My 1st B&M game...

Yet another post on the differences. I have beat online games for about 2.5BB/hour and have hardly ever been to a casino to play. I have only played poker in a casino three times. I lost all three, however it was before I logged 250 hours online and read a few books. I just got back from a little town called Wendover, NV and played it the $2-5 spread game with a kill. I have to say that players in this game were quite a bit worse than what I'm used to! As many posters have agreed, online is harder. I was not sure about the spread limit game, but I remembered a section in HPFAP21 about the higher implied odds in these games if you can get in for the minimum.


I could not believe when these players would show their cards at the end and say they missed their draw. They seemed to always be drawing to a runner/runner straight every time! It was comical - only one or two there had any notion of pot odds or the chances of making trips with their bottom pair. I would just reassure them that if they would have hit it, they would have won a big pot. They would play any pair at all, and had zero regard if there was a pair in the board. I would just slow down a bunch if the board paired due to the likelihood of trips. One other thing, I did not check raise at all, even if I thought it was the best play. I did not want anyone to tighten up at all, as any two card were good enough to be in a pot here for these guys, calling raises cold with the same. This forum and 2+2 has now doubt made a huge difference in my play. Playing online has also taught me skills that would have taken many years to develop. Anyway, just a bit of thanks for all I have learned here.


One thing that I wondered about. Any tips for this spread limit game? There is a $5-10 game there that looks a bit tighter, but I may try it after a few more times in this game. I did see a few things that I was used to: One girl flopped quad 8's and there were plenty of boats and flushes. I can say that I noticed no differences between the beats online and here.


PS Thank you Mason and Sklansky for HPFAP21, there has not been a better $29.95 investment I have ever made!

Speedy,


I have heard that some card room owners fear/hate online poker. But I'm convinced that in the long run online poker will help B&M cardrooms.


My Hero/Student/Friend moved up to beating mid limit holdem in no time with the help of S&M and side by side practice with me online. Previously H/S/F was a mega-fish in low limit Omaha.


Anyway, good going and good luck in the future.


Regards,


Rick

Thanks Rick, but why would they fear online players? I did not say much about my experience. I was walking by and a few of the players were asking me to come in and play but I told them I had to eat lunch first. They were really surprised when I came back and sat down. I feel I have some of the skills I need to win, but lack the basic mechanics of the game when played in person. I even went so far as to ask what I am supposed to do if I want to raise (ha!), and they politely showed me and I politely took 3 players to the river with my set of queens - betting and raising the whole way. There was nothing more fun than playing in person, waaaaay better and more enjoyable. Plus, I was great to be able to see their faces when I showed by big hands down. Flashing cards and table talk seemed like the norm. I never noticed any tells, but I made sure I never looked at my cards or the flop before anyone else. I would at least watch a couple players first, then I would peek at mine or glance at the flop. I did notice that a couple times I did a double-take at my hole cards if I was really unsure about my hand. I knew what cards I had, but I looked again anyway.


Ok, I'll stop patting myself on the back. My point is that I would have never gone back to a casino to play poker without learning online. I think the cardrooms will be full of players who will sit down, if only because they have played before online and understand more about the game, even if it isn't enough to win. I know they got almost five hours of rake and tips from me and kept the game from breaking up when a couple regulars went to play in the $5-10 game, I can't be all that bad for them.


Incidentally, I want to go back in a couple weeks. What should I say or do to insure that the poker room welcomes me and the regulars don’t target me. I heard a one of them tell another player that the game was really good for a while, but decided to play in the bigger game instead. I assumed he was referring to my much tighter play than most at the table and it seem unlikely they will be happy to see me again. I don’t want to stand out too much, but I don’t want to give anything away either. Hell, I may even get my rump thumped next time I play there, so I better wait until I lose a few sessions. Bye.

Speedy,


Card room management and owners may tend to fear online rooms but they certainly would welcome online players. It is my experience that they tend to think the online rooms take away customers. They generally look at their customer base as a pie that is close to being fixed in size. But in your case the online room helped developed a new customer, thus making a bigger pie.


Part of the reason for this may be that some card rooms have lost a few high profile players to online casinos and management is aware of this. But in a couple cases I am familiar with the customer had other reasons to leave the B&M card club (e.g., health). And the players that come in as a result of playing online generally don’t let managers/owners know that it was an online card room that piqued their interest.


I also wouldn’t be surprised to find that the ad rates in Card Player and Poker Digest have skyrocketed due to the competition for ad space from online casinos. Note how few small clubs advertise these days and how many online rooms do. If I am right this is a very “countable” annoyance.


Regards,


Rick

Would I be helping the situation if I mention the fact that I would not be there if I could not have played online? I just did not want to tip my experience off, as I felt it would cut some action from other players. It seems that letting management know that I intend to play at their tables because of it would help, but I would prefer to keep to myself if possible. Thanks!

I honestly don't think it would matter either way.

What limits do you play online?


I've played B&M before, but only stud. I'm learning hold'em and have worked up to Paradise 2/4, doing OK.


One MAJOR difference between casino and online play is that you can't get any telegraphs or tells online, whereas I pick these up all the time in low-limit stud. The same would surely be true for hold'em.

I play $3/6 online