blonde poker forum

I currenly play only online. I am a profitable online player who plays obviously to make money, but also who really enjoys the game

Im looking to try/start playing live - Probably starting at buying £30 or below

Any advise on diferences in play, etc between live and online play, any unspoken rules for conducting yourself - eg tipping the dealer? etc

I am completely new to live play

Thankyou

cash or tournaments?

live cash is far looser, donk-ish. tippind depends on venue. In the UK casinos tipping is not allowed, in non casino venues pots can be raked and tips given per hand or end of session

tournaments....obviously the physical side..giving off and looking for tells needs to be appreciated/worked on.

The bash at DTD in May would be a good first tournament.

Live cash is a fish fest!! Specially NLH - dont be suprised to get 6 callers when you raise 4xBB from UTG.

Live tourneys? They are a hell of alot different from online - alot more interaction which can only be learnt from experience

The standard UTG raise at DTD when I went was 7xBB, and still getting multiple callers...

ok, thanks guys, more looking at tourneys then cash!

Anyone reccomend a good article/book on live tells

The physical stuff mainly, ie increased heartbeat when in a pot, physical shakes etc. Only way to get used it is play.
Patience too, hardly any hands per hour compared to online

tells are overrated.

just get in there and play, experience is key.

Disagree purely because it's all downhill if you start here :D

A good book is 'Read them and Reap' by Joe Navarro

But as Le Knave + others say exeprience is better. Yes tells can help, but many of them are down to the bet size not the way your opponent put chips into the pot. Tbh a better skill to have is being able to quickly count an opponents stack size rather than a physical tell. Good luck with live poker. IMO I think the old saying should be reworked to 'online for dough, live for show!

Patience is defo a key fact in live tourneys because the hands per hour is alot less than online.

However, the flip side is the "non" cash players will be less likely to committ too many chips in fear of busting out - the cash players however, will be more like online tourney players in that they are willing to committ chips early because they can then play cash (online tourney players can fire up another tourney).

Even more so for people who have travelled to be at the live venue.

So much more to think about than online

tells are no good unless you have a baseline behaviour to compare them to, you can't spot the abnormal until you know what normal is.
get some experience under your belt, see how players act in a live environment then worry about picking up on tells later on.

ok.... first of all where do you live, where is your local casino, what tournys do they run, do you know anyone who plays there regularly who can take you down there and show the ropes. ( this means talking you through local rules, pointing out the local idiots who need ignoring, what you pay for, what you dont, what is edible/inedible in the casino. Most casinos are self deal- so a little practice at shuffling/dealing isnt a bad idea ( do they get the player to the right of the dealer to shuffle).

If you are comfortable with all the infrastructure/local rules you can concentrate on actually playing the game. Whilst patience is key (unless you are willing to rebuy ++ or go out early) you can spend the first few tournys watching what peeps do- but remember many of those uber confident "experts" really do  not have a clue.

I would advocate setting yourself a little ritual for playing each hand to begin with so that it is one less thing to think about. ie place chip/ protector on cards when dealt to you regardless of whether you are first or last to act. when all cards are dealt wait till it is your turn, check your cards, replace protector count to set number (ie 5) then act. you can fold immediatly if you feel that is definate action but otherwise keep it constant.  I then would always state what action I am going to do (call/raise etc) the state the amount- saves confusion over one large denomination chip being just a call, or string betting etc.

if you can identify traits of players online then you can do the same live. esp betting patterns etc. The main thing is to enjoy yourself and not make winning the most important thing (which it is of course) for the first few tournys. Once you are comfortable in the envioronment you will qiuckly realise that it is the same game with the same spread of LAGs,rocks and drunks etc as any online game.  Oh and read Tikays many posts on poker etiquette, stick to those despite what some idiots do and you are unlikely to offend ( unless you want to of course!)

I really hope that wasnt too much of a ramble- just back from the pub- sorry if it was..

Rudders

Shake every hand (tourney hand, not every other player's hand) whether your strong or weak

Take notice of other players at all times. Watch what they do, how they do it etc....

ALWAYS try to put people on a range of hands weather you are in the pot or not.

And as rudders said, follow poker etiquette - NOT what so so many idiots do.

Above all, Have Fun!!

Live tournaments:

Nobody understands the concept of shoving all in with ten big blinds or less
After the first player busts, its time to talk saver deal
Bad calls that win MUST be backed up with 'I thought you had ace-king' or 'I thought you were at it'
Bad calls that lose MUST be backed up with 'I was getting good value' (nobody has any idea about pot odds so no need to worry about proving this'
Preflop raises on level one = x7-15 bb
preflop raises on level four upwards = x1.1125 bb
Nobody sees the ironic humour when someone says 'but it was suited'
most of the field will nurse a short stack of 4 big blinds to the grim death telling the table 'no need to gamble yet'
its against the house rules to throw away the nutflush draw
the worst player in the room is usually the one that claims he has a tell on people at the table
ace-ten = the nuts


Or is that just napoleons?

rotflmfao

I did laugh out loud at that bit.

Don't forget there is no shame in raising half your stack pre and then folding to a BB jam, but only if you say "no need to gamble my tourney life"

.. and don't forget the absolute all time classic..

"I had to call for the value"

Never, and I mean NEVER muck your cards on an opponents verbal declaration of their Hand.  Keep your cards protected at all times.

Loose cash games............ Play after the flop, raise pre with QQ, KK, AA........ anything else see a flop as cheap as possible, you will still get action post flop, but you probably dont have enough money in your and all your mates bank accounts to raise enough pre flop to get rid of the suited connector and Ace rag brigade.

OI!