I have played online on and off for a long while now, more before the shutdowns. I wanted to give live a shot, and went down yesterday for the first time. It definitely takes some getting used to. The first thing I noticed was how much faster it was than online, I thought live would be a little slower, but people were rushing through hands quick. People busted on draws, a lot, more so than online. I feel like the players live are much looser than online, at least U.S. online. I played a cash game and bought twice, I wanted to get my feet wet, and just feel out playing in the casino.

I went up and down a bit, the most comical thing, was that I definitely wasn't nervous, but when I won my first decent sized pot, my hands were shaking while I stacked my chips. Then the min bet was $2, I bet $1 on the turn once, that let everyone at the table know I have not done this before. I definitely lost count of my chips, I had a rough idea, but things were moving so fast it was definitely a task to keep up with everything while the hands were going so fast.

I ended up busting out with K,K. I got it back to back, the first time the whole table folded on my big blind, didn't even get a chance to bet. Next hand, got them again, a couple people bet, I just called, I know a raise is good there but after the whole table folded last hand I wanted to try and get someone on a draw or smaller top pair. The flop was safe, Q, 8, 2 or something, two spades. I bet, he called, turn came it was a 5 I believe. Still only two spades on the board, no straight or flush on the board, only draws. I bet again, he re-raised. I put him on a queen, so I push all in with my K,K, he calls with two pair.

I fully expected to go in and play until I busted since it was my first time, I don't feel bad about the experience at all, but I do have a few questions.

Is it better to buy chips before going to the table?

When you have more than the max with you, where do you put your extra chips?

When you go all in, push all the chips forward? Or just say all in and let them drop the all in sign?

Another question about all in, is it better etiquette to know exactly how many chips you have and to tell the dealer how much your all in is?

Buy chips before going to table. some casinos require this.

over chips can go in pocket.

stating all in requires some chips be pushed forward.

dealer will count chips regardless of your stated amount.

Buying chips before is good etiquette to not slow game down. Many rooms have chip runners. In these rooms you get to 'play behind' in the amount of chips you are waiting for. Dealer will keep track of what you owe to who if you lose, but shouldn't be shouldn't be more than one or two hands.

You can simply declare all-in in most rooms and they will toss an all-in button in front of you. Just pay attention to make sure your intent is known by those you want to know. Moving now chips in is also perfect acceptable, just be careful to announce your intention to avoid a string bet.

There is no need to announce the size of your stack until asked, but you should definitely be aware of your bet amount.

Stacks of 20 chips.
Clean stacks ... all one denomination.
Largest denomination chips clearly visible ... in front of or on top of smaller denomination chips ... not behind or on the bottom.

you should always know how many chips you have. Stacking like Angus suggests is the way to go. I use 10 chip stacks when I am shortish. But in any case you should always be aware of effective stack size when you are playing NL and are in a hand...

I usually bring chips with me, chips I kept from the last session. Say I cash out $400, I'll cash $200 & keep $200 in $25 chips to play with the next time I go. (of course, this being your 1st time, get your chips at the cage)

Say "All in" & push your chips forward, if you have the other person covered just put out enough to cover their stack.

The dealer will always count the stacks, but it is good to know how much you have in front of you. Like it was said before, neat 10 or 20 chip stacks makes it easy to calculate at a glance.

The shakes get better as you get more time in.

Raise with KK in a 1-2nl game roughly 99.5% of the time.

Stating your intentions before pushing any chips forward is always good, new players often string bet or put in the wrong chips when they get excited.

Any time you raise, say the word "raise." It's highly ethical, it's good etiquette, and it will prevent a few problems in the long run, esp. with the oversize chip rule.

In addition, it will give you a chance to speak, and controlling your voice is super important in live.

In addition, it will give you a chance to pull a read, and THEN decide how much to raise. Interpreting tells is also super important at live.

(When you're a noob, don't spend a lot of time pulling reads, because that would be annoying. But do it briefly every chance you get.)

Putting cash on the table, especially messy cash, like not from a wallet, is usually better. If you can drop some coins on the table, even better. In addition, don't pull angles or be unethical with your chip stacks, but don't keep them neat, and don't build designs. I.e. make it appear that you don't care about the money or the chips. If someone complains about your messy stacks, be polite and give them a count.

When you have a hand, always have chips in your hand. Again, don't pull angles or be unethical with the chips in your hand.

In these $1 $2 games i play super nitty because most of the time if someone goes all in or raises huge post flop they usually have the nuts. Tournaments are entire different animal You can bluff float squeeze experiment with all kinds of stuff Cash no way at least not for me

As a dealer I would prefer that you just say all in and don;t announce an amount.

The reason is you shove it all out there and say All-In then you add the amount.

The amount has added nothing but the possibility of a problem. You are already all in as you announced all-in. If an opponent wants a count I will count it.

But what if your opponent relies on your announcement. What if you miscounted. Now your opponent calls and you win. I count down your stack and its more than you announced. Now he doesn;t want to pay it all ... now we have argument at the table its a mess. Someone is going to be unhappy with the ruling ..... its just not good.

As a dealer its hard for me to protect from that. certainly If I can immediately tell your count is wrong because its so far off its obvious I can speak up immediately. But if you have messy stacks with multiple denominations and its not obviously wrong what can I do. I'm not supposed to count your bet unless asked (or its necessary because its called) .... I could say hey this is an exception because of the potential problems ... but the action isn't going to stop for me while I count. Suppose there are multiple players..... suppose while I'm counting something else is going on in teh hand which doesn't have my attention because I'm counting.


Now definately you should haver a pretty good Idea how much you have but i would prefer when you bet all-in you just announce all-in.

What does this mean? You want him to go to a table and put cash on the table when the procedure for most places is to get chips at the window on your first buyin? Drop some coins on the table? I don't understand what the point of any of that would be? To look newbie-ish?

I've actually never been to a poker room that required the player to get his own chips at the cage. And I've been to a lot of poker rooms.

There is a lot of subliminal, subconscious stuff happening at every poker table. Most players think that if they act like a robot, they won't give off accurate messages at those levels. But the truth is, acting like a robot is a message.

A mathematical player should give off reverse tells, and the best way to do that is with your hands. Play with your chips, play with your money, play with your card protector. Eat Jello pudding. Anything that suggests that you're not doing the math.

Putting random uncounted bills and coins on the table makes it seem as if you don't know how much money you have, i.e. you haven't done the math.

I reiterate, none of this should be done as an angle or unethically. Don't hide chips, don't hide your cards behind your chips, etc. Don't cause delay of the game, and don't misrepresent the amount of your bet. But DO generate an image of someone who can't be bothered with calculations.

I don't know, man. I know you're not wrong about giving off impressions in a room where no one knows you, but it just sounds like the focus on this stuff is misplaced when the OP is so nervous (he says he's not but he clearly is when he can't keep track of the action at a live table...it just seems fast to him because his brain is on overdrive and in a panicked state) and can barely employ his online poker experience at the table.

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong. You're not. I just think there are more important basic-live-poker-things for him to be concerned with than his image for right now. He's so out of his element that he's limping with Kings, betting $1 where $2 is the minimum, and not giving credit to passive fish for a made hand when they raise him on the turn.

There are always leaks in the boat that we want to fix. We gotta plug the big holes first

Required at the Horseshoe Hammond last time I went in 2013.

The shakes - man, oh man. I'm not afraid to get my $1500 in. If I lose, no shakes. But if I win? I get shakey. I don't get it. The threshold for them to happen has gone up, but I still get it in pots over $1k or so.

Come to maryland live

That used to be the case at every room in Atlantic City. All first buys at the cage, rebuys from the dealer. I still think it's the best system. I hate it when players are allowed to "play behind", especially in a NL game; it leaves so much room for confusion and error.

I was actually suggesting the opposite, that he NOT focus, that he just relax. The people who act the opposite of my suggestions are the ones who are focused (e.g. keeping their chips neatly stacked in symetrical patterns), and it sends the wrong message for NLH cash games.

"Chips at the cage? OK, who cares? I'm not here for the chips. Will you hold my seat?" is the right impression.

Can confirm. Was in AC last week, still all cage rebuys at every casino I played at (Borgota, Harrahs, Ballys, Tropicana).

Wrong and in fact in general "some" chips are worse than none. Your physical action should match your oral statement. You say all in then push all your chips or none. The ole one chip for the camera is bs and can lead to confusion.

So push none and let the dealer handle things (s/he will ask you to push them all out if needed for a count or something) or push them all out or at least enough to cover everyone else in the hand if u are really putting them to an all in call. Don't confuse things by saying A and then doing B cause not everyone may have heard A and can potentially act on B in good faith. The ultimate action could wind up being B instead of A.

To,OP asking about giving dealer the count, you don't need to and definitely don't if you can't give exact count. Because an about X will still have to be counted down. Now if the villain asks you can give him an accurate about X answer if you want. I would normally ignore his question cause it ain't about the number of chips and let the dealer count them down for him. But you do not need to give a count when you shove. The dealer will count the chips down as needed on request.

Welcome to live poker.

Just one thought: Watch out for overreacting as you get used to live.

You'll play one session where everybody limps all the time. You'll go home and think about the best way to defeat this table ... make notes and calculations for how to maximize your play ... but the next time you go, it will be the most aggro table preflop you've ever seen.

One day everyone folds to your c-bets. You decide that always c-betting live is the way to go. You can't even believe how easy it is to make money live.

The next time, you don't get a single fold on a c-bet despite c-betting every opportunity.

The real fun of live is figuring out the table and how to beat it, IMHO. It's different every time.

I've never played online, but my general impression is that since the players are better, they have a more homogenous style.

Borgata is prob the only reason i go to AC anymore even though a few of the dealers could pass for correction officers at Rikers real nasty attitudes. At my age i feel that entire scene is beneath me. In the 80's and 90's AC was the place to be

A lot of casinos / dealers prefer you buy your chips from the cage, but its not a deal breaker to get them at the table. If I go all-in, I don't push my chips unless the villain(s) have me covered or I'm short stacked. I leave counting off to the dealer. As for live poker in general, other than knowing the basics and getting comfortable playing, like JamesFrancis said, always been mindful of the table conditions and your opponents. Adjust as necessary. As with anything new, there is a learning experience, you just want the lesson to come cheap. You might drop your first couple BIs, but you hopefully get better.

Shaking hands happen to more players than you probably think, and for more reasons than you probably think too. Don't worry much about it, and don't put too much into seeing others hands shake.

Didn't want to invoke any strategy talk, but I can't think of much reason to be min betting on the turn. Make your smallest bets approx a 1/2 PSB (pot sized bet), and you won't have to worry about being below the min.

+1 to stacking in 20s. If you prefer to stack in 10s to make it easier to keep a count, by all means start with that. If/when the stacks begin to spread, it's time to start increasing their size, but always in 'countable' amounts.

I think a rough idea of stack sizes is fine, as you get more experienced, you'll know your stack size as well as the other stack sizes at the table.

I'm an AC player, and used to buying chips at the cage. I play 1/2 NL and get my initial stack in reds ($5) and extra chips in greens ($25). Into a pocket where they won't fall out.

If you mean winning more chips than you can sit with, they are not more than the max, and can't be moved.

All-in with a big stack, I announce and am attentive to the dealer to see if I need to move a stack, all the stacks, or nothing forward.

All-in with a small stack, I simply move all the chips forward at once.

If you are talking about when I put in $1 instead of $2 on the turn, I hit the nuts, and just wanted to see what would happen with a min bet, no rhyme or reason there I was just having fun. It got me paid on the river though, he thought I was weak for min betting on the turn.

A couple other questions I have for you guys:

What is the etiquette for sitting out? What do you do with your chips when you take a break? How long is too long to sit out at a cash game?

If I fall below the max buy in, and want to top off with chips in my pocket, how does that work?

If I have a tray of chips that are out of play, is keeping them in the tray on the edge of the table no good? Where do you set your tray?

I usually wait until it is my BB.
Then, to the dealer: "Deal me out. I'll be back in X minutes"

Stack neatly. Count them. Leave them.

Exceptions: Take any cash or large denomination chips. Show the dealer and say "$300. I'll put them back when I return".

Ask for the House rule. Each place is different.

I make eye contact with the dealer so she knows what I am doing. Don't be the guy who slyly slips a couple of blacks onto your stack so no one notices.

How are they "out of play"? Don't sit down with a rack of chips that you are not going to play.

Get a chip runner or go to the cage and get bills or large denomination chips and put them in your pocket. On the table is confusing and on a side table is asking for trouble.