Playing Poker live

[Radii]

So I occasionally play in a couple of live games with friends. One is a dealers choice game, a real small buy-in and I really can't win or lose more than $25, so I am not concerned about that.

The other is a no limit game where we have a $20 buy-in and there ends up with $500 or more on the table by the end of the night, and I may soon be playing in an occasional 2-3 table $50 entry No Limit tournament...

so anyway, I have been working very hard on my game at Partypoker and have become pretty successful playing 3 $1/$2 limit tables simultaneously. But when I go play live, I simply get too loose. I want to say that I just get bored. Online playing 3 tables I'm seeing nearly 200 hands an hour. Live I find myself getting bored if I go a rotation around the table without playing a hand or two b/c its so much slower, and I find myself making a lot of horribly loose calls.

Has anyone who plays online but also in casinos/home had to deal with this? Is there anything you did(other than lose money) to work up your level of patience when sitting at a live table?

[AnalBumCover]

The hands you don't play can be used to gather valuable information in live play, much more than what you could ever get online. On those hands, watch how the others play. You can see their habits on how they bet, watch their reactions when they are raised, read their eyes when you think they have the set.

One guy I play with in a live game, I catch him every single time he tries to bluff. Because right after he makes a big bet, he'll drop his head nervously. If I'm still in the hand, I'll always raise him out of the pot. Gets him every time. Information like that.... priceless.

Other things you can do to pass the time... practice chip shuffling and other tricks. Read the board and figure out what the absolute nuts would be.

Another thing that'll help: Stop playing at three online tables simultaneously. You'll never get over the boredom of playing live games if you're constantly seeing 200 hands per hour online. But if it's making you money faster, by all means, play as many tables as you can handle.

But the bottom line, Hold'em is all about patience. If you don't have it, you'll lose out in the end.

[Radii]

Another thing that'll help: Stop playing at three online tables simultaneously. You'll never get over the boredom of playing live games if you're constantly seeing 200 hands per hour online. But if it's making you money faster, by all means, play as many tables as you can handle.


Yeah, that is the problem. I only get to play live once a month, sometimes twice, so I don't get tons of chances to practice. I am currently building my online bankroll and that's really my main focus, but I am slowly but surely finding some better and more serious games in my area and would like to be competitive in them as well.