Getting into Live tournaments, Any advice??

I just recently started getting into live tournaments in my home town... The 1st tournament didn't go really well at all for me, But the 2nd i lasted alot longer and played a bit stronger... I'm looking for advice from anyone who plays regular live tournaments for advice on bringing a good game to the table.. The people i have played against the last 2 tournaments have been really loose non caring players....I called an all in against a weaker player who was holding K 9.....i had A K the call was about 2/3 of my stack.... Ofcourse the donk hit the 9 on the flop to take the pot.... Did i play that wrong or can i just chaulk this as bad luck for me???? any advice would be greatly appriciated...
Thanks everyone, see you all at the tables

I'd work on the following:

- Remembering your hole cards so you don't need to keep looking back at them
- Tracking the pot size as it builds
- Learn the rules of live poker

The rest plays pretty much as it would online.

No doubt, it takes a transition period to get oriented to live poker, after being exclusive on line player.

It is two different worlds and will take some time. So, just hang in there and you will come around ok.

When you play live and dont think of your chips as money, you are half way home.

Good luck

mange

I use to play alot more live games than i do now,but i still play quite a few,things i,ve learned to do might help.
protect your cards!they are your responsibility..unlike on the pc...your cards can vanish if not protected.
Take time to watch your opponents,unlike the computerits much easier to get a read here.and this means alot to you.
Practice at home everything you will do,if you,ve played alot of computer poker,you probably havnt had to worry about things like betting out of turn ect...creating good habits will be very beneficial.
Last thing i would say is take all the time you need,never hurry,once i,ve seen my cards and made my mind up...i still count to at least ten in my head before doing anything....and pay attention to the ones who dont.
Hope this helps

Thanks alot for all the advice, Keep it comming...i Soak it up like a sponge lol....

I sat down at a live table for the 1st time and i felt things i've never felt before playing poker online.
I love the game of poker so just being able to play is exciting enough all by itself, But when i sat down at the table and it was my turn to make a decision i started shaking all over from head to toe , My heart started racing.
I rushed all my decisions, I did'nt apply anything i have learned and studied about poker.
I honestly have no clue what happened.
But the next tournament i attended went a whole lot better.
I was making good reads on ooopnents , taking my time , and i even managed to last alot longer over a slightly bigger field of competitors.

One certain all in call i made on a fellow,

He Goes all in with and i call with .

I took my time to call his all in and actually thought it all the way through, i knew he was a loose player trying to pick up our blinds, so i called and ofcourse the flop comes the turn the river and i lost 2/3 of my stack right before 1st break, i had less than 3 blinds in my stack. I don't think it was a bad call. and i don't think i could have played that any better, What do you think? I was in 1st position and the all in was cut off. let me know what you all think!

Thanks again for all the help. see you at the tables

I'm not sure as to what your talking about here. Be a little more elaborate for me please.

Thanks for all the advice!
See you all at the tables

BTW ....Welcome to cardschat....Have a look around and be sure to get involved...This is a great place to improve your all around poker game. Being apart of the community has its rewards on a off the table.
Hope to play you all real soon!

It's a post with a link to a website. Could just be advertising by a new member with one post. I would disregard it.

Chalk it up as bad luck. Play a tight game. You'll generally do well if it's no big name tournament, as most of them are just there to spend an hour of their time, and lose. Lots of donks at these kinds of tournaments.

Yeah i noticed the individuals i played against didn't really care about the game of poker. Looked like to me they all sat down to see if luck could score them a payout. Poker to me is more than gambling and luck.
There is alot of skill and tactics involved with poker.
I'm hoping that playing against the individuals who don't care will improve me game overall.
I'm positive if i stick to a tight game and make the right reads i can overcome these donks that don't care.
I'm taking every bit of knoweledge from every player in the game.
Everytime i sit down and play i will learn something along the way....
that is what makes a good poker player.

Funny that you mention that you were shaking at the tables your first time. My first time, I was cool until I won a pot, which was big like a lot of live ones are with all the calling stations. The excitement of winning a hand and it being live made it hard to stack and arrange my new pile of chips. I'm sure it looked ridiculous to everyone at the table, what with my arms shaking so bad.

Yea, i was shaking really bad myself with my 1st big pot....I hesitated stacking my chips for the next couple of hands so people would'nt notice me shaking all over lol.....
i never pictured that it would feel like it did to sit down at a real table.
My whole body was really hot and all i could think of was starting hands that were dominantly playable, the card combinations just kept running thru my mind over and over again. I loved feeling the thump of my heart against my ribs.
The sound of the chips on the table
The shuffle of the cards in between each hand
The slight banter from some of the other opponents...
That pretty much did it for me. I'm gonna go for pro... Poker is something i have always dreamed of since i was little and i saw my 1st WSOP.... I was so young but i still remember every sound, and every image.
Come hell or High water i will go pro and do the best i can everytime i take a seat.

So at a big name tournament play is diffrent than a small home game? I mean playing wise.

So i should play a bit more loose with the small home games?
And play tight at a big name tournament?
Any tips between the 2 would be very helpfull..
If Anyone else has any advice i would love to hear it. Thank you all very much for helping me become better

Haha, to be honest, I actually play even tighter in the small home game. This is because, when I do hit a monster set, straight, top two pairs, etc, and I'm lucky enough for anyone to just hit top pair, with low kicker, they will probably call me all the way thinking they are good. I play a tighter game in small games, but also MUCH more aggresive. I know I play a small local game where the blinds are 25cents-25 cents, and most of the guys buy in with 5 dollars only. What I do here is, when I get something like pocket aces, I easily raise to a dollar 50 (6 times big blind), and get called with thigns like king-jack, etc. You gotta decipher the players yourself. Learn how they play. ESPECIALLY learn how much they are WILLING to pay with marginal hands to see a flop. If they pay 10x BB to see a flop, well, bet that with your monsters. Some people will pay just about anything to see a flop. In the end, the best advice is, learn how they play, and adjust accordingly, cause god knows i'm not gonna raise 8x big blind anywhere else :P

Thanks for the advice.

Yea i noticed a few things about the people i play against.
They will put alot in the pot to see a flop on marginal hands. I have to play super tight to get a survivable chipstack.
The only one thing i had an issue with in the Pre-flop coin flips... some of these all in noobs really catch the runners sometimes. It seriously makes me sick to my stomach... The my opponents will never know how much it bothers me to loose that important coin flip.. I show no emotion at the table...

One guy asked me "Don't you get pissed off?"
I'll always reply::: If i got pissed about the little things then poker is not for me.
and if i am pissed off, you'll never know!

at the tables: Show No Emotion .. Show No fear .. Show No Mercy ..
People will stay out of your way until it's time to play...

I find live games much more tough than online. First of all, you can't hide yourself, people see you and can have a read. While bluffing online is only a mouse click, it takes much more cool and nerve to de live (at least for me, I'm tight kind of guy). Also, you meet people who are much more used to reading others and hiding their own emotions, so it could be a problem at first.

Then comes table's atmosphere and all. At first, seeing all those other players so calm, joking, making fun remarks about each other, about other player moves automatically made me nervous. I thought, "how one could be so cool when there are so many things going on here???" Fortunately, this passes with time

After a few times you will get used to the environment in that poker house, you will get used to people, will start noticing small things about them, and will go back to your "normal" poker. And then you will see, that online is just a poor substitute when there's no live game

I am very reluctant to call that much of my stack against a player I know I can out play. I would rather take his chips over the long run or wait for a better situation. K9 is kind of a joke but even if he had say 55 you just risked most of your stack and possibly the whole tourney for a coin flip against a numbskull.

Some may say you have to take more chances but Id rather use my ability against horrible players then to let fate decide.

I also like the use of an MP3 player when Im at a table of new faces. I will chat on breaks but not really while playing. I really dont care that they would have flopped a full house if they didnt fold their 9 7. So I just keep to myself.

I considered wearing the mp3 player once, but really, I think the talking can give some things away at times. Like when they are talking, look at their hand, and their tone of voice changes, they find an excuse to stop talking, they look slightly nervous, you can generally pinpoint when they pick up a monster. Some people, when they pick up a monster, start talking even more, to try and make their hand look marginal. I know a guy who I ALWAYS see when he picks up a huge hand. He'll start talking about the first thing that comes to mind, but funnily when it comes to him, he'll make some kind of joke like "this game is getting too slow for me", and make a decent raise. IT's soo obvious, but with an mp3 player, I might have never picked it up. I think all the information they are willing to give help me out, and their talking is a part of it for me.