Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request

[IamMoe123]

Hi all, I was hoping to get some advice on transitioning between playing online to live. Although I realize this is an open subject, and vague question, I figured that I might as well ask it. The main reason being, I'm used to multi-tabling tournaments and juggling various other things at the same time to keep myself entertained. While playing live, with 1 hand dealt ever 10-15 hands/h is a stark contrast to being dealt 100 x 4 hands/h, I've found myself growing bored quickly and playing sub-optimally. Additionally, I'm sure that ranges shift quite widely when people can't hide behind the anonymity of their screen names. Now I have the opportunity of playing the GUKPT £1090, and figure I should do my due diligence in the form of prep-work. More concrete questions: Does anyone have any advice on keeping themselves mentally alert when playing 2-day events? Is there a big difference in hand ranges/aggression factors between online and live? Mental exercises for fighting off tilt? Has anyone else made a transition from online to live, and what were the initial stumbles? Anyone who avidly plays both, what's the biggest difference for you? Any advice on offer / flaming is welcome. Other than that, I hope to contribute to this forum in a positive way.

[IamMoe123]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request Just gathering some articles on the subject: http://www.pokerlistings.com/strategy/online-to-live-seven-rules-for-making-the-switch http://jaredtendlerpoker.com/instructional/from-20-to-1/ http://www.bluff.com/magazine/transitioning-from-online-to-live-play-6554/ Still very interested in advice from the punters, here.

[Haichan]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request "More concrete questions: Does anyone have any advice on keeping themselves mentally alert when playing 2-day events? Is there a big difference in hand ranges/aggression factors between online and live?" The biggest difference I found when I started to play live was handling the slower play. I never found a problem in keeping alert live. You have a number of advantages playing live in that you can more easily pick up reads on players live than online. Also in the first group of tournaments I played live the opening levels were much more likely to be played tight by most players. Little of the early mad play you can find online. A number of players moving to live tried to continue their style of play from online. For most people tight/aggressive in the early stages seems to be the optimal strategy. You have to pay attention. You cannot play your distracted online style. Position is also especially important live. My first early tournaments were in Casino weeklys with around 30/40 players. I won the first 2 I played. The bigger 2 and 3 day tournaments are different and require enormous amounts of patience. The biggest problem I found was late on day 1's when often people shove very light to either double up or go home rather than come back for day 2 short in chips. 12 hours of work can easily be destroyed if you loose concentration at that stage of the tournament. Some people use ipads or ipods to help with the day. I find them a major distraction. Good luck in the GUKPT.

[Bart(UK)]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request Will respond as if you're a complete beginner, not suggesting you are but others reading the thread maybe and always a useful reminder, even to regulars. In terms of transitioning to live tournaments:

• Read up on the rules of live play, if completely new to live events it's easy to make a few common mistakes. Any good tournament director would take inexperience into account but consequences can be severe in big tour events and easily avoided by preparing well in advance. e.g.
  • Always keep chips on the table or in one of the transparent chip holders when moving tables. Never pocket chips or hold them below table level.
  • Take care when moving chips over the line, it's surprisingly easy to "string bet" by dropping 1 chip out of your hand before placing the others. If in doubt push chips out in one solid movement rather than 'throwing' or lifting them.
  • Be careful not to play out of turn. Stay aware of where the action is and when it's on you. Don't for example look at your cards and then walk away before action gets to you.
  • Familarise yourself with the chip colour values so as not to misbet. Stacking chips in a certain way can help with this but remember that the large denomination chips need to be clearly visible, e.g. at the front of your stacks.
  • Always confirm the situation with the dealer if unsure. e.g. someone muttering 50 sounds a lot like 15 in a noisy casino. Understand whether you're facing a bet of 1500 or 5000! Another (imo shady common practice) is for someone to softly verbally announce allin but only move a small stack into the middle. Easy to misread a small raise and commit to the call. The dealer is your friend, use them.
  • Keep your chipstacks and cards close to you and think about using a card guard (or a chip of your stack). Be especially aware when sitting next to the dealer in seats 1 and 9/10 of a full table. Easy for a dealer to sweep up cards or chips inadvertiently.
  • Keep an eye on what value stack you have and how it relates to the current (and next) level of blinds and antes etc.
  • Understand the nice-ities of who has to show first in order to keep the game flowing, or as I tend to do just always show. Sometimes good to take the higher moral ground.
  • Checking the nuts on the river is a bit of a no-no live. You're expected to play to win and not collude, intentionally or otherwise.
  • Stay out of any hand you're not actively involved in. Don't be that drunk kid that always seems to chirp in with "well one of you must have the flush".

• Practice. Try to get down to your local casino for several small buyin games. Tournament staff are usually happy for a dealer to show beginners the basics of the game if you ask. Just pick a time when the casino is quiet or arrange to get down there early before a tournament starts.
• Practice your ICM ranges. One thing is virtually certain in any tournament and that's at some point you'll find yourself in push/fold mode.
• Don't give anything away. Obviously the main difference playing live is the wealth of additional tells that are out there.
  • Don't get drawn into talk about what you've won or how often you play.
  • You're not obliged to reply when asked a direct question from another player. Easier in many ways to just not respond when asked something like "will you show if I fold".
  • Try to do everything the same every single hand. e.g. if you always push chips out don't start throwing them out. If you like looking at your cards twice, always look twice. If you have a habit of double-checking your cards when a flush hits the board, always double-check even if you know you don't hold any. etc
  • Similarly watch what other players are doing, bet-sizing, bet-timing, stealing range (when shown), do they go all quiet on a big hand or start chattering away like Russell Brand on politics.

In terms of the GUKPT specifically:

• Have Fun! Enjoy every second of it, the GUKPT and other large national or international events are a great experience. If you love poker, you'll get a buzz just from playing an event such as this.
• Ignore the value involved, yeah I know virtually impossible, but if you sit there thinking Sht this is £1,000 and there's £60k up top trust me your game will change radically. Treat it just like any other tournament you've ever played where you think carefully about every hand and look to slowly chip up over time whilst never putting your stack at risk. The ellusive holy grail ;)
• Be realistic on expectations. It's highly unlikely you'll cash. That's not a dig at your skillset, just a reality. Think how many online tournaments you have to play to cash one, how many you play to final table one. Add to this to your relative inexperience against the tour regulars, little bit of nervousness about playing above your usual level etc. But it's a great opportunity, you've worked hard to get into this position and anything is possible.
• Don't dwell on what might have been, take all the positives from the experience gained into the satellites for your next big event.
• Don't let 'names' unnerve you. One of the beautiful things about poker is that you can sometimes find yourself playing on the same table as one of the worlds best, or even a former world champion. That's not to say they always have aces, always play well or their good hands don't lose to worse just like us mere mortals.

[Bart(UK)]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request Mentally isn't a strong point of mine, but you need to think of a live event like an athlete preparing for a race.

• Get a good nights sleep in the days before the event
• Always use the tournament breaks. Spend a penny, get a coffee, get some fresh air or just stretch your legs. Sitting for a long time in tournaments can take its toll on the mind & body.
• Don't miss meals. Try to plan ahead and order food so that you get to eat it during the longer breaks or snack at the table if need be.
• Haichan is spot on in terms of end of day 1. You need to be stay mentally aware to the changes of tournament stage at the time when you are most tired.
• Always have a plan B. Be it getting an earlier train home if busted early, going sightseeing on day 2 if not making it through, or having accomodating in place in case you do.
• Where possible, it's sometimes useful to choose a Day 1a or 1b on a multi-day tournament. Give yourself that day off inbetween starting day and day 2. Just be aware of player numbers on different starting days and how that can affect play.
• If a rebuy, re-entry or accumulation tournament, always have a plan in your mind as to how many shots you're going to take and how/when. Stick to it, sometimes if it's not your day, it's just not your day, for whatever reason, don't compound losses or mental tilt.
• As stated above, don't dwell on non-cashes. You'll typically only cash 1 in every 8 to 15 tournaments and 9 times out of 10 you'll bust out when ahead, or so it seems at the time. Onwards and upwards to the next one.

[IamMoe123]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request Thanks for the advice given thus far. It's very helpful, and the pointers are easy to implement practically. I really don't think I'll have a major issue concerning the money, or at least I don't think so. More commonly I end up leveling myself. I've played 2 of the scheduled tournaments in the MK casino for some practice. Ended up 14 or 13th out of an 80ish field tonight. Crippled myself by overthinking villains hand. I have to learn that just because it's a younger, Victor Blom look alike with a hoodie and leather bracelets, they can still play weak tight :) I hope more old hands will feel free to contribute with any wisdom. Again, thanks thus far.

[repton3]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request More applicable to your scheduled casino tournaments than the GUKPT but I've found in general playing live people seem to play much more straightforwardly than online. I think it's something to do with the physche of people thinking about having to go home if they get knocked out and it stops them from running bluffs and leaning towards just putting money in the pot when they actually have something. The old adage of showing someone respect for their raises until given a good reason not to ring pretty true in live low stakes I've found. Also another generalisation but I've found at the regular scheduled casino tournament level a huge majority of players pay almost no attention to stack sizes when they are looking to make bets, so I really wouldn't pay much attention to the level you might do online thinking "he's left himself a pot sized bet there on the river" etc. In this area it's also much more difficult to keep track of stack sizes yourself than online, but it's worth doing to give yourself the advantage over others that either can't or can't be bothered. If you really are a multi-table addict, I've seen other people playing live whilst also playing a stars tournament or 2 on a laptop or tablet. It's not for me, but I guess you could try it to keep your mind on 'a' game of poker even if it's not the one you're attending :) As stated above in multi-day events make sure you have plans sorted beforehand, I've fallen foul a couple of times now of getting late in day 1 and making a pigs ear of things because I was thinking about what train I might catch home and trying to force play to get doubled up or go out in time for the next train, and also thinking about being hungry rather than thinking about my opponents likely range.

[Haichan]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request 2 other points to remember. Barts comment about managing your chips is vital. First live I played I got KK when we were down to around 18 players. I made a string bet by mistake when I didn't take my time with the chips. So couldn't raise and was called in 3 places. Ended up with a flush hiitting the board on the river with a tight player left and had to fold as I know she had it. Almost cost me the tournament. Plus remember players don't have the advantage of auto chip counts as online so many have no idea how much is in the pot or even how many chips they have left. Knowing your chip counts all through the tournament and calculating the pot size is vital

[Nade]

Re: Transitioning from Online Tournaments to Live Tournaments - Advice request Only thing I can add to Bart's and the guys great posts is to say you will most likely make some mistake with the chips or betting actions because it's pretty common even at the very highest levels.