First live experience - Napoleons Leeds

[JA]

Hello to you all! 

After following this forum for a while my experience of my first live game last night prompted me to make a posting.  Just so you know, I am based in london and have only been playing poker online for 6 months or so, usually $5 No Limit S'n'G's - and thoroughly enjoy it - so when a meeting was cancelled in leeds last night I entered the £20 Pot Limit rebuy tournament at Napoleons (I think there were 57 entries).  My thoughts on the experience are as follows:

1, The things that you guys take for granted concerned me before the start: which chips were worth how much, were they labelled?  Do I physically move the dealer button around the table?  These points sound insignificant but were the issues I was thinking about before the game as much as the play.

1, At the table it was all a bit of a blur.  I was so intent on making sure I avoided screwing up by playing out of turn etc that I really struggled to observe how other people were playing and, to be absolutely frank, only really started to settle down after my third (and final) rebuy just before I left the table!

2, The guys on my table mostly knew each other and there was some amusing banter.  However, they were all very friendly towards me: I enjoyed their company.

3, I was amazed at how quickly people were going all in and then re-buying: I guess this is a legitimate strategy in a re-buy tournament?  I think my next live experience won't be a re-buy as people will be less willing to risk all with nothing (although based on other recent threads maybe not).

Anyway, I had a great time, feel much more confident about live play, and look forward to playing live again soon.  Any thoughts on the sort of tournaments I should play in next time would be greatly appreciated...

[matt674]

  & to the madhouse

I much prefer to play live than online unfortunately i'm not too keen on the £10 and £20 chip chucking bingo sessions which usually means more often than not i end up just playing online, its much more convenient.

[Eck]

1. Hello and   JA
1. Don't understand why you have just registered now when you want to post as you would not have been able to view all the images. you will now have to revisit all your favouorite threads and get to see the pictures.
2. Don't expect any advice on live tournaments from me as I have only 'played' live at BB3, hopefully see you at BB4. (when is it again?   ) Sure plenty good advice will be along shortly.
3. Sort out the numbering or Lazaroonie will be following you around begging you to play on his table.  

[Rooky9]

That particular casino is renound for having people play who refuse to pass a hand. I dont particularly like the palce or the smoke and so don't take full adantage of it.

My first four or five live games were all rebuys. I didnt last the rebuy period in any of them, having done my quota of buyin through too much limping! It can all be a bit weird at first, I think getting to that stage where its not all a blur and you can get into your game is essential and will come over your next couple of games.

Good Luck

[thetank]

Welcome to blonde.

Hope you enjoyed the live poker, it gets easier every time.

[amcgrath1uk]

Hi JA

I have only played 5 live games so far, mainly at the new G Casino in Manchester.

I had EXACTLY the same issues as you had before I played.. and I decided the following:

1) the chips are more or less the same everywhere, I sat down as early as I was allowed to to get used to them
2) the table was a blur to me too, however the night that I went was a £3 pot limit rebuy, and having not played pot limit very often I had to focus quite hard. The first night I played I paid absolutely no notice to my table and ensured I played my hands ( sometimes overplaying them on purpose). I only settled down AFTER the rebuys had finished.
3) The banter I found was fantastic. I listened to it, and joined in after the first hour or so.. and on each subsequent visit thoroughly joined in!!
4) rebuys.. the bug that I have with the one I play in, though it is the ONLY bug, is that the rebuy period lasts for 2 hours, and that at the mo they have no freezeouts at all


However, saying that I LOVED it

I had about 8k chips after the rebuy, only started with 500.

My table broke after the rebuy period ended, straight into BB, and with noone raising... hit a full house on the turn holding 2 3 , beating the sb 2 4 on a 22j flop

Made some in my eyes anyway, FANTASTIC folds with just 2 tables left, ie AK suited, AQ and best of all QQ... 2 others all in before me with AA and KK...

got down to 11...playing hand for hand... and on my big blind... had a medium stack..thinking to myself..  ( give me aces)..

before I've had time to look at my hand... I hear.. raise ALL IN

thoughts are oh well fold..

look at my cards.... AA hehe.. beat his QQ

anyways take it easy on the final table... managed to finish 3rd after a TITANIC hour of 3 way play!! with eventually my AK losing to AQ

enjoyed it all thoroughly though..

only been 4 other times... placed 3

[Jon MW]

I've only just got to double figures on live tournaments, most of these were the Sunday afternoon beginners rebuy at the Vic.

The big advantage to this tournament is that it is a satellite for the £60 evening tourney, so the prizes are hived off into batches of £60 (which you can take as the seat or the money). This means that unless players are particularly dense they won't be rebuying more than 2 or 3 times. People will still go all in with marginal hands, but my impression is that it's a lot less crazy than the average rebuy.

If that's too cheap for you, you could always just buy straight into the £60 freezeout.

And  to blonde

[Horneris]

Hey, and welcome to Blonde.

Me and my friends play in Leeds and while im glad you had a good time, im quite suprised, as Napoleans is sometimes regarded as being unfriendly, in comparison to the Gala and Grosevnor Casinos.

[Acidmouse]

Welcome glad you enjoyed your 1st live game, its such a buz.

[kvnstv]

Well done Sir, it takes a lot of courage to sit down in a strange city to play ones first tournament. I was lucky enough to make my live debut at the APAt event at the Broadway and would encourage anyone to make use of these friendly,well run and great value tournaments for a gentle introduction to the live game. 

[Royal Flush]

Better yet, a blonde bash!

[JoeStrummer]

Hello and welcome 

I have in the past played at Napoleons in Leeds but have found it too smoky for my liking so now I normally play the £25 freezeout over the road at the Gala on a Wednesday night. My first live game was in fact at Napoleons and I too found it a bit daunting trying to play cool with everything going on around you but after 5 or 6 times you get used to acting in turn and passing the dealer button etc.

Rebuys are normally crapshoots, especially the £5 rebuy on a Sunday afternoon at Gala, so if I attended that I limit myself to five rebuys and just wait for the hands and trying not to get involved with the chaos. This helps later on if you survive because of the image you project.

Believe me there’s nothing to be afraid of the vast majority of the time just watch out for the wily old characters faking innocence while check raising the nuts against you!!!