Help with Live tourney play

[davidross]

I'm heading to foxwoods next week to play a tourney, some sats and hopefully the main event of the World Poker Open. My live tournament experience consists of two super sats at Binions during this years WSOP and one NL tournament at the Orleans the same week. I had no idea how to play NL tournaments at that point (no smart ass comments here please) so I want to ask what do I have to be aware of. THings I can think of, and are worried about are:
1) Keeping track of the pot size. I'm a spoiled online player.
2) Looking at my cards only when it's my turn to play. Is this really the best way to do it?
3) Tells. I'm sure I'm going to have some, what do I do to minimize them?

[GingerRail]

I played my first live game at Foxwoods after some online play. You won't have any trouble keeping track of the pot size. The ACT tournaments (satellites) use only 2 color chips (25 & 100) & a simple glance will give you an approximate idea of how much is in.
You WILL have to pay attn to see if/when the action is on you & how much. You don't get prompted like on line and there's no "auto post" of blinds.
You can go on line to the Foxwoods web site & look at some poker info, including structure sheets for the tournaments. If you read it ahead of time, it is one less thing to keep track of.
Re: looking at yr cards - I will let the more experienced players answer that - However, unlike on line where your cards are always in view, you take a quick peek & don't want to keep checking yr cards. So make sure you can memorize rank & suit with one quick glance. It may sound obvious & easy but it's possible to misread/forget your cards in live play.
Good luck & maybe I'll see you there.

[serling]

Hi David --

To minimize tells, wear a big Unabomber hood and sunglasses. The bigger the better for both. (Not really.)

In early rounds, I'll look at my cards fast and then put them down so I can watch others. Later rounds I'll wait until it's my action.

Though I've found in most tourneys people rarely watch anything but their own cards and the flop. They're not looking to their left, or watching your hands and chips (but if you catch anyone who *does*, stay out of their way). And if they're wearing sunglasses and raising, I give them no respect.

The one piece of advice I'd say is to always announce a raise. Putting a big chip out there or less than the min. raise could be misconstrued as a call or angling string bet.

Oh, and always protect your cards.

And don't forget to bring your Oreos.

Good luck!

serling

[pshreck]

The 'looking at my cards only when it gets to me' is so overrated its rediculous. This is what it does.... lets EVERYONE at the table get a good look at how you respond to your cards. We all know tells are overrated, but lots of players cant help but do a little something when they stare down at AA or AKs, KK or QQ (these are the hands I always feel myself kind of flinch when I see).

Im no know-it-all... but I'd say, just look at your cards quickly when you get them, then look at the other players as you start a gameplan in your head (the times your not folding). When you are folding, really get a good look at the players reactions and how they bet, how they limp, etc.

All in all... if your a good internet player you are no huge disadvantage in a live event.

My advantage is im nervous whenever Im in a pot, bluffing or not, so I always give off weakness. Helps sometimes, hurts others....

Lastly.... its annoying. A few a my foxwoods sattelites had a guy who EVERY time it came to him, put on his sunglasses, took his marker off his cards, and looked at them.

[McMelchior]

I'm still inexperienced enough when it comes to live tournaments (have approximately 20 under my belt) to dare give some advice here.

It's really not that easy to keep track of pot size, especially in tourneys (in sats the blinds go up so fast that pretty fast your options are reduced to either calling or pushing). So I follow the action, count the number of bets and raises (as you might have discovered there are abundant "limit-size" raises in low-buy-in live tourneys), and take a swift look at my cards when it's my turn to act. I have noticed that's it's easier for me to memorize them ordered hi-low-suit-suit.

Regarding tells:
Picking up: I have found the surefire one to be "the shaking hand" when the player has got the goods. Of course remember to check for symptoms of Parkinsonism when the players are not in a hand.

Giving off: The –EV of giving off tells might be over-rated for experienced live tournament players, but I believe my base personality (slightly understated, polite and rather easily intimidated) might be more of a liability. To make up for that I have experimented with a table persona, where I consequently verbally state my actions loud and clear, (even though most of the other players don’t). When I act I await the next players action with my head lowered and my eyes focused on the table in front of me – a relatively defiant attitude - whether I have the stone cold nut or am pulling a raw bluff. I have seen it work as a “reverse tell” when I actually was bluffing, and I avoid eye contact when I’m involved without that being a tell in itself.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

[Stoneii]

in short, whatever it is you do when you raise (twitch, grin, stare at baize, guffaw uncontrollably), try to do exactly the same whether you're holding THE NUTS or just plain ARE U NUTS hands.

But I play in alocal club/league that is small fry and it's easier said than done. I find it much easier to find tells in the way players play hands, i.e. always raises with any Ace, will ALWAYS chase flushes regardless of pot odds, can't laydown slick easily etc etc

GL

stoneii

[nolanfan34]

David,

A couple of points and thoughts.

Personally, I don't bother with worrying about waiting for my turn to look at my cards. I look as soon as I have both, then watch the action. There's still plenty to pick up on, and I think people's body language when they make their bets is more important than when they look at their cards. I mean, playing against unknowns, who probably aren't all great to begin with, unless they pick up an absolute monster, you're not going to pick up a lot by watching them look at their cards.

I will say that watching the players to your left is extremely valuable. A lot of people make it very clear that they're going to fold. I mean, some people hold the cards in their hand, ready to muck as soon as possible, like the cards are on fire or something. Cracks me up. One time in a tournament I raised with 83o in the SB simply because I had been watching the BB, who was just waiting to fold at the first sign of a raise. After I raised, he gave a quick look at his cards again, and quickly mucked.

As for tells that you might give off, what I like to do is stick to a specific routine each hand. I look at my cards, mark them with a chip, and then watch the action. I may know right away that I'm going to fold, but I act the same way every time, so others don't know my intentions. It's great when you play with someone who only caps their cards when they have a decent hand. It's like they've committed to playing the hand when they put their marker down, compared to other hands where they just keep their hand on top of the cards, ready to muck.

Regarding routine, I think Howard Lederer is a great example of this. If you watch him on TV, he does the same thing every time, regardless of his hand.

I also agree that the shaking tell is usually a good one, it means someone has a monster hand.

Finally, this is a personal thing, but I try to wear loose fitting clothing, or a jacket, because when I get nervous in a hand, you can see my heart beating out of my chest if I'm just wearing a t-shirt or something. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

GL in the tournaments!

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
I also agree that the shaking tell is usually a good one, it means someone has a monster hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
The first time I played live I found this happening so I just forced my hand to shake every time. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

If you find it tough to maintain perfect composure you could always try Unabomber-like antics to cover for yourself. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[eMarkM]

Pot size: yeah, keep track of it. Simply count the bets as they go in. Though you can usually take a look at the pot and get an approximation if you get distracted.

Looking at cards: One reason to wait to look at your cards is to look at the action. Keeping track of the pot, looking at the players on your left, etc.

Tells: When I put a bet in I usually just look down and don't move when another player is trying to "look into my soul". I try not to make eye contact with the other player mulling a decision (or you can wear sunglasses--I don't).

Another thing to watch for as a spoiled internet player is acting out of turn. Really pay attention to who's in the pot and who's turn it is to act.

[Philuva]

It sounds cheesy, but u should wear sunglasses. I think the hardest thing for an online player to adapt to in live play is what to do when someone looks at you.

I have a lot of live experience and just started using sunglasses in the last tourney i played in and i thought it was a big help.

Also, make sure u know about string raises, verbal commands, etc. Obviously, that is even more important than tells.