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Hints & tips for those who have not played "Live" before. (SPT Manchester)
Morning.
It seems that quite a few of those at SPT Manchester have never played "Live" poker before.
There really are significant differences between "live" & online so this thread is designed to highlight some of the things to look out for.
This is not "my" thread, the more that contribute to it - either with tips, or questions - the better.
I'll get the ball rolling with a few bits & bobs.
Comments
Don't forget to post your blinds in a timely manner
This might seem an odd one, but Online we don't really post our blinds - the software does it for us automatically.
Nothing is more annoying to the other players & the Dealer than having to be told every orbit - "BLINDS PLEASE".
It makes you look a bit silly, too, so try to remember.
Seems obvious, too, but if you decide to "make up" from the Small Blind, don't forget to place those extra chips over the line.
Never - never EVER - act out of turn
Again, Online it is IMPOSSIBLE to act out of turn.
In live poker, it's easily done.
Even if you plan to fold, WAIT UNTIL IT IS YOUR TURN TO ACT.
Folding out of turn really is naughty & extremely bad form, & if done repeatedly you may get a time penalty & be forced to sit out for an orbit. Worse still, it identifies you as a bit of a clot.
Folding out of turn influences the action around us. Other players see us do it & it changes the action, meaning some players are advantaged, & other players disadvantaged. (Imagine if you are the button & fold out of turn. The hijack can take advantage of that & so it's unfair on the Blinds).
It happens most often when, say, a player is busting for a wee. He's dealt his cards, looks at them quickly, then mucks them "out of turn" & runs off to the loo.
This is really bad form - seriously. Please try never to do it.
If you want to visit the bathroom during play, or go have a smoke outside, fine, wait until you have folded in turn, then wander off. There is no necessity or rule to be present at the table every hand, so you can step away from the table for as long as you want. But do NOT do so "out of turn", it's really bang out of order, disrespectful, & extremely bad form.
Don't forget to post your antes
At Manchester SPT, antes come in on Level 8.
You must post your ante EVERY HAND.
You'd be amazed how much antes slow the game down if a few players keep forgetting to post them. It's bad manners, & it's anti-social.
The dealer (should) collect antes in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction (either, it matters not) but they want to be able to collect all of them in one quick "sweep".
Failing to post Antes promptly eats up the clock, which, on balance, is bad for the game & certainly unfair on some.
Protect your hand
By which I mean, keep your hand on your hole cards, OR place a chip or "card guard" (a coin, chip or small ornament) on your cards.
This is particularly important if you are in Seat 1 or Seat 9, as from those seats the dealer can easily "sweep" your cards into the muck accidentally. (Another thing which cannot happen online).
Please note if you don't protect your hand & the dealer mucks your cards in error, it is YOUR FAULT, not the Dealer's fault, & you won't get them back. However, if they were "protected" (as above) then in most circumstances they can be retrieved, subject to circumstances.
Don't believe me? Watch this, from the WSOP. (watch closely at around 10 seconds in....)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smNTAQildDc
Show one, show all
A terrible & boring cliché, but nevertheless it's true.
We are often tempted to show the player next to us our cards in non-showdown situations, perhaps we have run a big bluff with air, or have quads or whatever.
Don't do it. It's bang out of order & the Dealer is entitled to turn them over & show everyone. More to the point its seriously bad manners.
If you flick your cards up so the player next to you can see them, you have to show the whole table.
It's a bad habit many exhibit in live poker, showing their mate or neighbour they cards every hand, but its wrong, as it gives an unfair advantage to that player.
Be respectful during the play of hands you are not involved in
You fold, say, 8-2, & it gets heads up, & the flop comes down 8-8-2, or 8-8-8.
NEVER say "nooooo, I folded 8-2", as it messes with the play of the hand.
Equally, if you fold, say, 4-4 & there is a 4 on the flop, don't give the game away by mentioning it mid-hand or by banging the table in frustration, making it obvious.
Also, feel free to chat away whilst others are in a hand, but if a big hand goes off & a player is put to a decision for his tournament life, show some manners & respect & keep quiet until the hand is over. The player is entitled to some peace & quiet whilst he is in the tank.
Verbalise your action
I've probably played many thousand Live MTT's, & I doubt if there has ever been one of them where there was not an ugly argument about an action which was unclear.
When it is on you to act, catch the dealers eye first (wait, if necessary until he looks at you), then SAY what you are doing.
I am all-in
I make it 500 to go
I raise to 2,000
I call
These are all acceptable.
Be careful what you say. If blinds are, say, 100-200, and you say "make it two hundred" that's a FLAT CALL.
"String Betting" is the daftest rule in the word (& oddly, does not exist in the USA), but beware of it, as poker players are a bit silly with this one, & if you string bet they will all jump up in the air like little kids excitedly saying STRING BET. I've yet to see a string bet which was an angle shoot, but rules are rules. So announce your action first & then you'll be fine.
If you say Before you act "I make it 5,000" you can string bet as much as you want, one chip at a time if you really want & it's fine.
So just verbalise your action if you are unsure.
If you are not at the table when your cards are dealt.....
....your hand is DEAD.
Actually, this varies from venue to venue, but as a general rule you must be seated when the cards are dealt to you.
Respect the Dealer
One of the worst aspects of Live Poker is how rude some players are to Dealers.
If they make a mistake, a misdeal or whatever, so be it, no need to embarrass them by being rude about it. We all make mistakes.
If you miss all your draws or get badly outdrawn, there is no need to throw your cards at the Dealer.
Requesting a dealer change as "you are always unlucky for me" is nonsense.
Dealers get paid a pittance, & it's just not right to abuse them.
The "Single Chip Rule"
Blinds are 1,000-2,000 & you want to make it 5,000.
If you throw in a single 5,000 denom chip & say nothing that goes as a FLAT CALL of 2,000, & it is NOT a bet.
As noted earlier, VERBALISE your action in advance if you are unsure.
A Bet and a Raise are different things
So many folks get confused by this.
If you are first to act, you can fold, call or bet, but you cannot raise - you are BETTING. This is not a raise, it's a bet.
If the next player wants to re-raise, this is a RAISE not a bet.
Pay attention
If you sit there with your headphones on, fine, that's up to you, but you are more likely to miss the action in front of you.
Even in the limited experience of SPT's we've seen some fearfully embarrassing errors caused by not paying attention.
If, say, the fella in front of you goes all-in & you don't notice & announce "call", (meaning to limp or call a small bet) it's no good saying "I never realised he had moved all-in". You are now obliged to call the all-in.
I could go on all day (yes yes, I know, I already have) but I'm keen that others contribute too, so I'll pause for now.
Any questions? If so, don't be shy.
Don't EVER touch the pot
Sorry, one more really important one.
The pot does not belong to you even if you win it - the Dealer has to push the chips to you first.
NEVER EVER touch chips which are in the middle. Don't "make change" from the pot, & don't "rake in" the chips when you win a pot - that's the Dealers job.
Wait for the dealer to pass the chips to you, & only then, release your cards. (Don't release your cards until the Dealer pushes the pot to you).
There is no worse example of bad manners than pulling in a pot before it is pushed to you, making change from the pot, or in any way touching chips in the pot.
DO NOT TOUCH IT.
Don't have change?
You are Big Blind, which is 200, but the smallest chip you have is 500.
Don't ask other players for change, & don't ask the Dealer to give you change - just place the oversized chip across the line & wait.
The Dealer will give you change before he deals the flop.
They will cover a lot of the same stuff Tikay has mentioned although my ramblings are much less succinct than his and may also be used as a very effective sleeping aid.
I will copy/paste them and put the links so people can read the replies on the threads if they wish to do so.
If I had to put it succinctly I would say to try and be respectful to dealers and fellow players, pay attention to the action and try to keep the gaming moving along. If you do this but make the odd genuine mistake then people will usually be understanding.
Anyways the long winded version of that (with links)...
Link
I posted this on another thread as someone asked about live poker etiquette.
Haysie suggested posting it in a new thread so that anyone playing live can have a read over and any other posters can add any tips they feel may be worthwhile.
Therefore...
Firstly I would say that, assuming you are polite and respectful to others at your table (which I assume you would be)... People will generally be helpful if you are new to playing live poker. I would say this is especially likely to be the case at the SPT games. If you think about it, apart from the fact that all the Sky players and staff are such a lovely bunch, there will be plenty of people winning freerolls and other promotions to play in Manchester whom have never played live poker before, so you will not be alone!
The vast majority of people at tables would realise that it is good to attract new players to the game and make them feel welcome. Therefore it makes no sense for them to be overly impatient with new players.
Apart from a couple of hours messing around in a local casino, my first real live tourney was a WSOP event. There were 2 very famous live pros at the table and the stakes where also higher. As a relative novice at the time I made a few mistakes (betting out of turn, not acting on time when it was my turn, etc etc). Even here in this environment the players were all helpful as they realised any mistakes were completely unintentional. Their patience and understanding ensured I would be prepared to chuck my money into poker tourney prizepools for years to come.
You will probably make mistakes. Even many of the seasoned players who play on here will make mistakes! If you think about it, most of us who play a lot online are used to the software doing so much for us. Such as bleeping when it is our turn to act; posting our blinds; protecting our cards; counting our chips out for us; etc etc. It can be disconcerting and take a little time to adapt when we realise we have to do all these things for ourselves. If you do make a few mistakes, you will not be the only one I assure you.
So come along and have some fun!
Now obviously it is preferable if we can limit the mistakes. Firstly it means we are developing our live ability, secondly it may prevent the shark in seat 4 from trying to take advantage of us as they realise we have a tad less experience than Amarillo Slim.
In that light here are some of the common things to consider with regards to poker etiquette...
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Try not to be disruptive when people are involved in a pot.
For example do not state that "you just folded such and such a hand" while people have still to decide on their action. This can obviously influence the hand, a hand that you are not directly involved in.
If you are talking to someone about something else unrelated to the hand while people are trying to make a decision then keep it quiet or step away from the table and discuss it.
In the same vein... While we might be screaming inside to ourselves "Damn, I would of made a set!" when we see a flop after folding our piddly pair because an aggro maniac like Tikay opened for 10x. Don't say such things out loud as once again it will influence how the pot is played out.
Act when it is your turn to act
Try to pay attention to what is happening and act promptly when it is your turn to act. In the same light try not to act out of turn. For example if you raise from the button and the player before you in the cut off has not even acted yet then your out-of-turn action will influence how the hand plays out. As it wasn't your turn to act, this is unfair.
If you do this an odd time and it seems like an honest mistake people will usually be understanding but if it is done with a high frequency it will understandably irk some players.
Protect your hand at all times
You do not need to wear a glove or anything like that... just try not to let other players see your hand for obvious reasons. You also do not want the dealer to mistakenly throw your hand into the muck. It therefore makes sense to protect your hand at all times. Whether this means you sit a fancy little card protector atop your cards, such as a fossil like Tikay's opponent in a live game last night does, or simply keep your cards out of everyones reach is entirely up to you!
Give your hand up when the pot is done
I have to admit I was terrible on this front when I played live for the first few times. You win a pot, are all happy, counting your newly acquired chips, placing them all neatly in piles and wondering if you have enough to build some cool little chip structures and then the dealer asks you if they can have the cards back... OOPS!
Well the aces were nice, it would have been nice to keep them.
Again, it is unlikely anyone is going to flip the table upside down and declare 'shenanigans' I just thought I would highlight this as it is so easy to do when we are just starting out in the live pokersphere.
Clearly state your action
You do not need to tell everyone you are going to the bathroom or intend to order pizza but... if you are calling then just say "call", if you are raising then just say "raise to X amount". You do not usually need to state the amount as long as you put the correct amount of chips out into the middle but it just makes your intentions much more clear to everyone and avoids awkward situations.
Be polite
Apart from not doing Will Kassouf impressions...
Try not to go overly crazy if you win a big hand and rub peoples noses in it. I don't think there are usually specific rules that deal with this (I could be wrong). I imagine some of the general rules on behaviour could be used though. It is just more to do with not humiliating other players.
If you need to make/recieve calls then jump away from the tables to do so. It is generally frowned upon to take video etc on your phone while at the table too. I am not sure how Sky or the casino will view this but generally there are copyright issues and also other players privacy to think about.
I guess not slowrolling people falls into this section too. It is generally considered rude if you feel you have a hand locked up and make an opponent needlessly sweat and think they have won a hand.
Do not pretend you are raising to see opponents reactions, such as by starting to move a big pile of chips into the middle and then bringing them back.
Also while it is fine to ponder your action and plan the crazy line you are going to adopt to make an opponent donate their stack to you... try and do so in a reasonable time. Live poker goes more slowly than online and it is therefore good to try and keep things moving along relatively quickly so you can fit a good few hands in and hopefully be dealt a few premiums.
Make your bets clear with your action
For example do not put out one chunk of chips and then add a few more and a few more etc. Generally this would not be accepted anyway. Just put the chips together for the size of the bet you want to make then put them out in 1 motion.
Do not throw your chips into the pot otherwise it is hard for anyone to tell what you actually put out into the middle.
Also keep your chips in your area and put any large denomination chips at the front for all others to clearly see. If your big chips are hiding away at the back then people will have an inaccurate picture of how many chips you have and may alter their action accordingly. There was a high profile case about this just recently in a televised game when Alec Torelli done this.
Keep your cards to yourself unless you have to show them
There are occasions when you may want to show your cards. You are giving other players valuable info though when you do this so generally try not to (there are caveats - "9 high like a boss!" springs to mind). If you do show your cards then they have to be shown in a way that everyone can see them, you shouldn't show your cards to just certain players.
The majority of the above info is from my own experience but some snippets will be from articles I have read online.
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As mentioned at the start, you will probably not remember all of that and will make the odd mistake or three. As long as you are polite to people and try your best to keep up with the action I doubt anyone will be anything other than helpful. They may try to remove the burden of having chips from you (it is the nature of the game afterall) but they will generally try to do so in a polite and understanding manner.
It is loads of fun playing live and I have no doubt Sky will pull all the stops out at the SPT to make it a memorable experience so come along and have some fun.
Good luck!
Link
Obviously quite a few Sky members will be playing live at the WSOP and while some may be very familiar with the live game, some may not have played live and may be curious about what it is like and what the differences are between live and online.
Maybe if some members who have played a bit live are kind enough to share any tips it will help those who have not played much live and even give those who have played a fair amount live some new points to consider.
I will start and mention a few things which may be helpful (although everyone will have their own take on it).
Game speed - I would say one of the first things to consider is that the game is so much slower than online, by that I mean less hands are dealt in X amount of time than when compared to online so you may have long waits between the pots you are involved in. This is even more evident if you are used to multi-tabling. This can be an important and game changing factor if you get bored and start doing things you shouldn't like playing too many pots in the wrongs spots with marginal holdings and leaking chips needlessly due to boredom/frustration.
Time to act - Another tip offered to me a number of years ago in one of my first live games from Sky Dave was to try and take x amount of time before acting so as not to give away tells based on how quickly you react to your hand. I am not suggesting tanking for 1 minute on every action, personally I try to take 5 or 10 seconds even if it is an instafold as when I pick up a big hand and am trying to work out what to do with it, it gives me a small amount of time to figure out my action without giving too much info away. Also this can help if you are calling with a draw as some players will snap-call their drawing hands because they know what they want to happen and think a little longer if they are unsure when calling a bet with a marginal hand.
General body language and table chat - The slower pace of the game does mean there is extra time to pay attention to people's body language and the table chat. You may get 3 players stating they are new to this and have never played live (maybe avoid this if it applies to yourself), and a couple saying they play full time and have won x amount of tourneys before (again I would avoid this personally if it applies to you). This can be invaluable in giving you a general idea on who to raise and apply pressure too and who it may be better to avoid with more marginal hands.
While other people's body language can give you clues on how to procede, the same obviously also applies to yourself in that your own body language gives away information. If you are conscious of this you can use it to your advantage. For example, I remember one pot where I was sitting in the SB, I quickly checked my cards and saw pocket aces. I put them back down quickly and it folded around to the player on the BTN who I knew was aggressive and may try to steal the blinds. It was quite deep in the tourney and for a lot of money, I decided I would lean back in my chair as if to say to the BTN, 'go on then I am not interested in this pot'. This seemed to work and the BTN shoved all in (with JQs) and I leaned forward and called. Flop was horrific putting all sorts of draws on board but I managed to fade them all and win the pot.
The player was a friend and I spoke to him afterwards and he denies my actions influenced the hand and thinks he would have shoved anyway. I feel my action may have swayed his decision on a subconscious level though, I guess we will never know for sure.
Would be great to hear the thoughts of anyone who has played live if they are willing to share any tips. Has to be of benefit to everyone reading who is planning to play live, either in the upcoming WSOP or at a later date.
I agree with what Tikay has said 100%.
The only thing I'll add to it though is remember to relax and enjoy yourself.
I remember my first live tournament (was actually a SPT). I felt myself quite nervous - butterflies in the stomach and what not. It took a while to get used to and I can see how it can appear intimidating at first - after all people can see you whilst playing for the first time.
You will most likely make a mistake at one point (acting out of turn etc) - especially if you are new. It happens. We are human. Learn from the error and continue on.
Live tournaments take much more time than online tournaments. You can be sat down for an entire day before making the money. You don't have to go crazy an hour in because you have yet to play a hand. You also don't have to feel panicked or rushed to make decisions just cause others can see you.
You'll probably spend most of the day sat with the people on your table.
Take the time to remember to actually enjoy yourself. Otherwise unless you have a decent cash you'll question why you turned up in the first place.
GL to those going. I can't make it as I'm stuck in a foreign land.
One tip:-I don't like verbalising call/raise etc, in case my voice gives away info. I get round this by always ensuring i put more than 1 chip into the pot. A 1,000 chip might be interpreted as a call, but a 1K and a 25 chip won't....
GL all.
PS-when I'm knocked out, I'm going to get trollied