Live game

Okay everyone I'm headed to Niagra Falls this weekend with some buddies and wanted to pop into the casino and play a live game. I've never done this in a casino before, and only play live with friends and acquaintainces (sp?).

So any advice you can give me, that would be great. Would you suggest starting out with limit? What kind of etiquette might I not know? How do you tip the dealer? Etc. Don't want to look like a doofus at the table, you know.

Any suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks
-Mike

You will find that live limit games are much much tighter than your home game or on line.

Good luck Mike. If you don't play limit now, don't start playing in the casino just because you are playing live. The two games are vastly different in many respects. If you play NL, then play that. You won't find a casino game spread less than $1/$2 NL, so prep for at least a $100 buy in, though I'd suggest $200 as that will most likely be the table limit. Tipping the dealer is nothing more than raking in your pot and tossing a $1 chip out to him as your rake it in. If it is a very small pot or just the blinds, don't feel obligated to tip.

Also, take notice of the rake. Is it timed rake or based on pot size? It's helpful to know. Any questions, like about rake, can be directed to the floor person when you are trying to get on a table or waiting list. They are there to help and will, so just ask. Also, if you plan on playing 1/2 NL, then put your name on that waiting list. Sometimes the floorman will push you to play another limit just because there is an open seat immediately. Don't do it unless you are comfortable. He doesn't care if you say no, he's just doing his job.

played my first game at a casino in vegas last year they had a 40 player 40 dollar buy in tournament and after that it was easy they are tighter players but they all made me feel relaxed and after a while felt good came inthird at the tournament started playing in the table games was much fun

This totally depends on where you play. In Vegas - mostly. In Florida at the Hard Rock - sometimes. In Florida in the card rooms at the race tracks - seldom. There are almost always 2-3 players at every table who will play most cards to the river. And that is enough players for one of them to hit almost every time. You would think it would have improved when they raised the limit - but it didn't.

So - guess you need to scope a place out a few times to get a feel for it.

Some casino tables are crazy. If you are comfortable with limit, play that. Be warned that players will chase straights and flushes all the time since it's limit. If you want to play No Limit, remeber that no matter what the blinds to start are, players will raise big. If you are at a $1/$2 table, players will make a raise to $20 total average! The higher the blinds are, the less that will happen, since more money is at stake.

Such a general statement is very misleading. It is totally dependent on the players at the table, not on the stakes. I've played $1/$2 NL tables at the casino and have seen general play that was perfectly reasonable (3-5x BB raises). I've also seen casino play be very idiotic play in $5/$10 LHE and $3/$6 NL games. There is no rule of thumb about how a live casino table will be. You need to observe the table first, if you can, and decide if you like the speed and quality of play there. But don't ever assume a table will be a certain way just because of the stakes.

Thanks for all the comments everyone -- I'm leaning towards just checking out a limit table, unfortunately I don't have $200 to throw into a single game right now, so I think I'll try a limit table with my measely bankroll haha. I know the discrepancies between each, I've played lots of limit before, it's just been a while. Time to study, I guess.

At some casinos, if you let the dealer know that it is your first time, they will help you with what is going on at the table.

I went a couple weeks ago in WI, and even though I caught a couple bad beats, I had a great time. Just stay calm and enjoy what you are doing and you will have alot of fun.

i tell everyone it's my first time everytime i go to the casino, haha

I'm with JD on this one - it varies by which casino you're in. Here in Los Angeles, I've got a choice of about a dozen casinos, and they vary alot. There's one where they play a $20 buy-in NLHE (although it should be NFHE - no fold'em hold'em). Every other hand is an all in because the buy in is only 20 BB. Then you can go over to the Bicycle casino and play $100 buy-in $1/$2 poker, where there are only two players - 80yr old super-tights, and 21yr old hyper-loose.

If you want to play just for fun/thrills, I would always recommend no-limit. If, however, you're looking at a relatively small bankroll that you don't want to risk too much, limit is almost as fun, and much more likely to be poker rather than 2-card roulette.

Okay, by now it's all been said and done, so here's my little story

I decided to get in a $1/$2 no limit game, namely because it was the lowest stakes there and I wanted to "challenge myself", because I'd never played a no limit cash game before. It can't be THAT different from a sitngo, right? Heh heh...I'm kidding.

So I put down $140 (Canadian, mind you) and started playing. It was all quite overwhelming, there were so many people / noises / distractions etc. but I quickly settled into the table, trying to figure out what was what. I could pick up the amateurs from the non-amateurs pretty quickly.

It was a table jsut as t1riel suggested, people were raising between 10 and 20 dollars preflop.

So my strategy was to just play super tight aggressive, because it was my first time and I did not want to try anything fancy. About 8-10 hands in the guy to my right, who had just lost a big pot because he "had to go home" pushes all in for the last $20 or so dollars he has. I look and see AK hearts, so I call. And another gentleman on the other side of the table (who I've noticed has been aggressive) calls too.

The flop came out 6 J Q. I check, the gentleman across checks, and the turn is a 10! Yay! I bet $15 (first time I've thrown a bet out at the table). He thinks about it for a second, calls. My pulse goes crazy. River is a 9. No possible flush on the board, so I raise another $20. He calls, turns over A10 and the guy who had went all in showed A8. So I took a decent sized pot (the largest I've ever won, anyway) and felt pretty happy.

From there on out not too much happened, I won another hand from the big blind with a pair of jacks for around $30 or so. I got a calling station to fold on the turn, that was a small victory for me.

Then there was the hand that nearly busted me. SHOULD'VE busted me. There was a kid sitting at the table, looked my age or younger, with a Pokerstars t-shirt on. So, okay, I get it he knows how to play. He's being tight, folding a lot etc. I'm in middle position and I get KJ offsuit, so I call. The guy to the left of me raises to $8. Everyone folds, the young kid calls. I put him on a legitimate hand. Against probably my better judgement, I call the extra $6.

The flop comes J J 3. Oh boy! I'm first to act, I raise $12. They both call. As soon as the young kid calls I am angry because I put him on Ace Jack. The turn is a blank, checks all around, the river is a blank, I check, the guy next to me bets $20, the kid re-raises to $75 (all in for him). I know I'm beat, but who likes laying down trips? After some thought, I fold, and the guy next to me calls. He turns over pocket queens. The kid turns over Ace Jack. I commend myself for a good read and continue on.

It never really got going again, and I stopped myself when I dropped down to $100. So I lost $40, but I just won $50 the other night playing with friends, so I guess this was like a free trial on a live game at a casino. It's a lot different than online, that's an understatement I'm sure you all agree.

Something else that was a bit suspicious I noticed at the table - there was a father and son playing. They were both really loose and aggressive, it was rare to see them lay down a hand. And a lot of the times they ended up heads up against each other, raising like crazy with absolute crap (2 5 os on a AQJ board) I mean c'mon, is something going on here? The guy to the left of me was making comments like "Look at how they're tag teaming the table" and etc. I was just wondering if this is a common way people hustle poker tables? Has anyone ever run into this sort of thing? Maybe they just wanted everyone to THINK they were just two average guys playing horribly, when in reality they were making serious bank (they did win a lot of chips when I was there). Maybe I'm thinking too much about it. Probably.

All in all, interesting experience. A little dissappointed because I didn't come out ahead, and it's hard to not be upset when your friends win $700 in 10 minutes playing blackjack and you play poker for 3 hours and wind up 40 in the hole. Oh well.

This is a long post. Thanks for reading. Happy new year !

Oh, one more thing, at the casino I was at (Fallsview) they didn't incorperate a rake into every pot. The just took a "session fee" of $5 every half hour when the dealer changed. Soooo that's where a lot of my winnings went. I don't like that, it seems like a rake would be cheaper.

Yes, I have cought people cheating. I have even been fortunate enough to pick up the betting patterns/amounts to take advantage of it.
I actualy cought these 2 kids showing their cards to eachother. Dealer was a rooky looking down the other end of the table.

Yes, it happens quite a bit in no-limit low levels. Don't ask me why, but I guess they don't want to try it on the bigger tables where the dealers actually watch the action. Tag teaming is pretty common, although not to the level to be illegal. It's usually just 2 or 3 players who know each other really well (family members, college buddies, etc), sitting down at the same table, with a tremendous advantage in information about each other, as well as an informal check-down or raise-out tactic. It's technically collusion, but impossible to pin them on, so the best you can do is figure out who's doing it, and either crack their "system" (like going over-the-top of the raise-out, or changing tables.