Thoughts on playing 1st live event

[TheBu11d0g]

I have always played my poker online but i am thinking about starting to play live poker as well, even if its one game but opefully more.

As i have never even ventured into a live cardroom i would probably end up shaking like an alchoholic without a drink what with all the differant things to learn and differant rules.

So my question is what is the best way to go about preparing for my 1st live tournament.

Reading books, having some sort of coaching, diving straight in etc.

Any thoughts and suggestions welcomed.

[duke3016]

Don"t get intimidated (not easy)
Play your usual game (again not easy)
Count to ten before action (think and look)
Don"t get married to a weak hand
don"t listen to eejits mouthing at the table (think text box btards)

enjoy -- if you cash it"s a bonus -- but hell live is where it"s at

[duke3016]

Oh and my escape valve -- stay pi$$ed  

[TopPair2Pair]

Well I've just made this sort of transition over the last 8 months so I will actually try to do a serious helpful post for once. There can be a huge difference in certain live aspects depending on what you're online bread and butter play is and its structure???

Do you have a chosen venue yet? Take note on whether it's going to be a dealer or self dealt game. That always helps, I thought playing live in a casino meant guaranteed dealer"ing. School boy I mades at my first live tournament.

Familiarise yourself with using real chips when your online, if you want to get your geek on you could give them a call and find out what their value to chip colours will be and how many of each u start with, use a similar stack when practising.

Practise putting your chips into the "pot" whilst you play online in exactly the same way that you might in a live environment. The way you bet can give away a lot and the more experienced players will determine a lot from the way you put your chips in.

Don't be afraid to conciously eyeball ppl's stacks and make them think you are playing a hand with a view to put them all in. You won't have the pleasure of seeing the exact stack sizes on the screen that everyone has but you can gather a rough figure for each player if you follow the game well.

Similarly you won't have hand history at your disposal so bare that in mind. Also look up "string betting" if you"ve never heard of it, declare Raises before you put your chips in, when you bluff a pot/win with a weak hand you"ll naturally want to push your mucked cards away everso quickly, take your time and let the dealer take them to give away less info.

Hope this helps, most importantly stay confident, enjoy it and play the game your usual style. Good Luck

[duke3016]

Well I've just made this sort of transition over the last 8 months so I will actually try to do a serious helpful post for once. There can be a huge difference in certain live aspects depending on what you're online bread and butter play is and its structure???

Do you have a chosen venue yet? Take note on whether it's going to be a dealer or self dealt game. That always helps, I thought playing live in a casino meant guaranteed dealer"ing. School boy I mades at my first live tournament.

Familiarise yourself with using real chips when your online, if you want to get your geek on you could give them a call and find out what their value to chip colours will be and how many of each u start with, use a similar stack when practising.

Practise putting your chips into the "pot" whilst you play online in exactly the same way that you might in a live environment. The way you bet can give away a lot and the more experienced players will determine a lot from the way you put your chips in.

Don't be afraid to conciously eyeball ppl's stacks and make them think you are playing a hand with a view to put them all in. You won't have the pleasure of seeing the exact stack sizes on the screen that everyone has but you can gather a rough figure for each player if you follow the game well.

Similarly you won't have hand history at your disposal so bare that in mind. Also look up "string betting" if you"ve never heard of it, declare Raises before you put your chips in, when you bluff a pot/win with a weak hand you"ll naturally want to push your mucked cards away everso quickly, take your time and let the dealer take them to give away less info.

Hope this helps, most importantly stay confident, enjoy it and play the game your usual style. Good Luck

OK so mine wasn"t helpful -- fk my life  

seriously one hell of a good post !

[kinboshi]

Also worth remembering that in general the quality of players is better online than live.

The APAT tournaments are a good introduction to the live game as they"re not prohibitively expensive and have an excellent structure.  The atmosphere is friendly and there are quite a few other players who are new to live poker as well.

[BOINGBLITZ]

You will also find that live players will not fold as often as players do online.....ESPECIALLLY early on in a tourney.
  Good luck.......and enjoy yourself !

[TopPair2Pair]

will actually try to do a serious helpful post for once.

OK so mine wasn"t helpful -- fk my life  

Bit harsh on yourself there fella!

Meant the "serious helpful" term to be expresses as a dig at my loitering on this forum and lack of effective contribution not at youuuuu!

[TheBu11d0g]

Thanks for all the replys so far people.

I really appreciate everyones input especially TopPair"s as i thought that was an extremely helpful post as he has done the same thing that i am looking towards very recently.

All posts were gratefully recieved and taken note of.

[HaworthBantam]

Another little tip I found particularly useful when I first started out was not to look at my cards until it was my turn to act. Two reasons here:

1. Sometimes you look at your cards and get an idea what you want to do. Action then takes place before you, and you still carry through with your original idea, even though the previous players action may scream "fold" at you. Similar to Gers tip of not getting married to a (weak) hand.

2. It gives you the opportunity to watch players as they act. You"d be surprised what you can pick up.

Story time, just as an illustration. This may have been at an APAT event, then again, it may not have been. A player was directly on my right (unfortunately) and was looking at his cards as soon as he got them. If he liked them he placed them on one side of his chips, and if he didn"t then he placed them on the other side, making it easier to slide to the dealer. He was doing this even when he was in the blinds.

As well as watching other players, be aware of what you are doing. My method is to (try to) do the same thing every hand, bet exactly the same way, raise the same way, pick the same spot at the table to stare at each hand you play etc.

Whatever happens though, have fun. If you can get yourself to an APAT National or Regional you should be guaranteed a pleasant experience.

[mrmacacan]

Before hitting the casino, I think I would try and find a home game or small pub game even one of the badly run games.
Even the badly run ones you will get a chance to use the chips and see how things
are done.
I played home games and on line for over twelve months before going to the casino and still found my first visits nerve racking.
My experience now is what ever table and what ever casino most tables are full of friendly people, start chatting with them this will help you to relax.
If unsure about anything stop and ask the dealer most of them are helpful.
Try and visit the casino before you play or get there very early and hopefully
you might get to watch some tables playing.
As said above play your own game and be like a robot, do everything the same
every hand, watch all the other players but don"t be afraid of any of them.

[bigredders]

Another little tip I found particularly useful when I first started out was not to look at my cards until it was my turn to act. Two reasons here:

1. Sometimes you look at your cards and get an idea what you want to do. Action then takes place before you, and you still carry through with your original idea, even though the previous players action may scream "fold" at you. Similar to Gers tip of not getting married to a (weak) hand.

2. It gives you the opportunity to watch players as they act. You"d be surprised what you can pick up.

Story time, just as an illustration. This may have been at an APAT event, then again, it may not have been. A player was directly on my right (unfortunately) and was looking at his cards as soon as he got them. If he liked them he placed them on one side of his chips, and if he didn"t then he placed them on the other side, making it easier to slide to the dealer. He was doing this even when he was in the blinds.

As well as watching other players, be aware of what you are doing. My method is to (try to) do the same thing every hand, bet exactly the same way, raise the same way, pick the same spot at the table to stare at each hand you play etc.

Whatever happens though, have fun. If you can get yourself to an APAT National or Regional you should be guaranteed a pleasant experience.

absolutely spot on...players looking at their cards before their turn is a major thing for me. Another thing to look for is body language in yourself and others..hard in yourself because you will find it hard to realise you are doing it but important to find in others
an example being at a recent tournament every time the guy had a hand he would sit back in his seat and have a drink and when he didnt he would try and sit still and not say a word..
the best tip i have is that the hand isn"t finished even when you have folded, there is a plethora of info you can find out on other players.
above all once you have played live you will wonder why it took you so long!!!

[TopPair2Pair]

Before hitting the casino, I think I would try and find a home game or small pub game even one of the badly run games.

Agreed, I"d also avoid home games with inexperienced players that you cant learn from.

Try to find a local newly organised league or something at around £5 - £15 with between 20 - 30 runners thats perfect for this scenario. These are normally the most friendliest and you"ll find a few ppl in the same boat as yourself, if it has just started you might get a good competitive/friendly balance depending on the venue.

Would avoid going with friends unless you go in seperate cars, getting to final table with ppl waiting for you can spew your end game. Try to get some different sturctures under your bealt once your confortable with the new aspects your learning hit a casino tournement and be prepared to be playing until 5am the next day if you go deep.

[AMRN]

my biggest mistake when I started playing live was mis-betting. I would highly recommend that you verbally announce exactly what you are going to do, and to what value, BEFORE you even touch your chips...... ie "Raise to 600 in total"

If remember my first live game - I had AA early on when blinds were 50/100. After several limpers I threw in a 500 chip meaning it to be a raise.... it was taken as a flat call.