be getting $100 worth of fun outta the deal for sure anyway. My main reason for favoring a limit structure is my lack of table time and that I think limit is more forgiving to players without a lot of poker under their belt.

Under the No Limit format, I pick the final table to be players who each find themselves at a real poker table at least once a week or an online cardroom even more often. I’m an enthusiastic student of the game but I sure don’t have that kind of time to devote to it. I get a lot of enjoyment on my home PC with poker sims and playing the convention tournament. Watching poker on TV and reading a bedside Sklanski, Kreiger or Brunson keeps me busy. I’m thinking the advantage to regular rounders comes from my opinion that limit requires the player to play his cards whereas no limit is more about playing your opponent as well as playing your cards, a double burden for short timers.

My freeroll has ended this year because I made the final table in ’01 and cashed even though that was only the second time I had ever played poker. The next year Wilson Gee took down third in his first poker game! As a newbie, all I had to take to the table was a rudimentary knowledge of starting hands and a few thoughts such as “two pair and three of a kind are tough to beat” and you’ve got something to build from. Well… that and more nut flushes than a Frickin’ Filbert Factory in my case! Point is, that even without a lot seat time, a chipper can go deep in a Limit tournament.

Is Limit easier than No Limit? Phil Helmuth didn’t win his first Limit title until three years after he won that World Champion thing at Binion’s! And the boy can play poker. Is No Limit easier for the old poker salt? Amarillo Slim went out on the first hand of an important tournament several years ago and consider the meltdown of players like Duke, Harmon, and, as always, our favorite brat, Helmuth, when some tyro sends them to the rail. My further opinion though, is that No Limit table skills that bring success take more than a few hours to develop. Advantage: poker ploppy.

Finally (!)( ), in conclusion, I think that the number of participants may decline if we continue with a NL format because some may feel that they are unable to compete enjoyably with seasoned NL players. Shoot, change it to a HORSE deal and you can have the thing in someone’s room at the Riviera!

What do you think, I’d sure like to know!