The Internet College kid goes to the casino...

[zachvac]

I have a problem with this argument. I played a lot of online poker in college, and was lucky enough to live close to a casino afterwords. I am a teacher, and do nothing but play cards in my free time. Summers, holidays, nights, I average about 4 days a week in the card room. I have a lot of table experience, and consider myself a decent live cash game player.

I hear this argument a lot, "internet guys see so many more hands so they have so much more experience". At a basic level it does make sense, you can play 4+ tables at a time seeing more hands at every table. The flaw in the argument is the way you comprehend the hands you see. You are only playing premium hands and only paying attention to the games in which you get one of these hands. An internet guy generally doesn't have to take in information when they have bad hands. They can just switch to another tab and click the check/fold button if they don't see something they like. They are playing their hand only, and nothing else.

Internet guys see a lot more hands, but they don't see how they play out. The pay less attention to the other players at the table because it much harder to keep track of 36 other people than it is 9; and are generally just waiting to see good cards dealt to them.

Its like the difference between two students. One skims 4 books about a topic and the other reads 1 of those books to a full understanding. Which one of these students has a better understanding of the material? From my experience, the one that read 4 may know (be aware of) more information, but understand (make use of the material) less.

Sorry, but this is dead wrong.

 

[tenbob]

Its really a combination of Zach's and white_lytning's arguements. Both come down to a different form of poker, playing the player is just as applicaple both online and live. Playing live however you have a different type of imformation available to you than you do online, lots of similarities but lots of differences.

 

[always2away]

I may be having fun when I play live BUT I am there to make money...period.

Tipping is a good idea. But, since the idea is that the dealer is somehow favoring you, which is nonsense unless cheating is going on, if I am doing well then the dealer is "earning" tips and is doing well. If my stack is down I need to get back in the black before I start getting generous with the tips.

Do not worry about how you look to the other players, except for good poker etiquette. My first time at a B&M casino, 3 separate players from my table, when they stepped out for a cigarette, struck up a conversation with my wife and told her all the ways to could "tell" I was new and what my hands were. I cleaned out two of them and went home HAPPY.

Focus on playing solid poker and have a good time.

 

[white_lytning]

Sorry, but this is dead wrong.

Because....

 

[zachvac]

Because....

"Its like the difference between two students. One skims 4 books about a topic and the other reads 1 of those books to a full understanding. Which one of these students has a better understanding of the material? From my experience, the one that read 4 may know (be aware of) more information, but understand (make use of the material) less."

The online multi-tabler probably spends more time reviewing hands and thinking about them than the live 1-tabler.

 

[cAPSLOCK]

Its really a combination of Zach's and white_lytning's arguements. Both come down to a different form of poker, playing the player is just as applicaple both online and live. Playing live however you have a different type of imformation available to you than you do online, lots of similarities but lots of differences.

As I have read this thread I have felt like this fact should be obvious to all. Live poker and internet poker are two different games played by the same basic rules. But the techniques used by the best of each camp are markedly different.

I see arguing for your favorite type of player and calling them better as sort of navel gazing.

Then I am no genius at either form.

 

[young hova]

yeah like tenbob, said the difference with live its a different type of info available to you, thats probably why alot more people will play you to show down live, because they can physically look you up and down, you can't do that online.


I've been to the casinos probably about 3 weekends in my life, Its different for sure, and I'm a usually quiet player online, alot of times don't even talk when spoken to, but sometimes you got some people that are cool at the table in live and I think its actually relaxing to talk to the cool players especially if they are big stacks and have position on you the whole night, because in my experiences when you play them straight forward and keep it cool they won't really mess with you or make moves on you without the goods and they'll be more inclined to showdown. I'll always get at least one drink, and I'd advise that for you tight lipped internet player to loosen you up.

The atmosphere is different, you wanna be comfortable and if you don't got stuff like ipods and all that being quiet could possibly frustrate you if your card dead and when u actually get a hand u might be a little tense. It was a great experience outside of winning and losing. Thing I like about live at tables where you can limp you get to see a lot of info on players quick, and its easier to match tables images with people's real personality. At the tables I was at, I noticed alot of the like senior citizens refused to be bluffed off a paired hand.


As far as the original post goes I wouldn't have done all that like taking to long to fold and all that, in allreality you wanna fold quicker to get more hands in is the way I see it coming from internet tables to live. At the end of the day though It don't matter what the people at the table think of you whether they respect you as a player or not, hell they could HATE you as a player AND a person, I wouldn't care and this goes for internet and live.


Real good players can adapt to either situation live or internet because they're gonna play off the information the analyze, if you think your just going to come from the internet and play a predetermined style at the live table thats just not gonna work. If your a master and analyzing info and can be deceptive, I don't care if you got the shakes, twitches or anything like that you can win at the cash table. Especially 1/2 because like everyone else said its a donkfest looool

I actually wouldn't want that image of an internet player coming from the internet to live, because some of the live players will try to almost mentally put a bounty on you just trying to prove a point that your out of your element. I came dressed like a regular person enjoying his first casino visit, I didn't wear shades or none of that I was just trying to keep it relaxed. I'd rather have the image of an out of towner donk coming to enjoy himself by playing a game of cards, rather than a part time internet player looking to prey on the weak. I'd try to deflect any internet tendencies I have to downplay that.

 

[bulldog2782]

I have never played holdem in a casino before and i was just wondering if there was rake in the live games and if not how does the casino make money?

 

[belladonna05]

I have never played holdem in a casino before and i was just wondering if there was rake in the live games and if not how does the casino make money?

Yes they take their rake.

 

[brettyetman]

yeah a lot of people these days don't play live. that is why i love living in jersey. i prefer live to online. i feel playing online takes more concentration then at the casino. when i am at home it hard to concentrate but at the casino that is all i have to worry about it the card playing.

 

[dufferdevon]

After having experience both online and live, I will agree with AlienGenious that live is much softer and looser than online. You will not believe what people will call with and go to the river with live.

I remember one hand in particular, I had AA, I raise 5x BB and get one caller, the flop came A K 9, rainbow, I check, buddy bets and I re-raise, he calls - turn is a 4 - I bet - he calls - river is a 3 - I bet - he calls and flips over 88 - I asked him what he thought I had and he said, 88 is a good hand. I just said, you're right, you just got unlucky there.

I love going to the casino on weekends, there are sooooo many fish. And Zach, if you haven't paid your college tuition by the end of the East Coast meet up, I will be shocked.

 

[bbgold]

Tried a local casino tournament

They had a $10 buyin Omaha HiLo the day I was there so figured I would give it a go instead of playing the ring games there. Only 10 entered and the play was really slow. By the first break I had only seen a few flops when in the blinds. Everything I was dealt was middle cards that would have drawn a blank. I did the $10 addon just to have some chips for the blinds. It was an automated system and it seemed the blinds escalated fairly quickly. Two hours in the blinds were 1600/3200 and still 8 players in. I was still catching blanks and just folding most of the hands. Finally in the BB with A 2 10 10 and I hear Raise from the other end of the table and Call from another player. Right away I am thinking they both have A 2 so I Fold. Sure enough at the showdown they both have A 2 and K 9 gets the high hand with two pair, so I saved some chips. SB now I Finally get some kind of at least a marginal hand with As 4s 5c Qh. I only have 1800 chips left so I am All In at this point, ends up two others in the pot. The flop is 6s Js Qs so I flop the nut flush and at least look to have some Life left. Next card is an 8c so maybe something low will work. River is a Jc and I see one of the players grabbing chips to bet. I shake my head as I am pretty sure they hit Full something. Sure enough on the showdown my flush loses to Jacks over Aces, Ugh. Two hours of play that with the cards I was drawing I could have just sat on the rail lol. At least I got my feet wet as far as a Live game goes. Next time I will probably test the ring games. Everyone played fairly loose and most everyone took advantage of the rebuys/addon, other than myself who only paid the addon.

So still not really a Live ring game but at least a little bit closer.

Good Luck and Good Games Everyone!

 

[kschuster]

i thought u were only supposed to tip the dealer if you win....i mean....if you lose how are u supposed to tip the guy right?? Also i've never heard of tipping every pot, but then again i havent really played that many live games.

 

[Mase31683]

This^^. In my experience $1/$2nl live plays worse that 0.01/0.02nl online.

+1

$1/$2 live is silly. People will call pot size bets through the river with 3rd pair, 2nd pair Jack kicker, it's amazing. Pretty much a whole bunch of loose/passiveness going on.

My suggestion to anyone going to play live for the first time, don't bluff. Pretend you're playing at the worst table you've ever played at, cuz you are. And I don't think tipping every hand you win is mandatory at all, but that's me. I know of people who do it, but I don't think paying them a huge chunk of my winrate makes much sense. What you'll usually see is someone tip the dealer if they win a massive pot, not every time a hand occurs.

@Bulldog, it depends from casino to casino. At Foxwoods there's no rake on NL tables. You pay $5 every half hour to play $1/$2. Yeah, $10 an hour just to sit at the table! I would bring $50 in $5's stick it in my pocket and pay my time with that. I said it was Foxwood's fee for allowing me to sit at a table and stack donks.

But some places do rake. Mohegan Sun rakes $1 on the flop, $1 at $10, $1 at $20 and $1 at $40, that's the cap for rake: $4

 

[chiefguykp]

I just tryed a live 1/2 dollar game i thought everyone was going to play like the internet and fold second pair bad kicker, but to many times i had second pair awsome kicker and they bet me right out of it. I had pocket Q's and the board hit a k they bet me right out of that to, with his pair of 8's so the next time i had a ace with a low kicker i called the guy got 40-50$$ I realized i was so much better than these guys. it is a donk fest i need to learn so much more live but i playe countless hours online i only get in with the best of em, now that i know how loose a lot of these players are i want to go in with a lil bit more of a bankroll becuase i needed to raise a lot more than i was i was getting kicked out on a lot of great hands that would otherwise switch up the gears and say hey watch out for me you already gave me 40 bucks at a time with bad pairs and then i would love to crush them with the nutz when they got second best. I want to go as soon as possible because that was an eye opener i know i shoulda started out with more than $100 but its all i had soon i was up 280 $$ I lost back 80 cuz a flush draw and another a k j with a board 6k8 he played weak then bet me $100 so i knew he had to pair ak or just a big bluff so i folded and sure enough he had k8 2 pair. I think i transitioned well from the net. i know im so good but when i went to the table i couldnt even stack my chips my hands were shakky and the guy on my right looked soooo happy i was there lol till i started to take there chips any thought on this would be great ... kp

 

[zachvac]

This thread's almost a year old...

 

[chiefguykp]

lol i didnt even realize i just got cuaght up in all the great posts i had to get in my 2 cents lol

 

[encapsulate]

pretty informative post...i am one of those college internet players, haha, and this is good to know- thanks

 

[Jarod1231]

I dont understand what the big deal is about tipping every hand you win... I usually only tip if the pot is $40+ and then I tip between $3-5 ... I've never really had a problem with dealers getting mad at me over it but then again I started playing live before I ever played online... As for when its okay to leave the table... I just get up and leave... but then again I never do it right after I win a big hand...

I usually dont talk too much at the table unless I'm trying to get a tell out of someone or to influence them to fold by feeding them false information... I find it works out better that way for me