Live Tournaments Compared with Online Tournaments?

[Crispyk]

I was thinking of taking a trip up to Minnesota to play in a $400+40 tournament, Just wanted to know if people find that the play in live person is any better or worse then the online players. I play mostly very large online tournaments, 500+, 1,000+ players, and do very well. This will be a smaller tournament, but just wanted to know what the caliber of players are in some of these tournaments. Does anyone find that the calibur of players are better online or in person?

[Bigwig]

Playing live is very different, and IMO, better for the good player. Online is so anonymous and fast that it is difficult to spot betting patterns. In person you can read players much better. Also, you can intimidate. I have some suggestions for playing live tournaments:

1. Wear a hat so players cannot see your eyes. During a hand you're playing only look up to study your opponents face.

2. Check your hands after every card is turned over. If you check them once, and never again, or mix up how often you check them, you may give a tell away. By looking at them every time a card comes up, no one can read you this way, and you won't be nervous that you forgot if it was an A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif or an A /images/graemlins/heart.gif

3. When players bet into you, and you intend to fold, take your time. Make them sweat hard. Occasionally ask for chip counts and stuff. You want them to remember that they were having a heart attack waiting for you to call, so they are psyched out when they bet into you. You get more free cards when they're afraid of you.

4. I think players are tighter IRL than online. Online, they just go sign up for another tourney. IRL, they are stuck with nothing to do. Take advantage of this.

5. Technically, you find better players online. But beware, $400 is no cheap buy-in, and I suspect you'll run into some good players there.

Good luck.

[banditbdl]

I'd advise you call Canterbury and inquire as to the tournament structure. I played in the same tournement when it was a 100 dollar buy-in. They doubled the blinds every 20 min. and it became an all-in fest after the 1st 2 hours of play (when I went out in 10th after about 4 hours the average stack was 5XBB). They may adjust the structure of the tournament given the higher buy-in, but I wouldn't count on it. Give them a call and find out before you make the trip.

As for the quality of players, I thought they were about the same. Based on playing in ring games at Canterbury I expected there to be more calling station action in comparison to online, and they were more willing to limp preflop. That said they got out of the way when I raised preflop more than I expected from online multis, even when it was pretty clear steal positions. The overall quality of play was about the same as the online multis, but the other players were clearly much more scared early than they are in the online tourneys.

[Crispyk]

Thanks alot to both of those responses, I appreciate it, I will call them. Thanks for the tips!