Poker Strategy: Live Poker
Learn how to transition from online play to your local casino.
Live poker games tend to be much softer than their online counterparts, but it’s still crucial to adjust your game so that you don’t leave any money on the table. While you could probably play like you usually do online and still make a profit, it’s far better to acclimate yourself to common live poker situations so that you can maximize your returns. There are many more multi-way pots in brick-and-mortar poker, so you’ll want to become familiar with how to take advantage of these bloated pots. Then there’s the whole aspect of spotting tells while giving away nothing yourself, which is largely missing from poker played over the internet. Adding live poker to your repertoire can really boost your bottom line. The articles below focus on traditional poker, as played around a physical table, so they’ll help you get a leg up on your opponents in casinos and home games.alike.
Featured Live Poker Articles
Personal Attacks and the Check Raise
There’s a weird school of thought that check-raising in live poker is unfriendly or ungentlemanly behavior. But it is merely just another tool in your strategic arsenal. It’s usually not used to make a personal assault against an opponent. Use it to bet for value or bluff as usual.
The UTG Live Straddle
Straddling under the gun is sometimes done in live, loose poker games. When a player straddles, the blinds lose value, but every other position gains value. Because the pot will play about twice as large as normal, you should change your starting hand requirements to take account of the straddle.
Fnord’s Brick and Mortar/Live Poker Guide for Online Players
There are a few important principles to remember when transitioning to live poker play from the online tables. In live poker, you should try to maintain a fun, friendly image. You don’t want the rest of the table to realize that you’re playing serious poker. Beware of relying overmuch on tells.
More Poker Tells and Reviews
When playing live poker, you can get important tells on your opponents by carefully paying attention to their movements and actions. Whenever players seem to deliberately go out of their way to give you information, the actual information is usually the opposite of what they’re trying to tell you.
Most Recent Live Poker Articles
The Value of a Bankroll
I think that the concept of bankrolls in poker is something that is misunderstood by the vast majority of poker players. In fact I have read more opinions and articles on the subject of bankroll management and earn rates than I can remember. I find most of the...
NLHE Foundations #03: Calling to Close the Action in No-Limit Hold’em
This is the third installment in the No-Limit Hold'em Foundations Course. Before you read this lesson, you should have completed lesson 1 and lesson 2, and this includes doing the exercises and posting them in the forum threads for each lesson. Also make sure to sign...
Rules for Table Selection
There are many things you can do to increase your poker skill and you should do them. However, it is unlikely that you will do anything between now and your next poker session that will dramatically increase your skill. Reading the right books, studying some articles,...
Texas Holdem Poker Hands Position (Full Ring)
Depending on your position, your poker hands order will change; this is especially true when the table is full. The later you are to act, the more liberal you can be with the order of the hands you choose to play. The closer you are to being first to act, the more conservative you’ll need to be.
Short Stacked and Dangerous
It’s one of the scariest feelings in poker – You’ve just lost a huge pot to a three-to-one underdog and given up most of your stack. As you watch the opponent sort your chips and integrate them into his pile, a sickening realization creeps up on you… You’re short stacked, playing against opponents with more the five times your chip count.
Learning the Other Games
Even if you’ve never played anything but Texas Hold’em, there are universal poker principles that will make it easy for you to learn how to play other variants of the game before you master them. Your position, seat selection and bankroll management are critical when you are picking up a new game.
Online Poker Multi-Tabling Strategy
When is a good time to start Multi-Tabling? Playing multiple tables has pretty much become the norm for online poker players. Actually, it's a necessity for serious players looking to build up a bankroll or wanting to earn some regular extra spending cash. This is...
How the Games Have Changed
It's common knowledge that the games of 2010 are much different than the pre-legislation games back in 2006. When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed nearly four years ago the games online were booming. Full of fish and with plenty of money to be...
The Basic Concepts that Drive Continuation Betting
When it comes to continuation betting, your table position and the strength of your hole cards are even more important than the flop itself. By carefully considering these two factors in the context of how your opponent plays, you’ll be able to determine when you should make a continuation bet.
Adjusting to PokerStars Buy-in Levels
Recently the world's largest poker site, PokerStars, announced the way they were handling the minimum/maximum buy-in amounts at their cash game tables. This mainly affects NL/PL Hold'em as well as Pot-Limit Omaha games as shallow/deep stacks in limit games means next...
Bankroll Management: A Basic Concept Revisited
Every serious poker player knows that bankroll management is a huge part of the game regardless of what variant they’re playing. What are the keys to it? Playing at the highest stakes you can beat and ensuring your bankroll is large enough to give you a reasonable shot at winning over the long haul.
Brush Up Your Semi-Bluff, and Bring Home the Bacon
Knowing how and when to semi-bluff can increase your poker winnings. The advantages of semi-bluffing include you being able to control the pot, force your opponents to fold, slow the action and win big pots. With so many benefits, semi-bluffing needs to be incorporated into your playing regime!
Tactics vs. Strategy (Part 4): Practical Use of Strategy
In our final installment of this series, we look at how strategic and tactics are related and other resources for continuing your study.
How to Decide Which Hands to 3-Bet for Value Pre-Flop
If you want to learn about how to 3-bet for value before you see the flop, you’ve found the right article. This will teach you how to 3-bet and when it’s appropriate to do so. You’ll also learn about your 3-betting range, calling range, folding range and why they are critical to your success.
Comfort Zone
We’ve all fallen prey to the common ills of online poker – playing while you’re too tired, playing for too many hours, forgoing meals or hydration, or sitting at the table with too many thoughts swimming in our heads. Here are a few simple tips that are guaranteed to make you feel better at the digital felt.
