LIVE POKER

i have only played tourney poker online... what do you think are going to be my issues when a try to play a live tourney...

so you have never played live or what? it's just like any other poker tournament. stay focused, be alert, read your opponents, trust your reads.

thanks buddy

You'll be very bored inbetween hands .

No seriously though, Live play is a lot slower than online due to the fact that nobody looks at their cards untill its their turn and they don't have an Auto Call/Raise/Fold option!!

I enjoy live MUCH better and I am better live. I don't understand it, but I can play a tournament live and place in the top, while I play online and don't. Play is a little different, you don't see so many 10 2 off, 3 9 plays if you know what I mean.

im with you here, I think its because we know if we bust out we can not just go join another one. Online there is a like a tourney starting every couple minutes but live its that one.

as for your last sentence, you must not play at the Taj too much.

same here crummy... i mean i do ok online in tournaments, but live seems to suit me better. it's just something about being able to look at your opponent.

The very first time I ever played live was right after I moved to L.A.

I had been playing online for a little over 2 years at that point and had just won my first big tourney and my MTT game was sharp.

Hollywood Park in Inglewood had a $100.00 buy in tourney and I decided to cut my teeth live for the first time .

I was nervous as hell but a few friends reassured me that I was playing great and to just relax and play my game.

My strategy was pretty simple....I just kept my head down and pretended I was playing online. I didn't pay much attention to the other players or look for 'tells' or any of that crap. I just stuck to playing position poker and paid attention to stack sizes and betting patterns.

Well I ended up making the final table out of over 700 entries (got 7th...ugh) but after all was said and done I just stuck to good fundamentals and didn't rely on 'tells' or pay much attention to the other players other than their betting amounts and stack sizes.

GLTY

Just enjoy yourself playing the game as it was really meant to be played. Watch your opponents carefully, pay attention and enjoy trying to put your finger on a cold tell. It may come in handy when against this opponent. Pay attention to the blinds, both what the amounts are and when there going to hit ya. You want to throw them in alertly looking on top of your game. If you don't have any chip playing moves, just leave them neatly stacked and don't touch them. Whatever game you bring to the table, is all you got. So just play it and good luck.

really not necessary IMO

I found that chatter or my opponents physical 'tendencies were a distraction. I spent most of my 'down time' studying stack sizes and looking for good spots and basically ignoring my surroundings.

IMO, I think its important to utilize every advantage of playing live. Hopefully he can bring to the table the obvious strategies of playing a good poker game. If he needs to learn the basics, then everyone does start somewhere. But paying attention to opponents behavior along with everything else, is just as important. If not, then just stay home and play online. And if he is a rookie my previous recommendations were trying to help him not look like one. Certainly don't have the time to teach how to play...

live poker is rigged dont play it.

That is the kind of info i was looking for thank you very much for ur input any further stories/advice would be greatly appreciated...

i only played live once 20 dollar buy in made 100 dollars
i found it much easier good luck

live poker is so different. i have many tells, which is my biggest problem. i say just watch out for your tells, and try to pick up on other people's tells.

Live poker > Online poker IMO. 'Nuff said.

agree 100%

I play a local $200 max buy in no limit game here in town every few weeks and I am amazed how bad the players are. Its about the same caliber of player you might find at a .01/.02 game....and thats being kind.

Maybe it's just the neighborhood.

^^^^This

$65 SNGs in AC are like $1.20 SNGs online with the level of play. I had a guy last time try to reraise me after I was already all in (and we were the only 2 in the hand). He tried to reraise me with NOTHING. I had flopped trips and rivered a boat.

Well....it depends. I play the tourneys at the american legions and lodges and guess what...you have to deal. Practice before you go so you don't look like a total dorkus.

Also..pay close attention when its your turn...in live you will see sooo many folding out of turn and reaching for their chips before its their turn. Don't do that for sure lol.

You should get into some good habits in live play. I think the two most important are:
1. Look at others when they are looking at their cards, loads of tells there
2. Don't look at your cards till it is your turn. This prevents you unconciously putting cards aside as if you were pressing the auto-fold button. Also it will help you with habit number one.

cool coolio cool daddy likes... what about talking... answering questions yes no do you have to?

you dont have to talk at all if you dont want to and the only rule in poker at the table is you cant tell the truth lol

I perfer live because you can read your opponents bodylanguage, i do better in live games then online thou I like doing both

Table talk = fun

Don't have to. It is however in many situations required that you give your opponent your stack count. If you look really lost, the dealer will probably help you there.

The thing about live games is that the first couple of times you will be really nervous, but once you get confortable, you can just begin to enjoy being at the table.

In terms of preparation, you should calm yourself down before heading to live tables as the first times shaking and other nervous tells can be a problem.

Remember alcohol doesn't cure your nervousness, it just repositions it into bad play.

I disagree with that. I play most of my poker on live games, and I cannot do any fancy shuffling or anything like I see lots doing.

I just do the bulk standard method of shuffling, nothing great about it. When dealing just slide the cards at low flight to the chipstacks. If you can't reach that far then people will usually help you by sliding them down to the players out of reach.

IMO, it really isn't a big deal (excuse the pun).

you guys are the greatest this has been really informative

Agreed, and worth repeating.

The last time I was in the casino I asked the floor man how many people at the table were locals and or regulars, thinking that someone that plays there often is most likely a much better player. I was wrong. It ended up being me at a table with all locals, and they were loose calling stations.

i haven't played live yet..which would be better to start in? cash games or tournies?

i plan on playing a tourney... i don't think it really makes a difference... cash games are completely different

wow some great info!

thanks