Great tips from RFB and Praetor.

One other thing, I do is watch every person look at their cards, listen to people talk (see how important or just fun the tourney is to them). Some ppl that need to do well in the tourney or taking it very seriously: NIT IT UP! Then the ppl just there drinking and having a good ole time are stations. So try to avoid OUTRAGEOUS bluffs, pick your battles.

Last month at Foxwoods, there was this little spewy guy with a middle-eastern accent that talked about poker philosophy after every hand he was involved in. Listen to those people – they are telling you how they play.

But there was one other thing this guy did that was an amazing tell. Whenever he looked at his hole cards longer than usual, it would be a Q9, KT, A8 type hand. There were times when he actually reached for chips then decided to fold the last second.

 He did it every single time with those pretty looking but hard to play type hands. And when this guy looked down and saw AA or KK he sure didn't pause and look at his cards for three or four seconds.

Couple of questions. How do you guys play on the bubble at a live tourney. Does it vary from online much? 

How do you think playing on the tv table affects peoples play?

How do you think playing on the bubble at a tv table affects overall play?

I've played on two different tv tables. The first was hole cards revealed & was at the start of the tournament. I played tight & just didn't want to make a mistake. I was kinda surprised at the hands people were playing though. 

The second  was at the last tourney & hole cards were not revealed, but there was cameras set up and 2 people commentating behind us. I'd just been moved to the table, had above average in chips & it was the bubble period. 24 away from cash when I sat down. I gave away over half of my chips in this period. I think it's safe to say I completely misread the situation.

hey guys…i had posted a forum about online vs. live poker under the “MTT strategies” section…i guess i should have posted it here though..i have tons of live experience…and i think this post will help anyone trying to transition from online to live…its long but thorough…free free to comment..enjoy..

Okay.  So here it is.  The mother of all poker discussions; discussed in home games all the way to the big boys on ESPN.

What are the differences between online poker and live poker????

Well, before I begin, let me tell you my poker backround first.  I'm
22 now and started playing when I was about 17 (after seeing on TV the
whole poker boom shit or whatever you wanna call it)  I started playing
with friends in school and in home games for a few months before
finally checking out the underground poker clubs in Queens, New York. 
Whatever impressions or stories you have heard from the “underground
clubs” is probably all TRUE.  I mean, I wasn't playing at places like
KGB's in “Rounders,” BUT these places were/are pretty ****ing shady. 
Gotta look over your shoulder walking to your car after a winning
session.  They're tons of “characters” if that's the word. I wouldn't
show them any bluffs if I were you….I DON'T! ANYWAY-

So I pretty much played on and off at these clubs for about 3
years.  I sort of became obsessed, as do most people who start playing
playing poker.  Losing sleep thinking about hands. “Should I have
checked there, should I have folded, should I have raised.”  All that
sort of shit. (By the way, if you are not thinking about the game when
NOT playing the game, such as going over hands in your head, discussing
it with fellow poker friends, ect…I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU START.  Thinking
about the game and learning from your mistakes (cause it's IMPOSSIBLE
to NOT make mistakes while playing) is the best way to improve your
game.  Away from the table, I would always watch WSOP on ESPN.  It's
simple, if you want to be great, you must study the one's who are great
and try to pick up the good things they do and add it to your game. 
(This is how I feel also about TPE.  All the pro's {panda, dog, hag,
wein} are very sucessful poker pokers.  So watch and ya might learn a
thing or two!)  ANYWAY-

The 3 years I played I eventually became a winning player.  I wasn't
winnings massive amounts of money, but you know, upper hundreds, lower
thousands.  It was enough for me at the time.  Afterall, I was really
only playing 1/2 blinds and occasionally 2/5 and some small tournies
where 1st place would only be about 1k-ish or so.  Because I was
playing live poker, my physical reading ability or “seeing tells” and
just overall presence and “feel” for the table was getting better day
by day.  AND THEN ONE DAY, I DEPOSIT MONEY ON ONLINE POKER….

Now, I assume most of you guys have played online FIRST BEFORE
playing live.  (and I don't mean like playing a couple home games with
your friends first…I'm talking about putting in serious volume into
poker)  So I believe most of you haven't played live for 3 years before
NEVER being in an online game like I have.  Let me tell you this right
now, the transition from live poker to online poker was a NIGHTMARE for
me.  I, just like many other people I know, used the phrases, “****
online,”  “this shit is rigged” <lets just ignore and save the whole
UB scam for another topic..haha>..It was extremely frustrating to
me.  I lost, lost, and lost and couldn't figure out why.  I was a
winning player live, why couldn't I win playing online?  It's the same
game, isn't it?  Yes, it is, but not exactly.  To be perfectly honest,
(and this took me a long time to finally realize) the AVERAGE online
player is better than the AVERAGE live player.  They get 3x the amount
of hand experience per session! It's just simple logic, the more hands
you see and learn from in a shorter amount of time, the faster you're
going to improve your game. So it wasn't that I was a bad poker
player,  I just simply was getting outplayed.  I've been playing online
for the past 2 years now, looking back at my game 2 years ago, it's
embarrassing to even think of how bad I played.  Online has sharepened
my fundamentals (bet sizing, hand strength, position) greatly.  I laugh
to myself in my head as I play live today just looking at how many
fundamental mistakes live players make (not saying online players
don't…beause obviously there's bad players EVERYWHERE)  I've only got
about 5k in profits from MTT”S but I am fine with that because I've
seen how far I've come and I know the results are going to start
showing (hopefully soon!)  Now, let me share with you my view on the
differences between live and online poker—

(sorry if I went on about me a little too much but I wanted to share
with you my backround on both live and online first before I explained
the differences)

Live Poker:

1.) Tells are NOT overrated! 

I can't even begin to explain to you how many live tells you can
pick up on people.  And it's not even the obvious ones like “the quick
glance at the chips” meaning strength or “acting strong” meaning
bluffing or the “acting weak” meaning strength.  You just gotta look at
everyone sitting down at the very beginning of a tournament and analyze
them as a PERSON first.  Listen to the things they say, their body
movements, the way they stack their chips (I've learned the messy chip
piles usually mean they are clueless…unless they are giving off the
false tell and hustling you…haha)  But seriously, all you gotta do is
just observe them as a person first.  Ask yourself some more questions:
“is he a nice guy” (generally nice guys are capable of folding and
don't like to take risks and will submit to pressure) “does he look
tough/cocky” (generally this type of person will not fold to you too
easily)  Take me personally for example, I'm 22 and I look 22.  Do I
actually expect that some big tough dude is gonna let me get away will
bluffs?! NO! I DON'T!  So I won't do it as often because I know in
their heads they do not like to get pushed around, ESPECIALLY by some
young “punk” like me.  I can't stress enough how much personality plays
into poker.  Poker is a game of incomplete information.  With online
poker, there is LESS information available.  With live poker, there is
MORE information available to you.  So when you sit down at a live
table, PAY ATTENTION TO THE PLAYERS.  You will be amazed of how much
information you can get within the first few hands from the players. 
This will definitely help you with your decision making.

2.) Consistency of your image.

When playing at a live table, it is extremely important whatever it
is that you're doing: keep it the same!  Now, what do I mean by this:

a.) if you say “check” when checking.  THEN ALWAYS SAY CHECK!  If
you tap the table once when checking.  THEN ALWAYS TAP IT ONCE!  DO NOT
EVER EVER EVER say “check” one hand, and then “tap with your index
finger twice” another hand, and then “knock 4 times with your fist
another hand” !!!

YOU MUST KEEP EVERYTHING CONSISTENT!  You might be unconsiously
unaware of these tells when you're either bluffing or have a hand. 
SOMEONE observant could very easily pick up on this and use it against
you!  Personally, I tap with my left hand TWICE.  So decide on
something that is comfortable for you, and STICK WITH IT! ALWAYS!  This
same rule applies for betting.  Do you announce your bets? (obviously
you must if you throw one chip in or else its just a call) Or do you
just stick it out there?  Also, how do you physicially place your chips
in the pot?  Do you put it out as one pile; do you split them in half
or 3, or 4?; or do you just splash them?  Whatever you choose to do,
MAKE SURE YOU DO IT THE SAME FOR EVERY BET!  Again, you might have
tells you are not aware of.  Perhaps maybe when you're bluffing, you
put in your chips neatly and when you have a hand, you splash them.  It
all could be unconscious people.  You could very well easily not be
aware of it.  SO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CONSISTENT!

3.) Look at your opponents!

When the hand is dealt out, it is extremely important to look at
each and every one of your opponents as they peak at their whole
cards.  This goes back to my physical “tell” section.  Perhaps you
might pick something up on a player as they look at their cards.  Did
they look excited? Nonchalant? ect……*DON'T LOOK AT YOUR CARDS UNTIL IT
IS YOUR TURN TO ACT!* This is important for two reasons. A.) Because
like I said, you should be looking at your opponent's reactions to
their cards, B.) Let's say you have AA, you might give off some kind of
tell of excitement as the action comes your way; someone might pick up
on that.  And lastly, if you are involved in a hand, and the action is
on your opponenets first, LOOK AT HIM/HER BEFORE YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE
FLOP!  Again, you might pick up something on his reaction to the flop. 
Oh, and one more thing guys regarding this section.  Try to memorize
BOTH your cards before the flop comes out.  I can't tell you how many
times I see at a table where let's say 3 diamonds come on the flop, and
every ****ing player who's in the hand checks to see if they have a
diamond or not.  It's absolutely ridiculous and another easy way to
give off a tell and information to someone.  JUST MEMORIZE YOUR CARDS! 
IT'S JUST 2 CARDS! (omaha is a little bit more difficult, i know…but
for hold'em, it isnt that hard)  What I do is: I look at my cards,
raise/call or whatever, then right before the flop comes out, take one
last peak at them to lock it into my brain.

4.) Timing

Okay, this could be one of the most important things of live poker. 
Some players don't have physical tells, BUT they have TIMING tells. 
Some players might insta-check when they have nothing, or insta-bet
when they have something.  Again, this is something you have to look
for in your opponenets.  LOTS OF PLAYERS have time tells and its your
duty to hopefully figure them out early enough to exploit your
opponents.  As I said before, you could have some unconsious timing
tells yourself.  Perhaps when you flop huge, you snap check.  What I do
to solve this problem is TAKE THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME FOR EVERY
DECISION!  I reccomend 5-10 seconds before either checking/betting. 
This way, no one can figure out any information from you by how long
you take.  Obviously if you have a tough decision, take longer.  The
only explanation I'll accept for snap checking is if 5 players limp
into the pot, and you have the 7 2 off, and the flop comes a k q and
you know you're not putting a penny in that pot, then go ahead, scream
check as loud as you ****ing want.  But other than that, keep your
timing consistent!

Online Poker:

1.) Tells online

Now, obviously there are more “tells” available live than online,
BUT out of my 2 years of experience online, I found some tells as
well.  Okay, now bare with me when I say this first one.  THIS DOES NOT
ALWAYS APPLY…IN FACT…MAYBE NOT EVEN 50% OF THE TIME…but atleast from MY
experiences, I have seen this.  Let's say you open a pot and 1 person
out of position flats you.  When the flop hits, they snap check. 
Again, from MY experiences, more times than not, it means they have hit
some piece of the flop…AGAIN DO NOT BASE YOUR DECISIONS OFF THIS…I just
decided to mention this for something to just LOOK out after.  And if
you do get to see their hand and they DID hit that flop.  MAKE A NOTE
of that on that player.  That can be a HUGE tell to exploit in later
hands or if you so happen to meet with that person in another tourney. 
One way to avoid this problem yourself is to do the same thing I told
you to do while playing live.  MAKE ALL YOUR DECISIONS THE SAME TIME! 
Personally, I either bet/check/raise/shove 15 seconds and over.  I
NEVER make any decisions less than 15 seconds.  This way, my opponents
can never pick up any sort of time tell on me. 

Another online tell that I have picked up is talking in the chat
during a hand.  Now again, THIS DOES NOT ALWAYS APPLY, but from my
experiences, when a player decides to talk during a hand, (lets say he
bets the river and you're tanking thinking to call or not) it generally
means they are strong.  The only logical explanation I can give for
this is since acting comfortable is “generally” a sign of weakness,
they are giving off a FALSE TELL trying to represent weakness when they
are actually strong.  AGAIN, this is just from my experiences.  Some
people type when they are bluffing, some type shit with the nuts. 
Either way, if you eventually and hopefully see their hand while doing
something STUPID LIKE THIS, (Because that's what it is: stupid! I
HIGHLY RECCOMMEND NEVER TYPING DURING A HAND OR TALKING DURING A HAND
IN LIVE POKER) take a note of it, or if it's live poker, make a mental
note of it in your head.  The whole talking during the hands thing;
save that shit from home games with your friends getting drunk and
high.  There is no room for it when you're seriously competing to win. 
UNLESS you've mastered it and found a way (reverse pyschology and
double reverse pyschology) to get others to talk and use it to your
advantage like someone like Daniel Negreanu has, JUST DON'T DO IT.  All
you're doing is giving away important information.  A smart player will
figure you out sooner or later.

Another online tell I've noticed is when someone puts you all in BUT
leaves you with just one chip left over if you call.  Now, again, from
my experiences, this is a sign of a real hand and is sort of making a
joke about it to leave you with 1 chip when you call.  However, I have
seen players do this at a high MTT buyin when they were bluffing.  So
it can be a false tell as well.  But from my experiences, my times than
not, it has been a sign that your opponent has a strong hand.  Just
keep an eye out for those stupid things people do.

Poker Stereotypes: Live and Online

Okay, let me start off by saying this: I am NOT racist, sexist, or
prejudice in any way whatsoever.  BUT it is important to realize,
whether we like it or not, there are stereotypes in poker.  Here is
basically my rule when first encountering players during a live game. 
Stick to the stereostypes first UNTIL the moment you realize they do or
do not fit that sterotype.

The Sterotypes: Again people, not racist, sexist, or prejudice.  And I did not create these sterotypes…

Women: Tight players, can be pushed around.

Asian descent: Aggressive, take a more mathematical approach to the game, play lots of draws

Older people (50's + ): tight but stubborn; will be in the hand till death.

Younger people: (20's) must assume they have knowledge of the game
giving the fact poker blew up during their (my..haha) “i can take over
the world/i'm invincible” stupid mentality age generation

So, those are the main ones I believe to be.  I'm sure there's more,
but these are the most important I think.  Now, like I've said, when
sitting down at a table, I reccomend sticking with these sterotypes of
those people until you are proven wrong.  Examples:

A.) If you notice a woman 3 bet squeeze with 8 6 of diamonds, then you can kiss that tight image sterotype goodbye.

B.) If you notice an asian person hasn't raised a pot in 2 orbits, then kiss that aggressive sterotype goodbye.

C.) If you notice an older man raising 4 hands an orbit, then you can kiss that rock image goodbye.

D.) If you notice a kid in his/her 20's getting pushed around by the table, then you can kiss that confidence image goodbye.

As far as online is concerned, always draw your mouse cursor over
your oppenents name.  See where he/she is from.  Everyone knows this
one.  The nothern Europeans tend to be aggressive…haha…Well, if he/she
is not playing aggressive, then kiss that sterotype goodbye also!

It's that simple people. Just take the sterotypes all into consideration until they show you something different…

Well, I hope these things have helped.  Although I play online
mostly now, I still consider myself a live player because that's where
I feel I have a bigger edge.  Make sure you do the live things I've
shared with you! Especially with the timing with bets/checks.  I can't
stress how important that is.  The good players will pick up and
exploit you if you're sloppy with these kind of things. 

Playing live poker can be intimidating.  I'm not gonna lie, there
were times where some dudes just pyschologically got in my head and
affected my decision making.  Just whatever you do, DONT MAKE POKER
PERSONAL! Don't go after one person, and don't purposely try and out
play them.  It's a losing stratedgy.  Believe me, I've been through
it.  If you're not comfortable playing live, and you feel you have a
bigger edge hiding behind your computer in your boxers eating ice
cream, then just DONT PLAY LIVE….It's that simple.  If you're shipping
online, then **** live.  Money is money.  Doesn't matter where it's
coming from.  Who gives a shit about the notoriety and what not.  You
have to be comfortable to win.  To be honest, I just like playing live
better because I like the social aspect of it.  I get pretty bored
playing online honestly.  But hey, that's just me.

Anyway guys, I hope you've liked the post and I hope it helps your
game out in some way.  It's the little things that seperate an average
poker player from a consistent winning poker player.

Special thanks to panda, dog, wein, and hag.  Your videos have helped my game out a lot.

(And the new TPE pro's too!  Haven't looked much yet into your videos but I definitely will…)

Cheers guys

-james “the dude”

nicee…forest hills…just a 15min ride on the gcp  =)