The Transition to Live

In the modern era of poker, there are many people who have played the game either successfully or unsuccessfully, without ever stepping foot in a casino, or even home games. I've personally played many home games, but never played in a casino, as my local casino went 21 shortly after bringing in tables much to my chagrin. With the new legislation all but signed by the Pres, I assume there will be a lot of players making this jump. So you masters of the B&M/Casino game, what advice would you give for these online players that are about to invade your territory?

Live

Live is different.
The pace is slower, you'll see more mistakes, patience is a virtue.
some basics to keep in mind.
Poker Brat is not fun when they are at your table.
Poker brat is not appreciated when YOU are the poker brat.
Be polite, stay friendly, you'll be welcome anytime.

If you want to practice live before putting money on the line, try local charity tournaments.

One that is coming up that I'm working with is in Burlington, Kansas on Nov. 11. An evening tourny, starting at 5 pm, that is a fund raiser for the local chamber of commerce. We expect 50 to 60 people and should finish the final table in about 4 hours. Prizes, but no cash. fun and good practice. Oh, everyone deals, no dedicated dealers, so that is another aspect that people have to get used to in live tournys also. Some, the big prize games, might have dedicated dealers, some, like the one above, will only have a dealer at the final table.

My suggestion is to try some free, local bar tournaments (if you have them available where you live); here in the Denver area we are lucky to have a whole bunch of them where there's a couple going on in different venues pretty much every day of the week. They all have dedicated dealers and small prizes (e.g. $25 bar tab), and they're a great way to practice playing live without putting any money on the line . . . other than what you spend on tips and and bar tabs, of course!

Tonight's home game night for me, though . . . wish me luck!

Probably the main difference of playing live (ignoring tells etc) is the pace of the game. Online you can see up to 8 times as many hands per hour, so you "big" hands happens more often. Live play takes a lot more patience, and in essence mistakes are much more costly, especially if its a tournament. There may not be another game a click away.

Betting for value, spotting the donks early and realising when your beat early is all easier live, so is bluffing against the right player. The only advise i can give you really is to loosen up slightly (slightly) make the realisation that sometimes the chances you take can bust you early, and try to pick up on some of the betting patterns of the opposition.

Oh remember, dont watch the flop, watch the players watch the flop.

Nice thread Josh. Timely too. I am hoping to hit the Kansas City casinos over the Thanksgiving holiday & was going to start a thread along these lines as I haven't played live for years & never in a casino. Looking forward to following this.

Swissy said:

My suggestion is to try some free, local bar tournaments (if you have them available where you live); here in the Denver area we are lucky to have a whole bunch of them where there's a couple going on in different venues pretty much every day of the week. They all have dedicated dealers and small prizes (e.g. $25 bar tab), and they're a great way to practice playing live without putting any money on the line . . . other than what you spend on tips and and bar tabs, of course!

Tonight's home game night for me, though . . . wish me luck!

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The + and - of a bar tourney is that as the game progresses the players tend to get drunk and make stupid calls which is both a + and -, they either suck out or lose thier chips and as the others have mentioned, patience is a huge part of a live game.
Be careful of your manerisms at the table, especially when you have the nuts, and if your sociable at the table stay so all night, even when you have a good hand, DO NOT DISPLAY ANY TELLS.