Playing live compared to online

M

mastahbates

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
May 5, 2016
Total posts
90
Chips
0
I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were when they first played live in a cash game? I play a lot online and the only live games I play are in a pub on a Monday night - no cash involved, just a league structure where the top 3 go through to a regional shoot out. I am thinking of going to a casino nearby where they offer 50NL tables and wondered what the competition is like live? I am a regular 2NL or 4NL player online and thought about taking a couple of buyins down to the casino and trying my luck. I aim to play super nitty and TAG and not chase runner-runner straights/flushes.
 
ovidiu9b

ovidiu9b

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Total posts
290
Chips
0
well it s much nicer to play live especialy when you are surrounded by people you know...but everybody plays much more online than live cuz our time is limited
 
M

mastahbates

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
May 5, 2016
Total posts
90
Chips
0
well it s much nicer to play live especialy when you are surrounded by people you know...but everybody plays much more online than live cuz our time is limited

I completely understand this. I expect the culture of playing live is different in the UK compared to the US. The way I see it is I usually spend 100 quid on a night out on beer and feel like absolute crap in the morning - I could do this or I could go to the casino, play some 0.25/0.50 NLHE and potentially win some money.
 
Beanfacekilla

Beanfacekilla

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Total posts
4,966
Awards
1
Chips
1
Live players in a nut-shell:

Really, really bad for the most part. Most (not all) of them will not be fundamentally sound players. They mostly play loose passive. All they do is call. bluffing is largely unsuccessful, but can be achieved with the proper lines.

There will be a ton of limp-calling preflop. There will be a ton of check/calling postflop.

Basically, your goal is to make TP+ hands, and value bet them relentlessly.


And prepare yourself for some suck outs.


Good luck.
 
dj11

dj11

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Total posts
23,189
Awards
9
Chips
0
My experience is live tourney, not live ring, but I found it funny that as I watched live people playing I was assigning them online personalities.. like Oh! this live guy plays just like so and so online, for most of the players at the tables. I even assigned them online avatars in my mind. LOL. Few if any would have risen to be as good as the average CC player online.

I agree that it might amaze you how bad some players can be. Again, I am tourney, not ring.

If it is your first live experience, bring fewer buy-ins, relax and enjoy it as a learning experience. If you think you will like it then start from the git go learning how the casino works. Things like where the loo's are will be important, so will traffic patterns if it is a busy casino. How to get into a game, what games and waiting lists. Learn these basics.

There are sharks there:eek:, but most will be looking to have a good time, and like you not blow those bucks on another semi-drunk fart fest!;)
 
G

GlassEater

Rising Star
Silver Level
Joined
May 25, 2016
Total posts
22
Chips
0
I'm currently making the transition from online poker to live poker. I have a few notes on the major differences myself. PM me for a few major points that would have saved me a ton of money...
 
M

Matthew tudberry

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
May 27, 2016
Total posts
32
Chips
0
Same as online. Mostly following betting patterns and range tendencies and table momentum. Just like online you get people who will play yen hands consecutively with three real hands thrown in and then nit up, you have to work with table rhythm and use good spots to gain free chips
 
acidburnfx

acidburnfx

Senior apprentice
Loyaler
Joined
May 18, 2013
Total posts
4,836
Awards
16
BR
Chips
1,233
If you are a good observer is possible pick up some standards of players in live game before of the tournament begin. ;)
 
M

MaxMx2

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 31, 2015
Total posts
197
Chips
0
Live poker implies less hands played, the game flows not as fast as it can online. Thus in a live game luck is of greater value.
 
M

mauroc711

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 15, 2015
Total posts
70
Chips
0
the problem of playing live when you're an online player is that an amount is played much smaller hands, you hardly can have great victories using a very tight range, unlike the internet sessions where you can develop a more selective game .
 
E

Eagle604

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
May 19, 2016
Total posts
3
Chips
0
Live vs Internet

I play a lot of both live & internet ring games. On the internet I usually play 1/2 multi table and live I play 3/5 or 5/5.
The internet plays much faster with much bigger swings, while cash games require a lot of patience. You can liven up a cash game by asking the table for a round of straddle, which gets the game going and makes for some large pots. It also get a boring table to interact with each other. Also at a live game there are a lot of casual players, especially on Friday or Saturday nights. Where they are there just for a night out and you can make some great money if you play a solid game.

Good luck at the tables :)
 
Bev

Bev

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Total posts
4,192
Chips
0
my latest experience and so the last one live game was with co-workers at a X-mas party , and I lost all my patience as they kept interrupting play at their turn to tell jokes, get a drink/food, and generally wasted everyone's time. Conclusion, go to an organised game at a hall, casino etc. where there is a designated dealer ,not have each player take their turn, as that was another cause to stop play ... to the point of forgetting where they were while dealing ! I think an organised game would go a lot more smoothly !
 
rflbarreto

rflbarreto

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Total posts
129
Chips
0
I'm currently making the transition from online poker to live poker. I have a few notes on the major differences myself. PM me for a few major points that would have saved me a ton of money...
 
Timmah120

Timmah120

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Total posts
283
Awards
1
Chips
0
Live is simply much, much slower. But, I enjoy the atmosphere. Online is much faster and you can play from the comfort of your own home. The challenge to playing online, though, are distractions. You have to have the discipline to pay attention to the game and NOT put on a movie, browse the internet, etc. I tend to just shuffle my iTunes playlist when I play online.
 
G

GWU73

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Total posts
785
Chips
0
Live poker, at low stakes, is fairly easy. Just try to get value. You have MUCH more useful information about the player's state of mind. You can see who is drunk, steaming, clueless, playing over/ under their comfort level etc. Many also exhibit very obvious tells. Easily exploitable information.
 
quick

quick

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Total posts
1,348
Awards
1
Chips
67
I did my first shot at $1/2 casino live other night and I definitely struggled for a bit following action, calculating pot odds, and generally finding my range and flow. I lost my first BI after a few hours but it was worth the lessons. That table was really tight for a while and mostly tight but average regs.

Just got in from my second longer session there and felt much better. There were a few times when I was once again surrounded by aggressive regs which interestingly is where I made my money from as early on it was mostly passive gamblers. . Once I realized the regs' ranges were massively wide I could get value on TPGK, cheap draws, and in two hands towards end of a 8 hr session, raked in about 3.5BI profit for the night by check -raising monsters and getting stacks in on flops and turns.

I was blown away how the casino scene for live poker really is like Rounders. There's characters, there's lots of regs who know each other, there's the stereotypical players who wear every tell like a neon sign, there's maniacs, there's nits, there's just so much to take in when you play live.

Compared to online, the swings in a session BI can be just as big but I noticed overall probably due to lower hands per hour and obviously 1 tabling that the swings themselves are less. It's much easier and more expected to reload a few BIs online, but for me live, i felt good even when my stack dropped small knowing I could use the smaller stack to build back up.

Basically in my recent limited live experience, everything you've heard is true. If you have ANY live reading ability, which I think anyone can figure out basics in just a few minutes of live play, you can quickly ID the drunk maniac, the LAG maniac, the nit/rock, the grinder, etc. And of course watch players during hands you're not in. I was amazed the loads of info. I've spent years playing micro stake home games so it was useful to have home game experience going into a casino.

I struggled the most adapting to the larger raises, and even with a 5-6x BB pre raise, expect half the table coming along usually. I struggled with reducing C-bets in position on blanked flops, with 5 players in nearly every hand, it's hard to push people off their pairs and draws. I also struggled with following action sometimes and missing out on added value because I didn't want to do the mortal sin of string bets not knowing how much I want to bet and stringing it along.

Definitely have fun, be social. I was nervous initially and even after hours I still felt like my moves were shaky when making chip moves or verbalizing a play. I had a few regs "help me" along , they read me accurately as new to live poker but over time started realizing I was trapping and using my years of knowledge to compensate. For me the appearance of being clueless because at times I was about nuances of live play was a huge edge. I ran like shit both nights most of the time, but played relatively straight forward TAG ABC poker.

Basically just adjust to higher bets and ALOT harder to isolate. There were players pushing 300-500BB stacks to isolate into 100BB pots and STILL failing to isolate. Be social but regs definitely fish for info and tells. Im studying to be a psychologist so even though I was nervous and was showing that shaky movements I knew in the back of my mind it covered my intentions in terms of value betting, check raising. Talk a little if you want but selectively. It's fine to have fun and talk but remember the regs who talk a lot are looking for info and to keep you having fun. I also noticed the regs who talked a lot about how soft, juicy things were easily picked off weak players but if you have any knowledge of poker you'll watch and notice they have wide ranges, they bully, they'll raise 7-8x pre flop "just because" and they'll absolutely run over the table in position. Identify these good but aggressive players early, it was fun chatting but even more fun to take them down a few notches with well timed traps. But don't trap much, play straight forward and someone will generally pay you something. Also some may disagree and maybe after more sessions I might change my tune, but it's ok I feel to flat call on your strong draws sometimes.

One last tip in my early transition I learned, do NOT slow play big hands unless you're in EP/MP and KNOW there's a player after you who can't resist the urge to try and steal. Pay attention and you can set up the more aggressive regs and trap them. But use it sparingly, much better to value bet and give incorrect odds then to risk a slow play that gives out free cards. Play TAG poker and only occasionally play the player not the cards at 1/2 because people WILL call with anything and everything. There will be much more betting pre flop as well and if you're below like 40BB you'll get a lot of pressure to shove/fold on flops.

If you take anything from my live "noob" response it's that if you think clearly and calm yourself a little mentally you can exploit your obvious nervousness and noob flow in the live setting . Most players won't notice, but if someone starts chatting you up and they're a reg or grinder you know you've got them tricked a bit. And take some time to adjust to the inflated bet sizes .

GL.
 
quick

quick

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Total posts
1,348
Awards
1
Chips
67
Also I wanted to add, get used to the feel of the "bigger" money real quick. 1/2 live might play "like" .02/0.05 cent online but losing your $200 stack to some sick suckout or getting like $75 in on a good flop only to have to get trapped and either fold the loss or go all in and hope to catch up and get stacked feels REAL different than losing to the same plays in the micros online.

Even if you're finding a 50NL game live , that's like 12-25x your usual online buy in. Yeah can't think about the "money" when the chips are in play, but losing $50 bucks on the same play you usually lose $4 to hurts. Losing 100BB at $1/2 (usually the lowest offered in casinos) when you're used to playing even $25NL online stings. $200 for a lot of people in real world terms is tangible purchases. I could feel myself shaking when tonight I was facing losing at least $350 or so and possibly another $250 or so. And that was in a 1/2 game! I watched a guy jam a river with close to $400 and he missed the hand he thought he had. So online play lets you see pot size, bet size, and what you have easily. People who really know live play here WILL tell you it's probably softer than 2NL online but the real world dollars difference still takes getting used to.

And definitely take some deep controlled breaths while trying to figure the nuances out. It's tricky and different.
 
Radi

Radi

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Total posts
209
Awards
4
Chips
0
When you play live you can see others emotions but online others can't see your emotions
 
O

Ogkushcap

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
May 5, 2014
Total posts
6
Chips
0
online is more difficult because you play more than one table
 
C

CSINSC

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Total posts
305
Chips
0
I completely understand this. I expect the culture of playing live is different in the UK compared to the US. The way I see it is I usually spend 100 quid on a night out on beer and feel like absolute crap in the morning - I could do this or I could go to the casino, play some 0.25/0.50 NLHE and potentially win some money.


Maybe it's different from where you reside, but I've never heard of a $.25/.50 NLHE game at a casino. I just honestly think they don't go that low. Usually it is $1/2 NLHE & above.
 
6

6bet me

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 13, 2015
Total posts
835
Chips
0
Maybe it's different from where you reside, but I've never heard of a $.25/.50 NLHE game at a casino. I just honestly think they don't go that low. Usually it is $1/2 NLHE & above.

This.

If I could play 25c/50c live poker, then I would. Unfortunately, the lowest stakes are $1/$2. Fortunately though, this means that $1/$2 live games are very soft, since the worst live players go there, whereas if 25c/50c live existed, then all the bad $1/$2 live players would go there and $1/$2 live would become much tougher. So we have to be thankful that live player stakes are much higher, even though the variance can really hurt us.
 
L

lvlalaciuca

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 2, 2016
Total posts
147
Chips
0
you can not compare.
When playing online you can not see anyone emotions and this is essential in poker.
real players play live
 
jgreenman18

jgreenman18

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
May 26, 2016
Total posts
173
Chips
0
I feel like live is just a lot more fun and its nice to just be around other people more laughs and I agree that most live players in their respective levels are not nearly as good as online ones. Online also people play much tighter I believe this is due to the lower quantity of hands you will be seeing.
 
Fish2014

Fish2014

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Total posts
388
Chips
0
my experience in online games and live games first that all playing online play much more hands you live so you get many more bad beats playing live is where you really appreciate the poker remember that these watching players may notice if this nervous and gestures at the table so you can get much more information
 
dragunovich

dragunovich

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Total posts
336
Chips
0
how hard is the transition from online to live?
 
Organize a Home Poker Game
Top