online cash player having a go at live tournaments

I'm probably off to a casino tomorrow to play in a tournament.


Does anyone have any basic adjustment tips for playing in a live tournament aimed at an online cash player.

i.e steal less or more than you would at a cash table.

I'm not really after a manual on how to play tournaments, just a few pointers in the biggest differences between cash and tournaments.

I have no pointers, you wouldn't want them lol
Just wanted to say Good Luck!

Thanks.

I'm not expecting to do brilliantly, but I just fancied having a go live. I have played in home games but that's the extent of my live game experience hehe

Lol that is about my extent. I would think the online would be harder, but I don't know. Let us know how you make out.
Oh and going from cash to tourney, might be alot harder. lol

During the earlier stages, tight is right is usually a good strategy to follow. You shold play more cautiously when blinds are still low. You don't have to get committed to pots with marginal hands like A10, QJ, KJ, etc. Not saying not to play them, you just dont have to and you don't have to get your stack in with these hands. Look to limp in with small-mid pairs and suited connectors as you'll be getting great odds to hit your hand. To vary your game, raise with these hands if you're first to open in mid-late position.

OBV, with higher blinds you're going want to open your range and play more marginal hands. Especially if your stack is dwindling. The marginal hands you tried to avoid playing for stacks early on are (sometimes) going to be the hands you want to play for now. Raise/3-bet shoving with QJo, etc. These are the types of hands that may make or break your tournament, but they're also the hands that'll determine if you'll min-cash or make the final table.

When blinds get bigger, you can lower your raises to 2.5-3x BB instead of standard 3-4x BB. This is just as effective, but you save chips if you need to fold to a 3-bet or anything. Really good if you're blind stealing, the 2.5x raise is really strong. A lot of the time, when blinds are really high, players arent going to want to play weak hands OOP and will give it up. And when they do raise, you can fold (if you're weak) and not have risked that much. Sometimes, a smaller raise is just as effective.

...Blinds are 600/1200, a raise to 1250 might work, too...depending on the player.

Cliff notes:
-Tight early/avoid marginal hand situations
-Aggressive late/be prepared to play marginal hands for stacks if you need to
-Raise less when blinds are high.

Thanks thats much appreciated

Great post philthy,

I singled out this one suggestion to add that if you have a big Pocket Pair from early position,you are better to make a bigger raise and narrow the field.You dont want in a multi-way pot with a big pair.You are much better imo to take a small pot down than play a bigger pot multi-way.


Snow

Good luck in your tourney, I want to give a first go as well, so this helped me out as well.

just play knowing you only want to play with hands that are worth your whole stack... and don't c-bet live players if you miss they are all mostly idiots and call down all stupid

Thats worth knowing!

I would have lost half my stack before realising!

what about blind stealing? How light do they call?

What's the buy in for this tourney?

Not so much blind stealing, but one thing I would advocate more so for live play especially if the table is passive (which it may well be) I like to raise limped pots pre, and with 2+ limpers my range for doing this gets a lot lot wider, as the blinds start to go up you can pick up pots without a flop and if they limp/call, a cbet will often take down a tasty pot and boost your stack. This is particularly effective from the button and the cut off.

I get the impression from your posts your a solid cash player, if you stick to a tight ABC approach and pick some decent spots there's no reason to think you can't do well, best of luck

I love c-betting in the mid stage of a live tourney. And even more so near the bubble. I find that live tournies are way tighter than online. When you get that opponent that likes to play back at you tread carefully.
Where I play there tends to be a lot of peeps trying live tournies after they'e dabbled online for abit. They usually make simple mistakes like tossing in a big chip without announcing raise and acting out of turn.
Dont be afraid to ask the dealer about overchip rules and string bets. This serves two purposes; brings you up to speed on live game etiquette and makes you look like a fish to the other players. I do this whenever I change tables and I dont know anyone at the new table.
Live tournies are a blast man! Good luck!

$100 ish (£60)

He is hardcore, makes people cry @ the tables, felt and virtual... He can take a verbal beating too and laugh it off, he is a pro...

if this tourney is any less than $50 buy in, the structure is going to be a POS, with like shitty 20 minute levels and a minor starting stack which only equals 20-40BBs. Welcome to cheap buy in crap shoot tournaments... shove and hope to get lucky or have everyone else fold...

seriously most live tournaments that arent above $100 - $300 have crap structure... see like 4 or 5 hands in each blind level, it's crap.

especially when you get the retarded old man who is constantly counting how many chips he has... it's like "DUDE GTFO ALREADY!"

Well I'll find tomorrow, I don't really know what the blind structure is.

Part of the reason I want to play is just to experience the live poker scene a bit. So $100 for a nights entertainment is fine, but if the blind structure means it turns into a donkfest in the first 90 mins then I wont be going again!

but you flop the straight and someone will hit 2 pair and not improve and they will pay you off hardcore, where is the tourney? but I'm generally speaking for the people I play in $35 - $350 tournaments at my local casino people with money and little to no common sense...

Great point about the structure. Those tournies with short levels and starting make it tough to play solid poker. The c-betting comment I made applies to 30 min levels or more with a stack of at least 40 bb.
Theres a monthly tournament near my place with 40 min levels and 80 bb as the starting stack.
Again, have fun man

just remember that live games if you hit a pair your chances of win the pot i good unless someone has a overpair or better pair then yours. most of the time 2 pairs will win more pot then any other hands.

No experiences with this situation...so no tips to provide >>> just wanted to keyboard Best Wishes & have fun Stu_Ungar!

^----- This, I would never go to showdown with 1 pair, but 2 pair seems to be a huge winner in tourneys, you can exploit that in your opponents and NO FREE CARDS!!!

I'd say you'll enjoy the side action more!

Yeah defo!

Wow, the great Stu Ungar asking for advice, I'm impressed! You've helped me out tremendously on this forum, so I'll do the best I can. I'm in no way an expert in live tournaments but I have played in dozens of them and I have won a few as well.

The first thing I can tell you is that in live tournaments, you don't have a hud, so be very observant and take mental notes. When you first sit down at the table, immediately start observing all the players at the table. Things to look out for:

- When players look at their cards. If a player looks at his cards before it's his turn to act - most likely a beginner/casual player. Solid/experienced players will wait until it's their turn to act before looking at their cards.

- Listen to players talk, listen to how they bet, etc. Get a good feel for experience levels.

- Chip protectors/players protecting their cards. If they do, they've done it before, if they don't, they haven't, pretty simple.

- Try to determine who the table sheriffs are (don't try to bluff and steal from them), who the maniacs are (set them up for a trap), who the weak/passives are (steal/bluff them), who the call stations are (get value from them) and who the solid tags are (play your best game against them).

As far as strategy, tight is right for tournament play. Wait for good cards, in position. Only play monsters from early position and come in strong. Do not necessarily raise 3x, 4x the bb with good cards. Observe what the table is doing. If you see that 3+ people on average are coming in when someone raises 3x, then you obviously need to raise more if you're looking to isolate. I know this isn't what Philthy is telling you but it has worked for me.

Since the tournament is most likely what you would consider a "turbo" online with the blinds increasing every 15-20 minutes, you may need to take a "take down the pot" approach. Realize that you have a limited amount of time and chips here, this is not a 300 bb deep stack cash game. Getting a strong draw to fold in these types of tournaments isn't necessarily a bad thing and if they don't fold, you're getting plenty of value when they don't hit,

Pay attention to blind levels. As they go up, so should your agression when you enter a pot. I do recommend c betting, try to avoid double and triple barreling if you don't have at least 60+ bb. Remember, this is a live tournament, most people will be playing ABC poker.

Best of luck to you and let us know what happens!

Remember that you wont be getting many hands per blind level. I play live tournaments a couple of times a week that have 15 minute blind levels. In each level there will generally only be about 8-10 hands played.

Try to keep an eye on all the stack sizes at your table. This was the hardest part of playing live when I first started, just knowing which chips are worth how much etc...

Best tip is to not take it too seriously and have fun!

I don't got any advice, but there are great tips in the thread. I'm yet to play in a live tourney, but with the advice here i'll be more prepared. Thx everyone for posting helpful tips.

Well got busted out after 3 hrs.

There were two very sucky hands.

1. I had 2 pair on the flop, bet out got raised, called. turn was a blank .. I called to prevent anyone thinking they were getting "great odd to call with a FD" intending to shove the turn if the didnt flush hit. I shoved the turn.. massive overbet and instantly got called.. flush hit and I lost a fair few chips.

Made it back to average stack size before the break.

2. After the break many people were plaing shove or fold. I had AK. torn between shoving or smooth calling and shoving the flop. Big raise before me, so I figures, shove. Guy flips over A6, flop brings the Ace, turn and river are 6's giving him a FH.

Down to an M of 9 I think.. 3 people went all in, I hand A2. I figured, OK I'm probably beat, but the chance of tripping my stack and possibly clinging on by the skin of my teeth was worth it.

Preflop I actually had the best hand! but some guy with 86s actually made a FH!!

So I was out!

Still I enjoyed the night so will probably return!

I think it was the night for FH's I made one myself when I checked the BB awith Q3 on a Q33 board. One guy led out small, I called but that was it, nomore money went in the pot, I raised the turn and he folded.. everyone else went out on the flop. (unfortuantly Mr I cant fold a hand was on a smoking break at that point!)

Welcome to Live Donkament Tourneys -

Yeah 4 limpers to every pot!

WTF, I have yet to sit down at a live table & already your makin fun of me.

Glad you enjoyed the experience Stu, quick study like you ought to do well live.

hehe...



Nice to see you enjoyed it, where did you play, somewhere local, London/Nottingham? If you decide to make it a regular thing trust me it's ALL ABOUT the post tourney busto degen cash action

There is a guy where I play that is on the hottest streak right now. He plays soo bad, I try and get on his table every time I play as I know there will be chips flying about everywhere. Since I started playing late last year I have not seen him cash once. Until now, He has won 5 out of the last 8 tourneys! These are tournaments with between 40 and 80 people so that is quite an amazing feat... Im still going to try to get on his table as his confidence will be through the roof and ill just sit there patiently waiting for my big hand. Then hell probably suck out on me...

You get to choose where you sit? That's ace! With the numbers I assume this isn't some sort of back door game?