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What's the skill level like playing live compared to online in low-limit cash games?

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  1. maalox maalox is offline

    Greensboro, NC
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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 3:27pm)

    I play small-stakes NL cash games online ($25 or $50 max buy-in) and I'm wondering if a winning player at this level has the skills to win at a small-stakes live game at a casino ($100 or $200 max buy-in). How does the average skill level of a low-limit live game compared to the average skill level of a low-limit online game?
  2. WonderCall WonderCall is offline

    Phoenix, AZ
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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 3:29pm) in reply to maalox

    You should be good, live players are much much worse.
  3. KingPariah KingPariah is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 3:30pm) in reply to maalox

    the lowest buyin games in casinos are just as easy (or maybe easier) than the 50 max games online
  4. koolromeo koolromeo is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 3:34pm) in reply to maalox

    live players are just wretched compared to online players. they play way too many hands and will go to the river with almost anything. just play abc poker and you will crush live games.
  5. BigRiskky BigRiskky is online now

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 3:47pm) in reply to maalox

    Better skill in most $50 tournaments online, than there are in $200-500 tournies live.

    $100 online about = to $1,000 Live.

    Riskky
    132 2
  6. jpsnow jpsnow is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 4:32pm) in reply to maalox

    yup..... they compare to 25NL in my opinion everywhere i have played. Every once in a while youll find a good player and usually they are an online player. Just dont get bored and play too many hands like everyone else does.
  7. maalox maalox is offline

    Greensboro, NC
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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 4:59pm) in reply to maalox

    Thanks everyone.
    Thread Starter
  8. Octan3_ipwnsippin Octan3_ipwnsippin is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 5:05pm) in reply to maalox

    ive been to the casino 3-4 times.

    last time i went, was there for 4 hours, and i played 4 hands that i wasnt in the BB.

    preare to be a folding station, even if you wanna play a 7-8sooted, usually some guy will make it 15$, just because hes bored
  9. hoosier hoosier is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 5:57pm) in reply to Octan3_ipwnsippin

    Agree with OcTaN3...., the pace will bore you, and you'll fold a lot. Make sure you don't play at a timed rake table (charge every player every 1/2 hour), if you get rags it'll cost you. Also, be prepared for some ridiculous betting, often open raises for 8 1/1 x's bb and higher! I see a lot of 1/2 nl games with open raises of $25.
  10. stickneymarc stickneymarc is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 6:03pm) in reply to hoosier

    Playing live vs online is like comparing nba basketball to international basketball. Same game really just played differently. You need to adapt to live more than just playing live. There are more people playing hands live. You need to play big hands very strong preflop and drawing hands to beat several callers when in position and can get in fairly cheap. Live tends to have people who just want action and will play almost anything to get it.
  11. erbloore erbloore is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 6:55pm) in reply to maalox

    Live players are much worse at the lower levels. Go for it.
  12. Suthereader Suthereader is offline

    Pensacola, FL
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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 9:13pm) in reply to WonderCall

    I would say live isn't as easy as you think...its like online in that you never know til you've seen several hands whether or not people can play...I've seen supposedly low stakes $1-2 games get cranked from the get go up to $15 preflop on every hand...because its suppose to be low doesn't mean someone can make the stakes high immediately.

    I saw one player giving another player advice at the table....collusion? A possibility....

    And the donks won't respect your all-in bets cutting off the straight and the flush draws anymore than they do online...

    Also saw an old man wearing a fedora....who'd probably been playing poker for sixty years...he was so old his hands were shaking...not a tell to be found on him...don't know about you but I'm not fond of going into pots with people with that kind of experience....

    There was a late 20's Asian guy who could do chips tricks that Esfandiari would admire....

    Do not take live lightly....Live players look poorly on onliners and onliners look poorly on live players but the truth is just about everybody can and do do both...

    I was lucky once and did get to take a stack off a pro out who went all in on me....he was bluffing...this was before I knew much about cards...but I knew enough to know I had 2 pair so I called...this was just about 10 or 20 mins after he had been pretending to be my friend...yelling at some guy on my right who'd made a river straight on my trips in an earlier pot...Acting...can be at a whole new level live....you'll have those who never give a tell and those who are craftier and give off false tells...better read a tell book before you play live....lol
  13. acecatcher26 acecatcher26 is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 9:34pm) in reply to erbloore

    I would say if u could beat $25nl online u could beat $200 nl live
  14. ahhhhhsht ahhhhhsht is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 9:49pm) in reply to acecatcher26

    ill go as far as saying 5c 10c online is comparable to most 1 2nl live (atleast in vegas, maybe local joints are tougher) with the occasional table ahving an upper level of 10c 25c play.
  15. icecoldkiller icecoldkiller is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:00pm) in reply to maalox

    It seems that some of the advice here is based on experience, some not.

    Playing live is a slow boring process. if you play tight, do not expect much action when you enter a hand, unless those opponents have something worth playing. Expect to see anyone with a decent starting hand raising a $1/$2 table to $10 or $15 preflop, and covering their monsters with the same bets. Expect to see as many hands over 4 hours as you can see in 1 hour online.

    Expect to not be able to read players, and expect to see players bet a lot differently than you are used to online.
  16. Aranjuez Aranjuez is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:02pm) in reply to icecoldkiller

    <span> "</span><span>Expect to not be able to read players"</span>

    ^ elaborate?
  17. _swish_ _swish_ is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:09pm) in reply to Suthereader

    Dont know if anyone else agrees with this but i dont think any pros play much1/2 200 max games. Now i know guys who grind 2/5 but 1/2 NL im gonna say there are no pros
  18. TomHimself TomHimself is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:20pm) in reply to _swish_

    suthereader,

    WOW
  19. Aranjuez Aranjuez is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:25pm) in reply to TomHimself

    ^ lol.. I was thinking the same thing. Old guy's wearing fedoras and young asians doing chip tricks <span>do not</span> intimidate me.
  20. Askesis_ Askesis_ is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:56pm) in reply to Suthereader

    just because that guy bluffed you does not mean he was pretending to be your friend.

    When I play, I play to win as much as I am able to, whether I am playing with friends or complete strangers.

    I wouldn't think twice about bluffing my friend if I thought they would fold.
     
  21. Suthereader Suthereader is offline

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    Oct 21st, 2006 (10/21/2006 10:58pm) in reply to maalox

    I forgot to mention...you have to keep a mental note on how much has been bet into each pot....unlike online there's no posting of how much is in the pot...you have to mentally keep track unlike online where the site does it all for you...
  22. TOTTY TOTTY is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 12:08am) in reply to Suthereader

    This post is killer. Its like a casting 101 for poker.
  23. TOTTY TOTTY is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 12:15am) in reply to Suthereader

    Yea what everybody said. The live players are complete eggnoramuses. I mean I play .10/25 online but when I go to a casino I play 2000/4000 with a patch on my eye to give off false tells and I just murder the game. I even where a kangol and smoke misty lights when things are really cracking. Just be careful carrying all the money to your car. One time I was strapping a brick of benjis on my moped and some old blue hairs got all in my grill with a switchblad comb. Its a jungle man.
  24. lind0 lind0 is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 1:42am) in reply to maalox

    I agree that 1/2 live is as easy to beat as the low limits online, but I think it takes a different style to win. It will probably take you at least a few sessions to adapt. If you try to play your normal online game at a live casino it won't work the same way. You have to make some adjustments in order to beat the live game.

    First, the preflop raises will be bigger than you're used to. 15$ will be normal. With raises that big you can't call with suited connectors or low/medium pairs the way you can online, so you'll need to play tighter.

    Second, there will also be more pre-flop callers than normal. If you make a 3x blind raise, expect 4-5 callers. You need to protect your big hands with bigger raises preflop. Don't worry about getting action on a 15$ bet, you'll usually get more than you want so play the big pairs fast and with larger raises.

    Third, players will give up pots after the flop more easily when they have nothing, but they'll also call bigger bets with any draws. You'll encounter many more players who will play any draw for any amount of money. You need to make those people really pay when you have something, so make larger bets on the flop than normal.

    Fourth, if you can call from late position after a few limpers and with good pot odds, do it with virtually any two cards. If you hit your hand hard, somebody will probably pay you off.

    And last, and probably most importantly, you have to build your image atleast a bit. People will notice if you play like a rock. Most people don't notice that you haven't played a hand forever online, but they will when you play live. Once in a while, you should make some ridiculous play and show it just to induce action later. Don't lose much $$ doing it, but make sure everyone knows you can bluff.
  25. The Crew Buster The Crew Buster is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 9:50am) in reply to lind0

    you can own a 1/2 table if you play solid poker, I have only had one losing session live and that was in vegas and a 4 player all in 1800.00+ pot in a 1/2nl game when my set of 6's lost to a river str8. (see my post in bad beat)

    I play tight and wait for these guys that will play anything and make them play for there mistakes. I once took a guys roll who called my bet after bet after bet to the river without him even holding a pair. He had big cards and I knew it and the board kept comming small making my 9's very strong....he ended up showing his A/K that he raised 5 to preflop. won 175 from him on that hand and gave me a big stack on the table that I used to push others around with.
  26. Suthereader Suthereader is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 1:56pm) in reply to Askesis_

    Well all I can say is that I was there and you weren't....I was trying to describe some of the things one could encounter while in a casino based on experiences I actually had....

    As for the stakes not being high enough for a pro to be in it, that's not accurate, because it was a No Limit Table....$1/2 are just the MINIMUM blinds....any pro can and probably will raise that to get more money in the pot, to limit the field and to manipulate the pot odds...

    If you read a few books on poker then you'll know that GAME SELECTION IS KEY....Being good at game selection means choosing a game you can expect to beat....Most pros try to stay at a level they can manipulate or beat....

    You're probably much better off playing live at a home game or with friends than going to the casino....
  27. Born2DonkBaby Born2DonkBaby is offline

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    Oct 22nd, 2006 (10/22/2006 2:42pm) in reply to TOTTY

    OMG, did you just misspell ignoramus?
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