Just wondering if anyone knows any sites or can give me any tips for playing some live poker, any help would be appreciated
Here's my quick guide to the mechanics and etiquite of live play:
- Don't string bet. String betting is when you put your chips out in more than one motion without a verbal announcement. I see it happen most often when someone goes all in: they'll get two handfulls of chips, move them forward, then go back to move the rest. At which point the dealer will stop them, say "I'm sorry sir, that's a string bet" and only allow the first two handfulls of chips to stand as the bet.
The reason for this rule? In theory, if you were allowed to keep adding chips to the pot you could watch an opponent and just keep adding until you get a tell on them.
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Always act in turn. Online, you don't have a choice. Live, you'll become very unpopular very quickly if you keep folding or betting when it's not your turn.
- Verbalise your actions: say 'call' or 'raise' and then state the amount before you move your chips. There's some specific interpretations of actions made without verbal announcements that can count against you - for example, if you throw in one oversized chip meaning to raise a player's bet (say, they've bet $25 and you throw in a $100 chip) it'll be counted as a call unless you've said "raise" first.
You don't
have to verbalise your action, but it can help to avoid mistakes until you get the hang of the conventions. For example, if you say "Raise, $150" and then accidentally throw out $250 in chips, the $150 bet will stand and you'll take the extra $100 back. If you'd said nothing, the $250 would have to stay out there.
- Protect your hand (ie: put a chip or something on top of it if you're staying in the hand), especially if you're sitting directly to the left or right of the dealer. This is to ensure that your hand doesn't get mucked by accident if someone folds their cards and they land in the vicinity of yours (happens more often than you'd think playing live).
- Never muck your winning hand: just table it, and let the dealer take it away. If your hand goes into the muck while someone else still has theirs in front of them, your hand is dead and they win the pot - regardless of who
had the better hand.
- Master the art of paying your blinds without being asked.
- Move away from the table to use your cell phone.