I played my first 1/2 at a local casino last night

[NeoBandit]

I played my first live 1/2 nl holdem game last night. Played for the most part very poorly. I made the mistake of being too loose. Opening bunches of hands I as a beginning poker player had no business opening. I than adjusted and played more tight. I started with $300 buy in added $200 over time left with $142. Going back tonight. Going to play tight because these guys are loose aggressive and hit with the weakest cards. I may take notes if i can find a tablet to take with me. I played for 10 hours. I can honestly say that the $350 i lost compared to the what i gained was small. I really enjoyed playing and making new friends. I will go back tonight and only take $250 with me and if i lose that i will leave. Going to play tight aggressive, but at the same time not going to get out of line with bad hands. will hopefully win some tonight. Monday pokerstars comes to pa so i am excited about that. Let me know if you have any advice for playing small stakes thanks

 

[WiredKs]

It's like paying tuition.

Compared to online you'll probably notice more limping and more multi way pots. If you're at a table with more than 2 aggressive players, consider a change. There are plenty of passive players at 1/2 and their "tuition" is usually cheaper.

Good luck!

 

[Master Bedroom]

When i first started playing live in Florida the stakes were only legally allowed be $2 Limit, so it was very hard to fold anyone: an old timer told me to 'just call' at tables that were LAG, such as this game sounds.

It sounds like you have a decent game plan of being tag versus their play style, esp if theyre paying off people that make big hands

 

[Sick_Wolf11]

First time i played i was way too loose too but i tightened up my play and starting observing more about what the other players were doing really helped a lot.

 

[Jon Poker]

Most important advice I can give for live $1/$2 is to play solid ABC poker. It will be the basis of a winning strategy.

Second - dedicate yourself to the task at hand. Pay attention to your opponents even when you aren't involved. Find their tells, find out who's passive, who is aggressive, etc.

Third - apply what you know, switch gears and start exploiting players. This doesn't mean raising 95o from the hijack to try and steal $3 worth of blinds from the tightest two passive players at the table - but open your range a bit when time calls for it, defend a little loose against a LAG player and make sure to realize your equity when you flop big.

More importantly - don't give up. Have fun, enjoy the game. With a solid game you should start booking wins - your game will only get better and before you know it your game will be improving constantly.

One last piece of advice - if the same game is mostly always the same players - never play the same way twice. Keep them guessing and make yourself hard to gauge.

 

[Luvepoker]

You are smart to just go with the smaller amount of cash. Take it slow at 1st and work your way into playing live. Soon enough you will be able to open it up more. Wired K had it right when he said its like paying tuition.