So, my first time playing live @ HardRock

All I can say is playing live is easier and harder at the same time vs. playing online!

The way people played $1/$2 NL was exactly like $0.01/$0.02 NL (or worse)! Lots of times the whole damn table would be playing.. but anyway.. I seem to be able to read people well, I knew I could read my friends but I was able to put people on certain cards A LOT easier than I ever could online.

The only problem I have is that I have gotten so use to multi-tabling online that I found myself losing patients and playing in hands that I had no biz being in at all. The combo of this + sleepyness + carelessness + getting horrible cards/flops caused me to tilt and lose all of my money. I played for around 10 hours, turning $200 into almost $700 then losing it all due to the reasons above..

For about 2 hours I didn't hit a single high card, then I hit AKs.. flop I hit nothing.. the guy goes all in, I go all in.. He hits a straight.. 6 high.. Fml. I learned a lot about live play, and personally I feel that I'm going to quit playing online.. I never realized how much just being able to see a person can really help.

Plus, how can you get free drinks or a back massage from sexy females? The collect rake but don't give you nothin! lol. Anyone else play at hardrock in tampa fl?

the way the table was playing it sounded like when me and my friends play poker at my house they would call with anything jeez come on guys learn how to play poker.

The only difference is this is with a lot more money :P.

Oh and I also busted about 6 people :P Not sure if that is good or bad for 10 hours of live play.

if you want to play people with more skill then sign up for a small tournament.

Who says I wanted that? lol. I hate tournament style play anyway I suck at it.

Plus live tournament structures (at least, ones with buy ins under $500 or so) are invariably awful. Definitely stick to the cash games.

Sounds like a pretty standard experience. Just remember that the swings are going to be big, even when you're playing well.

dont have enough patience? I agree they do take very long.

Hmm I don't know about that one SNGS are alright, but some tournaments are short and take less patients than cash.

Yeah no diff from online play. My first big hit I had trip aces, 2 people went all in and I called, one had KK, the other won it with 64s for the flush. She hit it on the river.

She cashed after that but didn't knock me out, I still had the biggest stack even after that hard hit lol.

OK. For starters, let's ignore the premise that we should play in tournaments because the fields are better. One, I'm not sure that's true and two, even if it were true why would we want to play in the game with the better players? But let's ignore that and get down to brass tacks.

In a tournament you pay a fixed fee to the casino. Once you've paid that tournament fee the casino doesn't make any more money off your play until you bust. So particularly in low buy in tournaments, it's in the casino's best interests to bust you as soon as possible so you can get back to cash games / slots / table games / whatever. As a result, casino tournament structures around the world are pretty awful and fees are (relatively) high. We're talking worse structures than online turbos here.

Unless you know the field is really bad or you're just doing it for a laugh or some cheap experience or something I'd steer clear and just stick to the cash games.

IDK if all this is exact...The closest casino to me is about an hour away. On Friday they have a $150+15, which ive played numerous times. The field is mixed between solid and fish type players and I never spend more than the $165 when i go play there, whether it be slots table games or whatever. On top of that the structure is very well layed out, and I enjoy the game a bit more than i do online.

So my comment in regards to OP is that play whatever you feel COMFORTABLE with. Regardless if you are a cash game player or a MTT player just be comfortable and play the solid poker you know how. If the board puts a straight or a flush in front of you then fold your AA.

ALWAYS leave when ahead...How long did it take for you to turn 200 into 700??? Trippling your starting stack is a good thing. I usually leave the cash table after I double.

Long story short get out when the getting is good and take your money and run. Sorry you lost it all but this would be a completely different post if you had turned 200 into 700 within 3 hours rather than losing it all in 10.

[quote=IcyBlueAce;1354884]All I can say is playing live is easier and harder at the same time vs. playing online!

Definitely agree with you there!

...I seem to be able to read people well, I knew I could read my friends but I was able to put people on certain cards A LOT easier than I ever could online.

Another 'agree with you there.'

The only problem I have is that I have gotten so use to multi-tabling online that I found myself losing patients...

Also agree with you there. If I go card dead my mind wanders beyond my table & I'll tend to start to people watch...@ other tables...in the poker room...walking by the poker room.

...I played for around 10 hours, turning $200 into almost $700

Glad to read that you had an enjoyable time, until...

...losing it all due to the reasons above.

Sorry to read that.

...I never realized how much just being able to see a person can really help.

Yes, reading tells are much easier live & in person.

For me, the social aspect of live play is kudos over online. Also you never know who you'll network with across the table. We were @ the same table as Howard Lederer & Annie Duke's Dad one night...very nice & humorous fellow, heard some entertaining stories about his 'kids.'

Mis-reading the title... I was thinking you played some music there!

10 hours at a cash table? I sure would have fallen asleep too!

The fee's certainly reasonable. How many people usually enter and how long does it usually take to play down to a winner or, better yet, got a strucutre sheet giving the starting stacks / blind sizes and level durations?

I was a tired excited greedy first timer, what can I say? lol. It took me around 7-8 hours or so, then they moved our table (same people, spots, ect.) and after that for some reason I started getting terrible hands and then playing them out of bordom.. So for the next 2-3 hours, my stack slowly started to grumble.. Finnally tilted and went all in with around $200 or so and yeah like I said from the OP, bust!

Same exact thing happens when my buddies and I play our monthly tourneys, half of us know how to play HE and the other half don't which makes it a very interesting game at times. To be honest I don't like but at least we get together once a month to play some cards.

1: I played at the Hard Rock in Tampa a couple times in November 08. Ended up driving down after our Spur Ride to play some cards, take the long four day.
2: Thanks to OzExorcist for the brilliant explanation of casino tournaments. I hadn't considered why they would suck, and you hit the nail on the head.
3. If you can't sit at the table for ten hours, don't sit at the table for ten hours. The max buy-in in Florida is $100, so I believe (not a resident and haven't been there lately). So get up and take a break after a few hours. Cash out, go get something to eat, talk to your friends. After 15 minutes, you can come back and buy in for $100. The longer the money stays on the table, the more delicious it is for me once you get card dead.

And experienced live players can tell a card-dead player. And eventually they get bored, and instead of cashing out (smart), they open up their range of hands and start playing their stack, thinking "I'm 350BBs behind, surely they can't call my bet." When the other player is thinking "Well, I've only got 35 BBs left, and if my draw hits I'm going to double them up.")

If I was up $700 at a 1/2 NL Table and was hours into the adventure, I'd probably walk.

Some casinos in California, rather, card rooms in California, have a fixed buy-in of 20 BBs, or some other amount. For instance, my preferred table, the 2-3 NL at the Bike, used to be a fixed $100 buy-in. They also have a 1-3 Table with an 80 buy-in, and a 1-2 table with a $40 buy-in. The 2-3 recently switched to 100-300, so you can buy in for the 100 big buys, but I surely digressed LOOOONG ago. Sorry for the tangent.

What I think I was getting at was this: Well, f***. I don't remember what I was getting at. I think something to say that a bad player (not saying you're a bad player), sitting on my left at one of those weird buy-in restricted tables caught a huge hand on a 6-7 way pot, and raked it for $700. I could tell he was a bad player (why oh why was he on my left! And never involved in a hand with me . . . WHY!?!?) because of tells you don't get from online. (The way he stacked his chips, 8-9 towers, none of them even, taking from different stacks, even though all the chips were the same $5 chip, and frequent admission that he was a bad player. Also I bet into a pot after the flop once, got re-raised, thought about it, folded, and he said "You didn't even call him!? You were the initial bettor!")

I've been playing cash games for a while, and the only times I make money are when I get up when I'm card dead, or I realize the table dynamic has changed in a way that I'll be losing money to stay (if I can't shift gears). You've gotta say to yourself "What is the best way for me to make money at this table?" And if the answer is stand up, then so be it.

=P

Long post.

Also:
4. When I was there they didn't have free drinks at the Hard Rock. I had to pay $6.50 for a watered down rum and coke. 5 deep and not even buzzed.

Well when I got up to $700 the first time I went, I caught some very nice hands and had some very stupid people play me in them.

I don't remember specifics but I'll explain a few. The first time I caught pocket aces, I raised a good deal, had a few callers, then one guy flopped 2 pair so he raised it pretty high. I call, the turn is an ACE, the guy goes all in, I call.

Holding J10s I flopped the nut straight. Had like 2-3 people that were doing crazy bets/raises for some reason, I knew they didn't have anything, maybe a pair or two.. So anyway we all end up going all in.. 2 pots were created, one lucky piece of shit that went all in with 24s or something like that hit a flush, got one of the pots, but I got the other (which was still a good bit).. The lady cashed as soon as that happened. Kinda ticked me off.

Once again I got dealt pocket aces, lots of limpers so I made a decent raise then the guy after me goes all in.. I call. He was holding KK. I won.

After that I hit a few more great hands.. then I went SO card dead it wasn't even funny.. like for hours.. I seriously think some of the tables may be rigged in some way, this only started happening after they made us switch tables to clean.

It might be a good idea to bring an iPod if they allow it? Maybe you could buy a couple games for it. I know in tourneys I've seen several people do that. But, maybe they don't allow it. I'm just thinking it may help with the boredom problem..

Never been there.

I've heard that $1/$2 live is just like 01c/02c online. So it makes sense.

As long as you didnt lose your rent and you had fun everything is all good.

To keep from getting bored i just drink alot i mean alot an talk shit to the table.I don't recommend every one else doing this o most people can't drink a case of beer an still pass a sobriety test.Plus i play better buzzed ummmm actualy i think thats probably a bad thing.

Ya, Ace. One of the things about being card dead, is you need to realize you're card dead, and walk away. I have a problem where I'll catch a rush of cards, and be able to steal a few pots as my hands start deteriorating, but after looking at Q2 off and 93s so many times, you start having impaired judgement.

If I win a huge pot I won't dodge a table (especially live, when it took an hour of driving to get there, and I expect to play 3-4 hours of cards, minimum), but I will slow down, and if I catch myself slipping I'll stand up, stretch my legs, and give myself two orbits or losing a moderate pot until I stand up.

And in live games I consider it polite to warn the table if I'm sitting deep after a monster pot. "Hate to hit and run, but if I don't start getting cards here I'm gonna go to the gym." And then I'll go to the gym, come back, and play some more. Not everybody has the convenience of having a gym membership near a casino though. Or the advanced planning to have a gym bag in their trunk at all times.

But you get the idea. Get your money off the table when you notice you're game is slipping. Because I guarantee everybody is shooting for that money. Go get some ice cream, a snack, anything.

Also, if you know a tournament is coming up, and you're up say . . . $600 and the buy-in is $50, well makes perfect sense.

I find the trick to live cash games is not winning big pots, but winning big pots and not bleeding chips for hours. I don't know if your game is the same as mine though.

/shrug

yea it is true lots of live players r not very good my first time i played live was about 2 years i never seen anyone try to pull off any moves everyone just played their cards and you could bet them off with any small bet.

Didn't read the whole thread and I may be off topic by now but I have played at the HardRock in Tampa and it had very loose tables. I couldn't bet anyone out of a hand several times raised 10BB pre-flop and had multiple callers.

This is pretty much exactly it, my plan for next time is once I double up, I'll see how things goes from their, and if I'm card dead, I'll get up, take a break, then start at a new table.

Kinda pointless anyway to stay at a table when your doubled up, usually no one else has $200 at the table when I've played. Maybe 1 or 2, but those are the players that actually know what they are doing.. and whose wants to play them? lol

If thats true what is a $0.25/$0.5 online equivalent to live?
$25/$50??

Well its more of an expression.

$1/$2 live is actually a mix of players online, $1/$2 and below. So you get pretty much a mix, sense $1/$2 live is the lowest stake, new/bad players have no choice but to play those stakes if they wish to play poker.

Also, it is the casino, more gamblers rather gamble in person than online. They are their to socialize and have fun, not look at a computer monitor.

Listen, 10 hrs is the norm or apoker player to sit in one session. I play at commerce casino in LA three to four times a week and all sessions are atleast 8-12 hours. You are right on every point, my ability is so much better live when u can read and react just at one table. Multi table hurts ur live game alot. Keep it up and gl on the flets

So, Icey, how's the live game coming along?

Only have gone twice so far, I've been busy and I'm not even in town at the moment (as most people).

I plan to go back sometime in a week, around the 4th of January.

$0.25/$0.50 online is widely considered the equivalent of $2/$5 live

$100-$200nl online = $1000nl live

Nice. I imagine I'll find myself there once or twice more sometime towards the end of my military contract, should you find the interest or the time I'll let you know and we can play there sometime.

Biloxi just seems so much more a lucrative opportunity though. But for somebody who lives in Florida and doesn't have a deployment of money saved up, I imagine the Hard Rock's always-full card room would be what's good for you.

the HR is a bingo parlor hard to play when everyone plays all hands there are other card rooms in the area try those the poker is better

Hard to play? You mean easy money? Why would I wanna play better players? lol.

I just moved to tampa and should be visiting the poker room asap, I am interested in hearing more about the cash games there since apperantly the best mtts are at the dog tracks..

Icy, any idea on best tables, times to play, or regs?