I’ve been playing more poker lately and have the urge to write a little more on this subject.
**Disclaimer- I haven’t played a huge amount of live poker (in a casino setting). I’ve played many hours in home games (before I was even allowed to play online) but that’s a bit different.I have however played enough hours at a casino to give some tips/inferences with regards to the adjustments one must make.
Casino poker and online poker are two different beasts. Same game, yes, but the quality of play (and the manner) is so so different. I’m speaking from the perspective of a primarily online 6-max NLHE/PLO player, and 9-handed 35 hand per hour casino settings are much much different. Some observations and notes on live poker:
1. Make live observations. Look at the clothes of your opponents, the mannerisms, their age. Look at the way they conduct themselves, the way they stack their chips, etc. You can usually make some general inferences based on this alone.
When conducting yourself at a live table, don’t shell up into one of those tightwad/glasses wearing/super quiet/ipod wearing homos…talk with your table mates, enjoy the setting, order some drinks. If you want to be a silent assassin do it at home in your boxers 6-tabling.
2. ALWAYS TIP YOUR DEALER. (I know this doesn’t really fall into the poker category yet). Don’t be a jew.
3. Preflop- Many online poker players have fantastic fundamentals with regards to both preflop (and early postflop) play. Many of us know not to limp/call J3s from UTG, etc. In a live poker setting, these rules go out the window. Live poker is infinitely more passive, both pre AND postflop. You’ll see tons of people limping and limp/calling with all sorts of garbage.
Online, we like to isolate those limpers…1-2 limpers to us and we have QTo? RAISE
isolating live is less effective (unless you have deeper stacks). If you just have 100bbs, you’ll get probably 4 callers + when you do decide to isolate some limpers. Suddenly you’re in a quandary where you have QT on a T56ss board and you get jammed on by one of those silly donks.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that overlimping stuff like KJ/QT/etc etc is perfectly fine (depending on players, stacks, etc of course). Stacks/pot sizes get so marginalized so quickly in a live setting, both due to larger preflop raises (you’ll probably see anything from like 4xbb to 8bb+ opens) and the number of people involved in each hand.With that said, it’s probably important to raise more preflop for value than for deception (ie. stuff like KQ is obviously better in this sense than 67s).
Unlike online poker, AK is not the nuts preflop…at least at lower stakes live games. 1/2 and 2/5, people still sigh alot when they get it in with KK preflop. I remember a hand a while ago where I opened AKdd 7-handed, the bb reraised as a 60bb stack, I jammed and he thinks (while muttering “I don’t know anything about this guy”) and folds QQ face up. I show him AK and he screams “I guess he DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME EITHER!!!!” then storms off.
What I’m trying to say is that preflop is fucking nitty when you’re getting it in live. Sure, people will limp all the time (and call raises with incredible crap), but when they are the ones being the aggressors, they usually have it. I remember another time when this tank bitch limped UTG, some mexican raised, I reraised KQ (he was really really bad), tank bitch FLATS, mexican folds. flop xxx, tank bitch check folds AK faceup and screams “IT NEVER HITS!!!”
so yeah…typically, it’s not good to get it in with AK/JJ/etc for 100bbs in a 10 handed setting.
With that said, you can be pretty liberal with your limping range in position. 4 people limp to you, go ahead and limp K3s or 6Ts or whatever. As long as you’re competent post flop, you’ll do well.
In summation:
-isoing isn’t as vital as it is online, nor will you find as much success doing so (depending on the circumstances of course). people are 100x more passive preflop than online and you’ll see a ton of limping.
-getting it in preflop with AK/QQ/etc is going to be an ick spot alot of the time…at least at the lower limits.
-limping preflop is fine (which is a bit rare in online poker).
guess I’ll write the other parts later, this is getting kindve long.