The temptation was great! Low content

[Boltsfan1992]

Hiya -

I played in our local card room ($1/$2) yesterday that just opened up in January. There are many recreational players and the tables are always good. I played last week and was up 22 BB (would have been more except a bluff attempt that I should not have made, but that was last week...).

The table yesterday was comprised of mostly Loose Passive players with one Tight Passive player.

Cards were not coming my way at all - those that did were cracked (i.e. player who made gutshot straight on the turn crack my QQ for example...didn't say nh then...just mucked my cards and smiled...tried to be nice about it - I was more angry at myself for not paying closer attention; I was happy to get a hand).

Players to my left played anything and won a lot while I saw my buy in dwindle to the felt.

About halfway through the session, thoughts entered my mind such as, "Maybe I should gamble more...take the chance with this 63o...maybe your cards will hit." I resisted...but the urge was definitely there.

Right now, it's difficult to adjust from the speed of online play to the speed of live play. Online, I know that playing marginal to weak hands out of position is an easy click to fold. With my live play however, after people limping in with junk, I truly want to play that junk hand.

I did fold though.

I don't know why I'm writing this, but I figured that some of you who play both the online and live game may have experienced something similar.

PB

[Peter Harris]

i agree it's more fun online when with 3-4 tables open you don't have to sit there and listen to the junk-demons. Live the play is slower and if you want to PLAY NOW you want to PLAY THAT JUNK.

Resist the urge. I recommend:
1) a personal stereo
2) a book (if you can still keep tabs on players)
3) a drink
4) sharpening up your live player reads, tells, betting patterns etc.
5) conversing with people
6) Keno??!

Temptation to gambool is something poker players grapple with. I usually play tourneys live, so realise that mixing it up with trash is a waste of time...just keep the discipline.

Regards,
Pete Harris

[Boltsfan1992]

Hiya Peter -

Thanks for the advice. I was getting tired of practicing my hand reading skills and the people were not a talkative bunch because they were always playing! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Maybe I should invest in an iPod...

PB

[callydrias]

I've run into this problem over and over again. The easiest ways for me to resist are to either start a conversation with one of the people next to me (good dealers can make good conversationalists) or know that when the big blind comes around, I probably will have a chance to play a crap hand.

[Victor]

Live games, especially low limit games, are far more passive than online. So, you can profitably play a lot more hands in ep.

[FrankieFish]

Maybe you were playing too tight?

There's a great chapter in TOP that addressed the old "play tight when it's loose, play loose when it's tight" concept. Instead of following that to a logical extreme,

DO loosen up pre-flop -- you WILL get odds and you WILL get paid off for a draw.

DO bet for value -- if you have the best hand, all bets are value bets.

DO NOT pay off a calling station who raises the river, even if you have AA and have been betting on every street.

DO tighten up POST-FLOP. These hands always go to a showdown and if the board has two draws on the flop, someone will pay for it.

DO NOT semi-bluff. No one is going to fold, so trying to bluff is pointless. Besides, you're going to get paid off if you hit your draw anyway.

DO NOT wait for AA|KK|QQ|AK and expect to run the table. I'll take a suited JT|T9|98|87|76|54 every day from any position in a 1/2 game where everyone sees the river.

In games like this you make your money because the pot tremendously overlays your drawing hands.