This is a general post about playing live 1/2 NLHE. I would love to get comments and feedback on my small sample observations.

I played a lot of online poker from around 2005-Black Friday. I played MTTs and single table SNGs at low to mid-stakes and was profitable. Not making a living at it, but seriously supplementing my income with it. Essentially stopped playing cold turkey on Black Friday. I never played live, I never lived close to a casino and am pretty introverted to the point I was always intimidated by the idea. I got back into playing on a crypto currency site, but I never put any money into it and have built a bankroll there from freerolls, etc. The crypto is super low value, so we are talking about micro fun play at best. If that currency ever takes off, I will be thrilled.

Went to a WSOP Circuit event in April and played in two tournaments and cashed in one, that was my first live play. I was still too intimidated to play live cash. Not sure why, that is just me. So, went to the circuit stop in Cherokee last week. Played two of the lowest buy-in tournaments and didn't cash in either. But, this time, I played cash for the first time ever live. I am now totally hooked on live cash.

So, some observations on my learning experiences over four live 1/2 sessions.

1. First two sessions were losing, second two were extremely profitable. My cash winnings covered my tournament entry fees, my losing cash sessions, and left me a nice profit on top of that. I had a blast. I feel like I learned a lot over these four sessions.

2. For an introvert, I found I love the social aspect of like poker. I am hooked. Met a lot of nice people and saw a few *******s. I took $200 off one of the *******s in one pot and he left the table. It was nuts. Max buy-in for 1/2 in Cherokee is $200. Since the circuit was in town, there were a mix of people playing, regs and a few pros. But, most of the time the social aspect was nice, including with the dealers and the pros.

3. Last book I read before this was Ed Miller's The Course. Half of it is about playing 1/2. Great book that I highly recommend. But, one thing he says is that people in 1/2 play too many hands, so the solution is to not play as many hands. That is certainly true, but when I finally started winning, I had realized that I had to widen my range hugely and limping in was my friend. I didn't start winning until I started playing more hands. My first big losing session, I was folding way too much and was sometimes the only one not in a hand. Once I opened up, it was definitely +EV. Especially in the small blind. And being able to check in the big blind is a beautiful thing.

4. Every table I played was different. You just have to figure the other players out and adjust your play. Took me a couple sessions to figure this out. This is especially true with betting patterns at a specific table. If someone was betting pre-flop, it was usually $10, not 2x or 3x the big blind. Once someone sat down and was betting six rather than ten and got given some trash talk from a couple other players. Literally no one was betting $2 over the big blind. I actually started making smaller bets and it was +EV over tossing in $10 many times. I also found that you can change how the table behaves over time if you win enough pots.

5. Tells are supposed to be a major thing in live poker. One thing I noticed is that most people weren't paying attention to live tells at all. If they were, it was subtle. I found that betting tells were useful, but really couldn't figure out much from physical tells. The exception was the lady that sat to my right for a while. She looked at her cards as soon as they were dealt and then held them a certain way waiting to thrown them into the muck unless she was going to play them. I wish she had been on my left.

6. Bluffing doesn't work worth a sh*t. I pulled off only one big semi-bluff and went all-in to do that against a guy who I knew had me beat at that point. Maybe bluffing works with huge bets, but generally, normal bets are getting callers. I learned that it wasn't worth trying, you at least need some showdown value.

7. There seem to be no betting nuances. I think most people have no idea what is in the pot, so bet sizing in relation to pot size seems to matter very little. So, a half pot bet doesn't mean that much to most people. Or a full pot bet. Or a 75% pot bet. You just have to take your cues from how big the bet is in relation to normal bet sizing.

8. Bottom line in this small sample size is that if you pay attention and adjust to your table dynamic, you can win good money at 1/2. I would love to try 2/5, but don't have the bankroll for it. I am a rec player that takes poker seriously and I study a lot. But, at 1/2 live, most people do not play by the "rules" of poker and are exploitable. You just have to figure them out.

Again, tiny sample size for my observations, would love to hear what others with more experience have to say.

Your observations are pretty spot-on for 1/2, especially when there's a donkament series in town. It might calm down when it's just cash game players, but I hear it's still pretty spewy in that neck of the woods.

Thanks for the response. I would like to go up there during a normal weekend and see how it plays. i do know that quite a few of the people there were regulars because the local dealers knew them. But, yeah, I am sure the dynamic is somewhat different. I think one thing I thought was that play during a WSOP circuit would be tougher. Maybe I am wrong about that..

1. Variance is a much bigger factor in live games than online. An occasional player online can generate 25,000 hands in a month. That's over a year's play live. Think about the ups and downs of a month online and let it play out for a year. If you won enough to cover your tournamet fees, you were probably on a heater.

2. Most poker players are nice people, especially at the lowest level. There are very few "pros," so people are often playing for other reasons than winning money.

3. Lots of poker players have recency bias. You'll find over time that Ed Miller was right and playing too many hands is a drain on your profits. But as in 1, you were likely on a heater.

4. All of this is true.

5. The owner of this website would tell you that tells aren't that important. Most people make some effort not to give away information.

6. You'll have to learn more about bluffing and when to do it. It is mostly about telling a believable story.

7. You are correct that most people don't know the pot size when they bet. Maybe you were excellent at keeping track of the pot, but most players aren't willing to do it.

8. I'll note that excellent money at 1/2 is $20/hr. Most winning players are more like $10/hr and that probably only 20% to 30% of the players are winning players.

That is a great insight. I remember the online variance very well. I do know I was on a heater for portions of my playing time and I played a lot of hours. My first two sessions were losing and the second two were where I made that money back and the tournament fees plus more. Note that I only played two $250 tournaments, so we are not talking main event buy ins or anything. Both my winning sessions started out very slow and then, at some point, picked up steam. I found that as my stack grew, I became more confident. I have a limited bankroll for poker and am careful with it and disciplined because I am not rich. I recognize the fact that I can get hours of entertainment from a $200 buy in even if I lose it. It is much nicer when I come home with more than I took, which has happened both times I have gone to Cherokee (the other was from a decent cash in a tournament). But your point is very well taken and I will certainly remember that.


I did find that I liked most of the people I met, I enjoyed the fact I was meeting folks from all over that I never would have met otherwise. There were a few "pros" that sat down at the table from time to time. Or they said they were pros. In any case, they being there really didn't make much difference. I have no doubt that Ed Miller is right. I am going to reread that book now that I have actually played live 1/2.

I certainly tried to not give away any information. And it was obvious to me that some of the others were doing the same when in a hand. I found it really hard to get any info from someone else, that is probably my inexperience as much as anything.

You are totally correct about learning how to bluff. That is a weak spot in my game for sure. Thanks for saying that.

On pot sizes, I actually posted about this in another thread because I have a mild TBI that makes it difficult. So, I was trying hard to keep track until I realized it didn't really matter. After that, I just did a rough estimate and bet accordingly.

Based on a rough estimate of the hours played in all four sessions and counting only what I won over the buy ins, I was pretty close to $20/hr. The two winning sessions were many hours, as was one of the losing sessions. I thought that it seemed pretty darn high for a 1/2 game. Although, there were some huge pots and I won my fair share of those. But, like you said, might have been beginners luck. I can't wait to go back up there and try it again.

3. So true. I'm not saying play everything, but you gotta give action to get action. Limping is your friend, as is picking up dead money with LP raises. If you're really getting cold-decked, table change and start a new life.

5. Tells aren't like the movies, but can come in handy in tough spots. Table position is the most important aspect though, in my opinion.

6. Bluffing at 2/5 and 1/2 is basically lighting money on fire. Semi-bluffing is fine, it serves the same purpose as a blocker bet.

7. This is moreso at 1/2 where people are looking at the value of the bet. Continue to size your bets relative to the pot, but adjust sizing if needed to not scare everybody unless you're trying to take it down.

8. Feel free to take some shots here and there to get your feet wet, you can always drop down. I diverge from popular theory here, but BRM is a guide not an absolute. Move up when you're comfortable, no BR equation is perfect. My golden rule was if I lose 3BIs, I'm doing something wrong. Constant studying and tweaking is key.

When I played FT I averaged $30/hour at 1/2 and $40/hour at 2/5.

Edit: For literature I consider Harrington on Hold 'em (Cash Games) to be the bible.

Easy money

Thanks for your responses. I found this absolutely to be true, giving action to get action. I probably should have done more LP raising in retrospect. The limping thing was a real revelation for me as when I first learned, the prevailing advice was always raise to open a pot, never limp. Getting to see a flop cheaply was really nice. That said, I didn't see this as much in the tournaments I played, both low buy in WSOP Circuit tournaments, so lots of rec players, and they played more like I was used to.

I found table position to be pretty important, it seemed to me that a lot of people weren't really playing their position particularly well. But multi-way hands were totally the norm unless some moderate to big bets were involved. Even with moderate bets, there were still usually at least three people seeing the flop. Of course, sometimes a bet would have everyone folding, but it didn't happen that often.

Yeah, I probably will at some point. I don't think I am ready for that yet. What puts me off is the max buy in where I play was my entire budget. Not that I would stay until it was all gone. But, I hung out a while with a British pro who was there for the Global Casino Championship and this came up in conversation. He said there are some advantages to going into a 2/5 game with a minimum buy in. I need to ask him more about that, I think. I do a lot of studying and watching streams, etc.

Impressive.

I have all the Harrington tournament books and love them. I will get the cash book as this is my first foray into cash games whereas I have concentrated on tournaments in the past. I thought the Ed Miller book I mentioned was very good.

As for tells, bet sizing is the best tell most players exhibit and it's much more accurate and likely than splitting cookies a certain way. Pay attention to how much and in what situations people bet and you can read them like a book.

The only exception is the hollywood shove line. It's so strong and obvious I can't believe people do it anymore.

I did find betting tells useful, but need to get better at that. I did try to mix up my bet sizing to not give away too much. I saw very little Hollywooding going on.

Yes, moreso I was referring to your literal seat. Who is on your left vs right. Seat change until you get the Jesus seat.


Yeah, I don't recommend buying in short at any level to be honest. You can get away with 2/3+. But def don't go in min unless you like playing a shortstack strategy.


Nice. You're well covered then. It probably is good, I haven't personally read it though.


Easy money

Ah, yes, this makes sense, I did see people change seats a few times. Others might get up and go to another table. I never thought about doing it myself, though. I think partly because it may seem rude or something. But thinking about all four sessions, the first two I do remember thinking I had a tough seat, especially the players on my right. The two winning sessions, I loved my seat. That is killer advice, thanks.