Hey guys, I know this post is kinda long so I thank you in advance if you read it. I just got back from a trip to the casino with some friends. I dont have much experience with B&M cardrooms. I have over 2 years of experience online but have only put in about 45 hrs of live play at a casino. I know its a small sample but I havent been having much success (despite the common belief that live games are softer) and I think I'm having trouble adjusting. I feel like I'm playing okay but maybe there are just too many differences between online and live games that make my general strategy a bad one for live play. Online I have developed a basic raise or fold approach and thats what I originally tried in the live games. However, whenever I raise I have to raise larger than usual (5X+) to get any kind of respect and even then I get 2 or 3 callers. Such a situation is fine when I have aces or kings but those hands dont come around that often and I cant c-bet with much else when I dont hit since I will get called down so often. In my live experinece I havent run too hot and I end up widdling away chips. Because of this I started limping to try to flop something strong enough to continue, however, with 50bb stacks as the max buy in, I didnt seem to flop anything often enough to make this profitable either. Anyways, nothing seems to be working so I have a few questions.(A little background information on the live games: 50bb max buy in, many limpers, average raise size is about 5X) -What kind of adjustments do you guys make from online to live? -What kind of general strategy do you find most effective in live games? -Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks guys.

I play 1/2 NL and 2/5 NL where the max buyin is 150BB or 200BB, so the table dynamics are a bit different than the games you mentioned. I find it most profitable to see as many flops as possible; much of my advantage is from opponents' post-flop mistakes.

At 1/2, I generally try to come in for a raise to $10 or $12 whenever I want to play a hand. I'm not raising to try to take down the $3 in blinds; rather, I'm trying to build a pot worth fighting for. Very rarely do I find myself getting reraised. Pretty soon the table figures out I'm raising pretty light, but instead of reraising me, my raises attract more callers. I like tables where the average pot has $50 to $75 in preflop.

Most times your opponents will check to the preflop raiser, so you can decide whether or not to bet strong or take a cheap draw. You will likely have to show down a decent % of hands, so you should work on making 2-pair and back door flush type hands. Your table will love you.

Figuring out table dynamics early in a session is key I find. Being able to tell what players tendencies are just by the way they stack their chips, the way the handle their cards/chips, etc, all comes with experience imo. I don't think there is really one way or strategy to play every time but being able to adjust to table conditions works the best for me.

If you've had some success online, live will not be a problem, just play around will different styles at different types of tables and see what works best for you. All you need is some common sense and hand reading ability to make playing in a live game profitable.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. How do you guys think I should adjust knowing I will be playing with 50bbs at the beginning?

act very aggressively with AK and like hands

I dunno who invented paragraphs but they must have been really smart.

As for 50bb stacks play top pair hands more aggro and be less inclined to play speculative hands.

Are you playing at Foxwoods?

Main recommendations:


play tight

rarely limp (you will be playing much better hands than your opponents, make them build your pot)

Scale way back on the bluffs (even semi-bluffs and c-bets). Hands go to showdown much more often in live games (low limit).

Be more inclined to fold drawing hands (if you're barely getting the right odds, it is probably better to protect your stack and fold unless you're willing to add-on frequently).

Pay attention all the time. It is very easy to get bored/distracted with the slow pace of live games. Keep focused on the game, observing betting patterns, starting cards, and looking for tells.

make a habit of trying to keep track of what's in the pot ~ makes the job easier when tying to work out pot odd's

Way too much of a generic comment.

Get used to see QT after you raised biiig with KK and made a set on AKJ board.

... damn ...

I think the main difference is that you can much more easily get away with overbetting - especially pre-flop. Most live 1-2 games you see preflop raises of $15 routinely. Otherwise try not to become too loose or passive - I find that I tend to play more hands than is profitable because I get bored.

Adjust to the fact that you'll get cold-called by marginal hands like QTo even when you overbet. This usually means bluffing less and making thinner value bets.