I Need Live Poker Advice

[PoKeRFoRNiA]

I've been a member since a long time ago and then the ban on online poker in the US made me play poker less. But recently, i started playing poker again. Last November, i played 3 local tournaments at Reno at GSR, $50 tournament and won 2 of them, cashing $600 and $250(my friend got 2nd and we chopped a pool consisting $500). Also won a $150 tournament seat which i just gave to my friend. So overall, I won $850 - $150 - $20 = $680

Then i went to Vegas from December to February for vacation and played at Westgate and past 4 times i went there, i played 3 tournaments (2 on saturday and 1 on sunday) per weekend vacation and kept winning 2 of 3 tournaments. $70 tournament($35 buyin, $35 add-on). 12 tournaments, i won(dunno if chopping is considered winning) roughly $400 each time. 400 x 8 = $3200. My buy ins total were $840 - $35 bcz i didnt add on one tournament, so $805 total. Of course, everytime i win, i tip the dealers/tournament director $20. So $20 x 8 = $160. So my net is $2245 for Vegas. Total, i netted $2245 + $680 = $2925.

I was surprised my poker experience and skillset i learned throughout the times at cardschat contributed a lot to my games and i am surprised i didnt lose my touch. I know I am running good but also, it seems players are terrible live.

I have a question. Do poker skills deteriorate or do they stick with u forever?

Is it wise to chop? Normally i do not like to chop but in live poker rooms, it seems like an etiquette to chop if stacks are roughly even. So i succumb to it and just chopped and since blinds were high, dunno if its wise to go all the way or just chop.

Is it wise to join in late into the tournament and hustle? One tournament, i joined late, added on, and took it down. Some say its best to join late because you get the best icm value while others say u cant take advantage of bad players to build your stack. What is an ideal approach to registration? Start early or enter late?

Should I move up in buyins? While winning is great, it just feels live poker is lot softer and weaker than online poker. So many recreational players who dont know what theyre doing and bunch of bad players at the $70 tournament. But i do know moving up means more skilled players and more serious players. On one hand, i feel like moving up because i want to win more money. On the other hand, there's so much dead money from recreational tourist players at low stakes that its a waste of opportunity if i dont play. But the way I was running past few months, I am tempted to move up.

One thing i learned on my own from live poker where its different from online poker is that paying attention in the table while being dealt cards is crucial. When i was in MP and Cutoff, i see cutoff and button players showing subconscious signs with their hands where theyre ready to muck because they dont like their hand, so i use it to my advantage and take it for granted and assume I'm the button. This doesnt happen online because we're all behind our screens. LOL. Also certain players have tells where theyre getting ready to raise. So I would use this to my advantage and either not limp in and fold instead, or limp in and reraise when i have Aces or Kings to pick up dead money. And in case someone better than me is observing the table, i never look at my cards until its my turn.

 

[gardin555]

Hi, PoKeRFoRNiA! Welcome back to CC!
Congrats on your good results on live poker, go on with that!
See you at the forum! Good luck!

 

[Tracid]

Do poker skills deteriorate or do they stick with u forever?

Is it wise to chop? Normally i do not like to chop but in live poker rooms, it seems like an etiquette to chop if stacks are roughly even. So i succumb to it and just chopped and since blinds were high, dunno if its wise to go all the way or just chop.

Is it wise to join in late into the tournament and hustle? One tournament, i joined late, added on, and took it down. Some say its best to join late because you get the best icm value while others say u cant take advantage of bad players to build your stack. What is an ideal approach to registration? Start early or enter late?

Poker skills don’t deteriorate as such, but they can become outdated.

Chops are personal preference and circumstantial, some will always chop, some never, many are in between.

Late reg sniping is ok and can be great in regular tournaments, but is best avoided in PKO or Bounty tournaments, as a decent chunk of the prize pool has already been won.

Great post, glad to have you back - I’ll move this to “Live Poker’ section.

 

[TeUnit]

I think there are several reasons to chop:
1. You do not feel that you have the skill edge
2. You have other things to do (often in some homegames players chop to get the waiting players back playing)
3. The money is very significant to you
4. The chop offer is better than it should be

 

[PoKeRFoRNiA]

Hi, PoKeRFoRNiA! Welcome back to CC!
Congrats on your good results on live poker, go on with that!
See you at the forum! Good luck!

Thank you. Been a long time since ive been here. Playing the cardschat freerolls, cardschat tournaments, league games, while observing hands of other cc members have helped me in the past. Before this forum, i was complete noob where i would say preflop 22 vs Q9s and Q9s winning felt like a suckout. But as i studied my hands, got help from many cc members, i remember pifan, mccluskey, etc, along with poofywoofy, learning what hand analysis is, what pokerstove is, holdem manager, how to utilize it, how game is broken down, how to view players, majority is still fresh with me even till this day, which I thank the cc for.

This may sound funny but when i was playing, it felt like i have an imaginary headsup display on players while I pay attention to the table. All the stuff i learned from here, came in handy. bluffing in position. Knowing your perceived image and range, helped out a ton. When playing loose aggressive, I never slowplay my big hands. Even on dry board, before, i would always slowplay. After learning perceived image and range, based on how Ive been playing on the table, I would bet aggressively and I am called down light when Im holding the nuts. All the ICM system that dictates to shove and fold, helped me a lot with the decision making during late stage. This especially helped me bluff lot of blinds because they were playing their hands rather than odds and equity.

I wish i can be as active as i used to but online poker is illegal in the US. 😫 But its great to see that this forum still exists

 

[PoKeRFoRNiA]

I think there are several reasons to chop:
1. You do not feel that you have the skill edge

Rather than the skill edge, blinds were so high by the time it got to late stage. It was roughly 20-40 player tournaments. So by the time we're down to last 3 players including me, when our stacks are even, we only have 4-10 blinds to play with while tournament was roughly 4 - 5 hours long. So we all decide to chop 3 ways. One scenario, we were down to 3 players. Blinds were 40k/80k. This lady had the chip lead of 2:1 and 3:1 against us. She had 700k while both me and other guy had 250k and i had 350k. She chose to split it evenly regardless but other guy rejected. I ended up knocking him out while also crippling the lady. But just because of her generosity while she had a chip lead and i do believe in karma, after knocking out 3rd place and i had 900k and she had 400k, i chose to split it evenly with her. Probably questionable decision but when blinds are so high and also, she was a fun lady to chat with, my emotions dictated me to just split it especially since she was generous to chop in my favor when she had the lead. I was just happy to knock the other guy out that I didnt mind to split it with her.

2. You have other things to do (often in some homegames players chop to get the waiting players back playing)

This, not at all. I went to Vegas specifically for poker. So time wasnt an issue.

3. The money is very significant to you

Nope. I know better to keep it all within my range of affordability. But of course, youre asking this because in my case, you would give an input. 3 way even stack, should i have gone for it or better to chop still?

4. The chop offer is better than it should be

3 way even stack. So definitely everyone is getting their moneys worth. Only that one tournament, i intentionally made a bad chop just because she was generous when she had the chip lead.

I know online, its easier to make a decision but in live poker, it seems like its a dick move for some reason if you dont want to chop while stacks are even. Normally i think its because anyone who doesnt want to chop, theyre targetted as someone they wanna knock out. At least thats how i felt when i knocked the guy out who didnt want to chop just because i was short stacked. Moment i knocked him out, it felt like i was dancing on his grave while winning more money.

 

[PoKeRFoRNiA]

Poker skills don’t deteriorate as such, but they can become outdated.

Chops are personal preference and circumstantial, some will always chop, some never, many are in between.

Late reg sniping is ok and can be great in regular tournaments, but is best avoided in PKO or Bounty tournaments, as a decent chunk of the prize pool has already been won.

Great post, glad to have you back - I’ll move this to “Live Poker’ section.

Its a rebuy tournament. No bounty, no knockout. I do feel like u need to have good short stack strategy and short stack game if you're late registering. Because I do feel nervous when I'm short. So far, nearly every game i played, i was able to build my stack and didnt need to rebuy, one tournament, I didnt even have to add on because i had 7 times the starting stack by the first break where add ons are allowed.
Maybe i need to brush up in short stack strategy. I recall studying Harrington's M zone. Any links or advices for shortstack strategy?

 

[hilary antonik filho]

Hello friend, you do not lose your skill, what can happen (sometimes) a small lack of confidence.
Cutting is good, when you feel a disadvantage, I always analyze the tables before I sit down to play, where I find people talking, I know there are newbies or recreational ones there. keep up your good luck

 

[sewieu666]

Its a rebuy tournament. No bounty, no knockout.

 

[PoKeRFoRNiA]

Hello friend, you do not lose your skill, what can happen (sometimes) a small lack of confidence.
Cutting is good, when you feel a disadvantage, I always analyze the tables before I sit down to play, where I find people talking, I know there are newbies or recreational ones there. keep up your good luck

For cash games, definitely. But for tournament, unfortunately u cant sit based on ur preference.
Thank you. Ive set my limit to know when I luck has run out. Until then, i hope for the best and learn to have fun.

 

[Jamil]

It is not advice, but a rule that you should not be greedy and not work all in except on Royal Flash or For Akind

 

[Pokerpoet2]

Well done! and Congratulations!
I consider any place in a Tournament a Win if you finish in the money and win more than your buy-in and add-ons combined, being in 1st place is awesome but even finishing 2nd is a decent return on your investment.
As for chopping the prize money I feel there is nothing wrong in sharing prize pools, as you know any two cards can win a hand at the River so why not share especially if the Tournament has been running for a long time.
Well dome again and may the Poker Gods be with you.

 

[Tracid]

Its a rebuy tournament. No bounty, no knockout. I do feel like u need to have good short stack strategy and short stack game if you're late registering. Because I do feel nervous when I'm short. So far, nearly every game i played, i was able to build my stack and didnt need to rebuy, one tournament, I didnt even have to add on because i had 7 times the starting stack by the first break where add ons are allowed.
Maybe i need to brush up in short stack strategy. I recall studying Harrington's M zone. Any links or advices for shortstack strategy?

Yes, you’re right.

If you want to late reg snipe, in my opinion, you need to be confident with your short stack game.

I would give you advice, I have no aversion to playing short (actually quite enjoy the challenge of spinning it back up) which free’s me up to make terrible calls leaving only 5-15bb’s behind, haha, so as these statements should indicate to you - my advice isn’t necessarily worth paying any attention to…

You should be able to find good short stack strategy either here, on YouTube or in poker books though!

If you’re really interested in late reg sniping you should follow @jordanbillie and check out their challenge thread.

 

[takinitSLEAZEE]

Congrats on the success. I don't think poker skills deteriorate, although my recent play may dictate otherwise, but I digress. If anything, I think it's gets a little tougher because more and more people play and learn the game, so the competition builds and there are fewer fish.
If you're winning at a certain limit, then keep playing that limit, imo. It's obviously working for you. Like the old adage goes, "If it aint broke don't fix it".
I've been kicking the idea around of buying in late in the rb/ao trnys around here just to have the icm you mentioned in the lead post. There are a couple of decent trnys around here, ($15K/$7.5K GTD for $30 bi/rb/ao) to play that way. It makes sense to me to buy in late, get the initial rebuy, then double addon at break for a total stack of over 250K. Then it's a freezeout. Sound good? If it's anything like that in your area I'd go for it. GL man.

 

[jordanbillie]

Yes, you’re right.

If you want to late reg snipe, in my opinion, you need to be confident with your short stack game.

I would give you advice, I have no aversion to playing short (actually quite enjoy the challenge of spinning it back up) which free’s me up to make terrible calls leaving only 5-15bb’s behind, haha, so as these statements should indicate to you - my advice isn’t necessarily worth paying any attention to…

You should be able to find good short stack strategy either here, on YouTube or in poker books though!

If you’re really interested in late reg sniping you should follow @jordanbillie and check out their challenge thread.

Thanks for thinking of me!

Yes, my game is almost exclusively played in the range you would call "short stacked."

Any links or advices for shortstack strategy?

If you can boil down the short stacked approach to an understanding of how to find low risk/high reward spots (based on the dynamic of the table you are on and the perceived ITM%), you can get your game to a point where you essentially "know what to do in any possible situation." The best way I can describe this is a blend of taking steal spots with minimal perceived risk, and also understanding pre flop hand strengths so you can get a feel for which hands play well/poorly when you are called from certain spots. This will help develop a true understanding of when to push/fold. With this comes freedom of being nervous, because the game is just a continuous stream of single decisions and you have the ability to get them correct as they come. Fear cannot exist in this environment.

 

[Emily Trott]

In regards to joining late or rebuying/reentering I will only do it if I receive at least 25BBs in chips. If it isn't then I just take Scarlett O'Hara's advice that tomorrow is another day.