Going from online to Live

Hey guys,

This is my very first post. I have been playing poker for a decently long time. I am 23 now, and can remember playing online back when it was legal in all states. I have played on and off a lot since then, but recently, in the past year to two years, I started really diving into the online poker scene. I am from the Chicagoland area, so I am not allowed to play on the major poker sites such as pokerstars and the others, so I mainly play on Bovada. I accumulated about $9k on that site by playing various tournaments and sit and gos, and withdrew all of it. I put some away in the stock market, but kept some to play more poker to see what I could really do with it. I have been to Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Indiana about 5 times to play in the $100-$130 deep stack tournaments, and in all 5 of those tournaments, I have busted. I really am trying to better myself at the game and am having a hard time making the switch from online to live. What would you recommend I do in this situation? I appreciate you all taking the time to read this and am looking forward to your replies!

Thanks.

Hi! Welcome to the forum! I moved this to the Live poker forum to hopefully get more replies for you.

For my two cents, I would say that 5 tournaments is too small a sample to gauge success or failure. Downswings can and do happen. My advice would be to keep playing smaller buy-ins to get a better feel for the pace of live.

Tammy said:

For my two cents, I would say that 5 tournaments is too small a sample to gauge success or failure. Downswings can and do happen. My advice would be to keep playing smaller buy-ins to get a better feel for the pace of live.

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I think this is good advice. Filter your stats for online tournaments of similar field size (number of players). What is your ITM%? If it's less than 20% then you are probably running about normal. If it's much larger then maybe think about the differences between online and live that you've noticed. It's also important HOW you busted, not just that you busted. Out of the 5 times you busted how many times did you get it in good? Every person's transition is probably a bit different but if you can come up with more specific issues or problems you've encountered live that you think gave you trouble then perhaps you could get some more specific advice for dealing with that. Otherwise people will just be guessing at some of the differences and how you may or may not be dealing with them.

c0rnBr34d said:

I think this is good advice. Filter your stats for online tournaments of similar field size (number of players). What is your ITM%? If it's less than 20% then you are probably running about normal. If it's much larger then maybe think about the differences between online and live that you've noticed. It's also important HOW you busted, not just that you busted. Out of the 5 times you busted how many times did you get it in good? Every person's transition is probably a bit different but if you can come up with more specific issues or problems you've encountered live that you think gave you trouble then perhaps you could get some more specific advice for dealing with that. Otherwise people will just be guessing at some of the differences and how you may or may not be dealing with them.

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Excellent advice.

Sit down and write up the hands that you remember, and most importantly, be honest with yourself about your play! If there are hands you aren't sure about, post as many details as you can in the tournament hand analysis section and members can try to help you out.

I know a couple of people who are winning players, over 1 mil, and their win rates are less than 20%.
Keep plugging and believe in your game. Look back at how you played and if you played a mistake free game your time will come.

natsgrampy said:

I know a couple of people who are winning players, over 1 mil, and their win rates are less than 20%.
Keep plugging and believe in your game. Look back at how you played and if you played a mistake free game your time will come.

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What do you mean by win rates of less then 20%? Are you saying your friends win close to 20% of the tournaments they participate? Maybe Stu Ungar was capable of that, but he's too dead to be one of your friends

In addition to the great advice from other responses above, take a friend with you to watch your demeanor, posture and facial expressions for any visible tells. Work on your breathing; it can be intimidating switching from online to live, but the basics of the game are the same...the players you encounter may be slightly higher in knowledge and caliber of play than your average online player. Live players will tend to be more patient, and less likely to make horrendously stupid plays because they would not want to look too dumb in front of others...you are totally anonymous online, so your stupid plays save you the embarrassment of having to look at the other players laughing and rolling their eyes.

I had the opposite problem for a long time, I played live poker for a long time, and then I could not play online poker. Try to use the same knowledge as in online poker, use poker mathematics in the game, the range of hands, the position at the table and the size of bets. It is easier to play live poker because you see your opponents and can study their behavior in different situations, this is my personal opinion. You need more time to get used to it.