1-2 live games.

Okay I just recently posted a thread where I was having a hard time in 10NL, and I've been playing it the last two days.

So I took in some of your guy's advice, but I also watched a couple video on Phil Helllmuth.

So I play pretty tight, if I'm in position and no one's raised I'll raise suited connectors and thats probably as loose as I get. I'll play an ACE if I'm on the button and no one's raised.

I'll three bet AQ AK, JJ-AA preflop if I have it, if no one's raised I'll play it standard or even slowplay KK and AA.

I do checkraise, I make pot sized bets if I'm in position and caught a piece of the flop and don't want people chasing. And if they do chase its profitable for me in the long run right?

And for the last 2 days I've kinda been killing it on 10NL, and I know that's definitely not enough to really have an idea. I'm just really happy because I moved up from 5nl to 10nl and it was a different game.

My question is, could I possibly beat the 1-2 dollar games at the casino? My buddy says it's ridiculously easy. And I've seen him come home with $500+ dollars before.

I'm sure the losses offset the wins, but do you guys think I know enough to hang in there if I went?

The reason I mentioned this is to let you guys know what aspects of the game I understand.

What I mean by I do checkraise, is if the aggressor raises and I call, and he's been cbetting a lot and I catch top pair i'll check raise or 3bet depending on position pretty aggressively.

My buddy makes it sound like they're really passive, loose players, who don't really have a clue other than how the game works.

I have been to some casinos where they are very loose and call you down with Ace high. Also hard to bluff them as they call with J6 on a board of 10 K 6 2 9.

Also been to other casinos where most players play well and quite tight.

It is always nice to have one or even two players that are very loose and raise with any hand. I think it really livens up a game and if you are patient, you can win some nice pots.

I think you'll be surprised by how soft live 1/2 games are. I'm not saying you'll crush it or even beat it right away, but it's not extremely difficult to sustain a positive win rate just by playing tight ABC poker.

Be patient (might be a bit difficult at first). Pick your spots. And avoid tilt (also very challenging).

Honestly I just read your post and your perception of poker is largely hand oriented. It's nice that your putting emphasis on position. It's also great that you understand position effects your opening ranges. However, lowstakes online poker is the best environment for personal improvement. I know great online players who struggle live because their are components to the game that don't exist online. You see vastly less hands and you have to be incredibly patient. Also, the rake will hurt you bad live. Thirdly, even if you could beat the live 1/2 game why would you want to? travelling expenses, food, and volume would make it impossible. It would be a nice thing to experiment with but don't be surprise if you lost.

In terms of your buddy coming home with all that cash?

I've never met a losing poker player either, funny how that works.

Most 1/2 games I've been to at casino's are fairly soft. Not saying I win every time I play because then I would be lying. But like others said before, if you can stay patient and deal with seeing nowhere near as many hands, then by all means try it out. What's the worst that can happen? You go and lose and don't like it? If so, then just don't go back.

i would have to agree with all of the recent posts. You must stay patient inside of the casino because you are going to see a significant less number of hands compared to online so you cant get frustrated where you basically fold or break even for hours. Your time is coming and you just have to wait and let that fish come to you. I have even moved to the 1/3 games at times because there is an extraordinary amount of limpers at the 1/2 table, which means you are going to have to 3 bet and 4 bet to like 20 dollars just to isolate and get some value. One great thing about 1/2 is that most of the people there play the cash game like a tournament so they will stay in with hands hoping to hit that draw, where a cash game player will sometimes let it go and live to fight another day. Hopefully my opinion has proved insightful

picking the right casino as well to play live is important, here in the Philippines we have large poker establishments anywhere from 7 tables to 35 and it is exclusive only for poker. When you play there expect a lot of sharks, compared to a casino perhaps it is really softer because of the type of audience that plays there