Jump to content

Playing Live Tomorrow!


Recommended Posts

So a couple of friends and I have decided to play the £50+5 freezeout deepstack tournament at my nearest casino in Newcastle tomorrow afternoon at 4pm. Along with registering you get a £10 gambling chip which I plan to put on roulette or blackjack and try and turn it into the buy-in, if not forget it. You start with 7000 chips @ 25/50 and the levels are 30 minutes (I think).This is equivalent to $109 which is something I'd not even consider playing online at the moment.Last week the event had 77 entries with 9 paid. Top prize £1330!I've played quite a lot with friends and I usually do pretty well (since they're mostly idiots), I keep a good poker face and don't get obviously nervous with good cards/bluffing (I think I'll be able to control this live too). Usually at those occasions everyone just gets drunk and starts playing any 2 so it's not really anything to go by.So, I'm basically new to live. I've played a £20+2 tournament before but that doesn't count as I was completely inexperienced at the time and looking back on it, the structure was awful. I'm used to the casino, played a decent amount of blackjack there after I turned 18.I've heard there are a few good regulars, a load of older people (both genders) who have played quite a bit but aren't particualrly good, a fair few donkeys and a large number of Chinese people (as the casino backs on to Chinatown).So what sort of things shall I look out for?I'm talking player tells/table talk/what sort of betting/play to expect from different type of people.Is there a particular way I should act. I'm quite a quiet person with people I don't know so I can't see myself being a Mike Matusow at the table, more of an Allen Cunningham I guess.I'll report back after it's finished.

Link to post
Share on other sites

good luck man, just play solid. with a deepstack structure you dont need to go wild early. try to win small pots when it loks like everyone has given up on the hand, and try to maximzie your wins with the nuts or close to it

Link to post
Share on other sites

You are me three months ago, good luck dude.My advice would be to play solid ABC poker for the first few levels atleast until you get your confidence up. Dont worry too much about giving off or looking for physical tells, rely more on betting patterns/talk to give you information.And have fun.

Link to post
Share on other sites
a fair few donkeys and a large number of Chinese people
This made me lol.. I don't know why really, it just did. *edit - I know why... I think it's because it's 6.15 am here. Tired yet feeling alert, a strange combination. Time for another 4.40 donkament imo.Best of luck mate, let us know how you got on.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Do chip tricks, make sure people see them. They'll be impressed and respect your raises. Trust me on this one.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Do chip tricks, make sure people see them. They'll be impressed and respect your raises. Trust me on this one.
I disagree. This will make you look to good and you wont get any action ever! Then you will bust out because of over confidence.
Link to post
Share on other sites
I disagree. This will make you look to good and you wont get any action ever! Then you will bust out because of over confidence.
Honestly, just play ABC poker, don't worry about being nervous or giving off tells.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Good luck!When I started playing live tournaments, about a year ago, I basically just played my "on-line game" without worrying too much about all the extra information that was out there. Start by doing that, and you will be just fine. You might just have to change your bet sizes a bit (for me usually up preflop and down postflop) compared to your online game, but since you're a good player, you will notice the effect of your bet sizes soon enough. For the rest, just make sure you don't give away too many tells yourself. Make all your bets with the same gesutre, and when you're in a pot and you feel your opponent is trying to get information from you, just find a nice favourite spot on the table or on the wall to stare at and wait quietly until it is your turn to act. Don't answer any questions during a hand - that's much easier than trying to find the answer that will get your opponent to do what you want - a plan which for me usually backfires. On the other hand, don't worry that every little thing you do can be interpreted as a tell - you're playing ordinary people, not mind-readers.Once you get a bit more comfortable (this took me about three full tournaments) you can start spending some more time on observing other players' tendencies, looks, patterns, tells and what not, and learning from those. There really IS a lot of extra information out there compared to playing on-line, and I am sure you will start picking it up soon, but for your first few live tournaments, a slightly adopted on-line game is more than enough to get by.Most importantly: have fun, and enjoy the experience! Once again, good luck - looking forward to the report!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Good luck with your first live session.there are a few imperatives however. You'll need these at a minimum...Pokerhat.jpgOakleyThumpPro.jpgPokerHoodie.jpgAnd always make sure you stand up, slam you fist into the felt and shout 'DONKEY' after every hand you lose. Helps the table image. gl gl!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Nutzbuster has the perfect apparel. The glasses are a MUST. No poker pro forgets their shades while playing. Instant respect.

Link to post
Share on other sites

good luck man.I would suggest just taking yor time. Playing live for the first time can be a little bit scary, and thereare a lot of things going on around you that can be confusing to a fist timer.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just remember, if the board is 7c Jc 2d Kh and the river comes the 2c and your opponent says "You must have made your flush" and moves in on you, they can beat a flush.In my experience, if someone calls out your hand and bets/raises they 98% have whatever they say you have beat.What is really scary is one time I had QQ, board is Q 7 9 5, we are HU, river is 9. Guy says "You must have made your boat" and shoved in. I was a little sick and obv called, he had 99. GL.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well that was fun! This is very long so I apologise if you get bored half way thru.Arrived an hour before it started, registered and played £3 blackjack and had a few drinks. Taught my friends how to play and made £30 into £50 by running like god, put the profits on red on roulette and hit! :D Watched the scruffy homeless looking guy next to me go thru £500 in about 20 minutes playing £20 a go. Madness.Tournament had 66 entrants, paid 10, top prize £1100.Started with 7k, 25/50 level and then 50/100 for 45 minutes each before the first break.Playing 8 handed most of the time I played.Put my earphones in, put on some crappy prog rock and settled down.Started slow, didn't try anything special, picked up a few small pots early. Tried to pick up patterns on the people around me. First thing I noticed was the ridiculous amount of limping going on. Also people love turning their cards up, which is nice of them.First hand of note, about 25 minutes had to lay down KQ on Q76 board to guy who with position on me was running crazy well early, he flipped up 66 for his 3rd shown flopped set of the tournament so far.Few hands later, I picked up QQ UTG, raise to 200, 3 callers. Flop is 8 3 2 rainbow, CB bet 500. Young American woman from Chicago who seemed to be involved with every other hand in MP is the only caller. She had lost about half her stack at this point, about 3.5k behind after the flop bet, very passive player.Turn is an offsuit 6.I was putting her on some sort of 8 here, I'd seen her call down top pair weak kicker a few orbits earlier and she seemed to be acting the same (Although that probably means bugger all).I probably should have just put her all-in here or checked and let her take a stab but I bet 1k. River is a 7. I check, she shoves pretty quickly. I should have folded but after I while I called and she flipped 87o. :/. I was informed by Mr Flopsetseverytime that my call was bad. :club: After this I was down to about 4k, blinds just increased to 50/100 so still ok. Toward the end of the level before the break I pick up aces on the button (or cut-off I can't quite remember), there's a raise from early position, I announce raise, intending to make it 1k but accidentally flip 1.5k in which apparently stands as the bet. He calls (fine with me). Flop comes down 3 6 J, he bets some donkish amount (About 500), I go all-in (far too quickly) and he insta-calls with AJ. Back to about 8k at the break after he bricks the 2 outer (clearly isn't Pokerstars).During the break hear from someone that Annette Obrestrad had been in the casino the previous night and had run a crazy £500 bluff and got away with it playing £5/£10. He was sketchy on the details so I didn't completely believe him at the time although I overheard some conversation about it at a table a couple of hours later.After the break the blinds were 100/200 and half hour levels so I figure this is a good point to start chipping up and punishing the ridiculous number of passive players. I knew a lot about how the people around me played. A few physical things as well, very obvious ones though - ie -the guy 2 to my left make it quite clear he hadn't hit a flop by sighing and looking annoyed. :ts (He didn't last too long). There was a young guy sitting on the opposite side of the table who seemed to be playing the same as me, only one who seemed solid.The limping/calling was still everywhere after the break (people call/folding half their stack was something I saw a couple of times) but I didn't pick up much I wanted to play with early. No action with Queens when I raised 2 limpers from the button.At one point, 5 people limped before me in the SB with 83o which I mucked which brought about a look of shock from Mr Flopssetseverytime who I now was labelling Wanker. Apparently I should play any two with that action.At some point early in the 3rd level a space opens after Chicago woman gets stacked and a very retiring looking young Chinese guy sits down. I'm informed by the guy on my right that he is a local pro and has taken down a few tournaments this year.He has a decent stack (about 15k, me at 10k at the time), and immediately starts raising a lot of pots (which is exactly what I wanted to do). He twice punished the short stacks limping before him by shoving them all in when he was on the button/blinds (You'd think they'd learn). He lost a few biggish pots when people hit big but generally kept chipping up. I wasn't picking up much to play against him with, so relied on playing pots he wasn't involved with.The only pot I played with him of note, he raised to 700 at 100/200 from MP, I decided to flat in the BB with 44. Flop came down 79Thhx. I probably should have made a bet of some sort but I check folded to his 1k CB (standard for him). Quite a dangerous flop considering the sort of player he was who could show up with loads that hit it.Going thru the 4th/5th levels, everything seems ok a little card dead but I'm not too far below average and feeling confident that I can get a decent spot to get my chips in good. Got good reads on my table when of course it splits (about 27 people left). I get moved to a new table with the Chinese guy and noone else from my old table (which sucked). The blinds go up to 400/800, I have about 9k, so it's almost shovebot time. The limping at this table is still chronic (5k stacks limp/folding :S) but with a difference, there are a couple of monster stacks here.Hilarious moment where there is an all-in from the Button and a call from the SB, the MP limper tanks (for all his stack) and eventually folds 87dd face-up saying "I really wanted to play that hand, guess this is a fold."The board comes down 7 6 7 8 7 to put him on crazy tilt.At one point Chinese guy shoves 9k from the BB (he had gotten a little short) and the UTG limper (with about 35k) calls with K6s which holds against QJss to bust him!I see something similar with Q9o from the other big stack and realise I can't pick up chips by going all-in to punish limpers. I go completely card dry, get dealt krablar twice and J6o about 5 times in 3 orbits and end up folding down to 6k (just at the start of 500/1000).End up shoving KJo in an opened pot from MP and losing to the SB's AQ.Finished about 20th.Great fun. There were a few really funny (laugh to yourself) moments involving complete donks. Could have used some better cards at the right moments but can't get everything.One of my friends (who busted in the 2nd level) had run £50 into £200 on blackjack whilst I'd been playing. He'd also been drinking quite a lot so we managed to drag him away before he blew it all.Sorry for the length!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice read, out of interest what prog band where you listening to? I'm a biggish prog fan

Link to post
Share on other sites

Start I was listening to Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds (bit hooked on it atm).Went thru Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here later.Towards the end I was listening to Sticky Fingers by the Stones.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Good read.The one thing I noticed though is you seem to be a bit arrogant regarding the donks. It's nothing against you, it's just a pet peeve of mine. People seem to think they are a greater life form because they're a slightly better poker player than someone else. Just remember to be respectful and that these bad poker players could be very good in other aspects of their life. Also remember to never tap on the aquarium. GL

Link to post
Share on other sites
Good read.The one thing I noticed though is you seem to be a bit arrogant regarding the donks. It's nothing against you, it's just a pet peeve of mine. People seem to think they are a greater life form because they're a slightly better poker player than someone else. Just remember to be respectful and that these bad poker players could be very good in other aspects of their life. Also remember to never tap on the aquarium.
I have a general disdain for almost everyones poker playing ability. When playing online I go in looking for the idiots, which at the stakes I usually play is most of the table. In this case, I probably wasn't far off being one of the idiots due to inexperience. There were only a couple of people who impressed me with their ability and they played the kinda game I wanted to play but didn't quite have the confidence to.As for the people themselves, most of them were friendly, pleasant and good to talk to. They just seemed to be enjoying themselves. I liked that.
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...