Live poker help

I am going to play live today in a local casino. When I played last time( a while back)I lost (obviously) because at that point I have very little idea of various things I have learned since joining cards hat and playing in the free rolls and learning from the great advice given here. I hope I am better than before but definitely not super confident to take it down.

Please can some one give me tips on playing live. I especially have difficulty assessing the various items which is much easier in online poker ....like other player chip count, where you stand in the ranking, average, how much is in the pot etc.

Thanks in advance for your tips and do wish me luck. I will come back and post how it went.

Skrsh76

Live poker is much more different than online play. Many opponents aren't considering things that you are worried about keeping track of and I think live opponents are just insanely weaker than online opponents. Because of this, you must relentlessly use position and aggression against them and you'll be taking down pots consistently.

Thanks Tilt.. Any other views?

Patience is probably one of the most important aspects of playing live, especially if you're moving from online to live. I notice that playing live I'll play hands that I normally wouldn't play, just because I feel like I haven't played a hand in a while.

The game as far as how to play should be basically the same, but a few tips:

1) Don't look at your hole cards until it is time for you to act. Maybe you aren't picking up tells yet, but you don't want to be giving them off either.

2) Don't look at the flop until it is your turn to act...same rationale

3) throwing in 1 oversized chip is just a call. It's a good idea to verbally announce your intentions before any chips come across that line

4) If you get moved to a new table, the person with the most ante chips at the table has often been stealing a lot; but occasionally he's just buying up the small chips to help out the dealer in preparation for the race off....

5) there should be several TV screens that display what the average stack is...that is good enough until it gets bubbly. You don't really need to know your exact tournament position, just be more concerned with your chip position at your table.

6) Counting stacks is a learned skill. try to keep track of how many of the "big" chips each player has since it's usually pretty easy to eyeball how many smaller chips they all have

7) it's a little easier to steal on the last hand before break because so many players are trying to get to the bathroom, the bar, or busy texting their friends their exact chip count.

8) Don't worry about making exact change for your blinds and antes.....just put out the chips that get you the closest and the dealer will do the rest, it's no big deal to put out a $1,000 chip when blinds are 400/800.

9) Be nice to your dealer, they work very hard.

Read Caro's Book of tells, then Navarro's books. While many have read them and may use the insights contained in these books to give off false tells, it will still help you focus and the kind of behaviors to lot for in a live game.

Just be patient...Online moves a lot faster than live. You might see 60 hands per hour online and 30 hands per hour live. Unless you have an old dealer then it is 20. Also make sure you are betting enough with your strong hands especially in low limit live games you will get a lot of callers so these bets are going to help you thin the herd.

During "down time", when you're not in a hand, pay attention and take notes.

I recommend my Poker Notes Live App - free to try

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/pok...icial-poker-notes-live-support-thread-233202/

Watch your bets because online is as easy as seeing amounts infront of you , this is one of the things which are difficult to convene when you play online only.

good luck!

thanks all for the tips. Very helpful.. I did quite a bit of these mistakes.. Let me list my learning them

1. Looked at the hole cards as soon it was dealt. Probably everybody figured out pretty early I was a novice and TAG.. My "logic" was since I was new I need to calculate how much I need to bet if none opens the pot or with few limpers or a open raise.. I was so much obsessed with bet sizing I was not thinking properly.

2.Especially in the early levels when everybody is very deep there is always at least 3 or 4 each hand.. just limping with all sort of hands.. so Premium hands will have to bet big and not afraid to barrel a few streets.

2. Not sure if others felt like me but having gotten used to seeing the cards all the time in online I had to look at the hole cards a few times..But it got better after a while

3. I didn't do this but ... as luck would have it there was another probably first time player doing all kind of mistakes.. put in chips which is not really a raise or call and not doing anything and all the players were jumping on him after a couple of times

3. Surprisingly I found the speed quite fast.. none of the players were taking more than 15-20 sec at the max to make their decision except on rare occasions which was a tough spot and understandable..

4. One of the key aspects is to keep your concentration on the table especially to post your Blinds and Ante's as I was prodded by dealer and other players for them and once folded my BB when there were only limpers..

5. Player try and talk a lot more though not very intimidating but trying to push you off your comfort zone.. have to get used to it..

All in all I did sustain for 6 hours and finished 50th of around 110 players when I had to shove with around 20BB my AcTc to Button min raise. He called with 55. Though I hit T in flop but 5 came on the river

Happens all the time so get used to it.
Dont worry awlays have tomorrow all the time is infront of you.

Oh, yeah....I should have mentioned this

MEMORIZE YOUR HOLE CARDS in that short pause before the dealer puts out the flop. Do this every time including suits regardless of what your hand is.

If the flop comes with 2 or 3 clubs and you have to check your hole cards everyone will automatically know that you don't already have 2 clubs, and they'll figure you have a black Ace or black King and you are trying to see if it is a club or not....

And if you usually DO check your hole cards and this time you DON'T They'll already know you have a strong hand that is easy to remember, like two black AA or AK of diamonds or something....so just always look again and memorize even if you already have it memorized, do it again.

Also, when you have your hole cards memorized you eyes will be free to watch those players who DON'T have them memorized and you can pick up this useful information for free...

Also, in live games and tourneys some players who call bets out of position will "check in the dark" thereby trying to neutralize their poor position...I usually think this is a sign of a weak player and I just continue as if they had looked at the flop and checked to me...which frequently means a Cbet in a heads up pot...

Also, try to take roughly the same amount of time on your decisions and actions each time, so if you usually take a few seconds to call or fold and this time you insta-call I'm gonna be putting you on a draw...

Try to put your chips in the pot the same way each time so if you sometimes slide out a stack slowly and deliberately and sometimes you flick your chips into the pot, sometimes you state the amount and sometimes you just push in that amount of chips in a messy heap that falls over...all of these things help your opponents figure out the strength of your hand....so just pick 1 way and stick to it.

My way: First I announce my action like "raise" or "call" but I don't announce the amount. Then I make those chips into a neat stack and slowly slide them just past the betting line...maybe 6 inches past the betting line... I do it this way every time regardless of the strength of my hand.

missjacki said:

The game as far as how to play should be basically the same, but a few tips:

1) Don't look at your hole cards until it is time for you to act. Maybe you aren't picking up tells yet, but you don't want to be giving them off either.
I disagree. If everyone is waiting to look @ theirs, and are stare at whoever its on, you can look @ your whole cards when no one is looking at you. And playing 1-2 live isn't something worth waiting to look when its on you IMO.

2) Don't look at the flop until it is your turn to act...same rationale
Depends. Sometimes staring at your opponent may give off the false tell that YOU are weak.

3) throwing in 1 oversized chip is just a call. It's a good idea to verbally announce your intentions before any chips come across that line

4) If you get moved to a new table, the person with the most ante chips at the table has often been stealing a lot; but occasionally he's just buying up the small chips to help out the dealer in preparation for the race off....

5) there should be several TV screens that display what the average stack is...that is good enough until it gets bubbly. You don't really need to know your exact tournament position, just be more concerned with your chip position at your table.
This I agree on. Its nice to know where you are once it gets close to the money, but ultimately worry about your BB.

6) Counting stacks is a learned skill. try to keep track of how many of the "big" chips each player has since it's usually pretty easy to eyeball how many smaller chips they all have
:icon_salu
7) it's a little easier to steal on the last hand before break because so many players are trying to get to the bathroom, the bar, or busy texting their friends their exact chip count.
Dont get carried away with this...

8) Don't worry about making exact change for your blinds and antes.....just put out the chips that get you the closest and the dealer will do the rest, it's no big deal to put out a $1,000 chip when blinds are 400/800.

9) Be nice to your dealer, they work very hard.

Click to expand...

Added in bold my response