Live tourny advice

lovemiscou

lovemiscou

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Hi,
I am going to play a live tourny at a casino on the 21 and 22 of march. I have only played live tournys twice, so dont have any experience. The buy in is 500+50, they told me when i registered that there will be 100 to 125 players divided in 2 days. I have been reading old post on live poker tournys and found lots of information, but was hoping that you would give me new info on live play.

I learnt that you have to cap your cards to protect them and not to string bet in older post.

Protecting the cards i never did, just because i didn't no but i always say what i intend to bet to the dealer, so no chance of string betting for me.

I am open to any suggestion from you guys, because a lot of you have lots of experience in live tournys.
 
DonSifu

DonSifu

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Basic live tourney poker 101:
In the early stages, play tight, looking for only premium hands in position; you want to give yourself that super tight 'only the nuts' type image. Keep this in mind especially when you showdown in early levels.
As the blinds go up, you'll want to open your range a bit, but still stay fairly tight, and focus on position. Hopefully the early image you've established will help you steal those all essential blinds and antes.
Also pay attention to the other players tendencies; are the folding more than calling? Are the big blinds defending? Are there lots of 3 and 4 bets preflop?
Poker is a game of information, and the ability to adjust based on the information at hand; you probably already know this.
My last piece of advice is to be patient; online players are used to fast action, multiple tables, and 'shot clocks', so in live play, you really have to slow down. I like to say 'be actively patient', meaning that while you know you'll be folding most of the day, stay aware of the action; who's doing what, what hands are winning, etc. So when you do pick up a monster, you extract maximum value.
Okay, that's my input; best of luck and skill to you, hope you take it down!
 
DonSifu

DonSifu

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I suppose this is important too; when approaching the bubble; you'll find plenty of players tightening up, as they want to make the money; so reach deep down inside yourself and find the strength to raise raise raise! you'll pick up a ton of dead money and put yourself in a great position to run deep and make that coveted final table! Cheers!
 
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hffjd2000

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-Look for opponent tells and hide yours.

-Relax (dont show your nervousness).

-Have patience since live poker is slow and tedious one.
 
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Blue_Fossil

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With a $500 buy-in, I suspect the play will be pretty solid overall.

Take your time to act. You don't have the benefit of poker software to tell you how much is in the pot, so you have to figure out 1/2 or 1/3 of the pot on your own. Take the time to get it right.

Play tight, straightforward poker early and pay attention to the other players at the table. Once you settle in and the initial nerves are gone, you can open up a bit.
 
PershingSt

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Best advice I can give is relax and play your game , poker is still poker . Try to pay attention even when not in the hand , so you gather more information that could help you later . I have seen a lot of internet player tend to get bored and only focus during the hands they are in , and believe this is one of the biggest mistakes of transitioning . We don't have HUD's here so we have to use our mind to collect the information and use it to our advantage !
 
Grebbsy

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Remember that tells are a lot more important in live play than they are online. Some say that you shouldn't even look at your cards till it's your turn to play; you should be watching your opponents look at theirs and gauging their reaction to them. Likewise, beware of showing tells yourself. Get into a routine when it's your turn to act so that it's hard for your opponents to read you.

Also don't forget that hands as well as faces serve as tells. Wobbly hands are a pretty sure sign of killer hole cards.

Live poker is not "slow and tedious"! It's the difference between sitting at home watching TV, and going out to see a live show.
 
BentleyBoy

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Hi guys. Having read this thread I think you all offer really sound advice. What I would add is, take time to assess your surroundings and become familiar with what is going on around you before the game starts so that you don't get distracted just when you need to be focussing on your table. Good luck!
 
lovemiscou

lovemiscou

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Thanks a lot for the great advice guys, I will be rereading all you 're post before going to play. I just got Harrington's books on hold'em,so will be reading them
before going to the tourny also.
 
or3o1990

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One thing I'm going to add and something I just experienced while trying to qualify for a live tourney is this.. Be aware of the levels and how many hands you can expect to see on a given level. I play turbo, five minute levels online and when I played a qualifier live the levels were ten minutes. But it played almost like I would imagine a super turbo to play, I saw way fewer hands than I had expected because the play live is just naturally slower.. Fewer hands means fewer opportunities.
 
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cardsharks774

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If your big stack don't change the way you play necessarily. sometime i find i become less or more aggressive because of my stack perhaps make good reads and play per the players at the table rather that your stack. in order to last longer
 
lovemiscou

lovemiscou

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One thing I'm going to add and something I just experienced while trying to qualify for a live tourney is this.. Be aware of the levels and how many hands you can expect to see on a given level. I play turbo, five minute levels online and when I played a qualifier live the levels were ten minutes. But it played almost like I would imagine a super turbo to play, I saw way fewer hands than I had expected because the play live is just naturally slower.. Fewer hands means fewer opportunities.

It's going to be 30minutes blinds with a 10000 starting chips, so i should be ok to play a tight game?
 
or3o1990

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It's going to be 30minutes blinds with a 10000 starting chips, so i should be ok to play a tight game?

I honestly couldn't tell you from experience, I play almost exclusively online but I hope to transition eventually..

But with 10k to start with I'm sure you'll have time to work. It's just something that takes some adjusting too. Even with more time you see fewer hands.
 
Dlattanzio

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i felt the diference first time playing live, but you get used to it. Just dont be too hard on your mistakes.
 
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donkcentralFF

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It's going to be 30minutes blinds with a 10000 starting chips, so i should be ok to play a tight game?
Yes! Wait for big hands and make sure u raise top level hands at not 2 many people know how to fold their hands early on... Goal should be around chip average at first break and make your moves from there.. Play position and you should have a solid run
 
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