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Playing poker Live - In need for some help


VikingsAF

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Hey everybody,

The Unibet Open will be my first ever Live Tourney, and to be honest, I don't know how to feel. I feel so excited, but also a bit unsure. I don't know how I should act or whatever I should expect it to be. Maybe it's a bit strange that my first ever event is more than 2000km away from home, but I couldn't let this opportunity pass by. So that's the reason why I wanted to ask you guys for some help/advice :)

Some general questions
- What are things you take with you when you go to such an event?
- How should I act behind the table in comparison with being not behind the table. (towards the other players) Because when I look at video's from live events (like WSOP) I feel like everybody is so serious and you almost never see a laugh (except forced ones or when someone wins a big pot). I understand a lot of players earn their living money with this, and showing emotion is a weakness at the table, but when I go, I want to make fun, because poker is for me something I really like to do.
- What are some major rules (spoken or written) that I need to keep in mind (Are there somewhere rules I could read for the UO)

Some poker specific questions (I know there are a lot of guides about this, but tought asking here would be better)
- I understand that the biggest difference with playing online is that you aren't anonymous anymore, but what are some other differences that I should keep in mind when playing?
- What is the best way to build up my play? So what hands/style should I play early game, late game and end game? Or is this mainly the same as online?

Some UO specific questions
- What are things I can expect durning my stay? I read about the player party and I heard  will guide us trough Bucharest? But what other activities away from the tables can I expect. Or in another words. Do poker players bond away from the table? Or do most of them take time for themselves to focus on their play?
- Since I'm probably coming alone, is it common that players (or at least some of this community) dine/take breakfast together? :p Because eating alone isn't the most amazing thing in the world :D

I think that these are my questions for now :p Sorry that there are so much of them :p

P.s. Maybe I could write a blog about this first experience. But only of some of you guys would be interested to read it :) Or we could just make a comunal blog on here where everybody participating attributes to the content.

P.p.s. Altough I'm a bit stressed for what's to come I'm most defenitly looking forward to playing and meeting you guys in Bucharest :) And I'm sure it's going to be a great time :D

kAnx6Ro.png.effcb1aaf5d341f876b3cfeae766e206.png

I see now that the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant... It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.
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For sure you can fun playing poker even in a big live event like UO in Bucharest.Yes,probably most of them look very focused and serious,but for sure that there are a lot of players who tell jokes, make fun and in genereal a very pleasent athmosphere around the poker tables.You just need to act as you are and see the reaction of the mates at your tables :P

And as far as i can say,you won't be eating alone for sure.You won't be the only player coming by yourself there,and in this community we made a really nice bond between the members and for sure we are all friendly and we'll try to make the best of it in Bucharest.As you said,i'll try to guide you outside the poker tables,around Bucharest,going to some pubs,clubs,whatever suites us better.Think it's such a good way to relax after a full day of poker.

I'm sure you'll have a great time in just 3 weeks from now and it will be a memorable experience for you and the community members :)

"When things are bad, it's the best time to reinvent yourself"
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Small piece of advice would be to wear sunglasses that can't bee seen through by your oppononents. Many players have a tendency to stare down opponents for a variety of reasons. As a first time live player, wearing sunglasses knowing that they can't see your eyes, can give you a better sence of security in these sitations and make you feel more confident 🆒

Former Community Manager
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Here's some tips:

- Always keep chips nicely stacked.

- When making a bet/raise verbally declare the amount. This avoids accodently making any 'string bets'

- When putting your chips in the middle put them down nicely instead of throwing them in. I remember my first time at a luve event and I flicked a chip in the middle and it went rolling off the table.

- At showdown just turn your cards over. No need to stall and wait for other person to turn over first.

- I disagree with the sunglasses. They might make you feel less nervous but others will feel less inclined to talk to you since you're closing yourself off. I would say no to sunglasses.

Lastly, just have fun. People will be willing to help if you ever have questions at the table.

I debate
Should I smile like everything's good and pretend that life is great
Or should I let the world see the real me and not hide this pain
I tried to be like the rest of y'all, sorry I just can't
I'ma probably die this way
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Great point , I'd compromise at putting them on whenever playing a hand - I still feel that getting stared at by 1-3 people when trying to make a good decision at table can be hard, unless you're accustomed to it :)

Former Community Manager
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Closing yourself off*

A part of me dies every time I make a grammatical error on phone and can no longer edit post. :geek:

I debate
Should I smile like everything's good and pretend that life is great
Or should I let the world see the real me and not hide this pain
I tried to be like the rest of y'all, sorry I just can't
I'ma probably die this way
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You have to consider what you want to give away. Keeping chips stacked really nicely sometimes suggests that you are a tight player. Also the way you make your bets will give something away, if you put the chips firmly but nicely will suggest that you are confident in your bet, so looks valuey. 

But never mind those, just have fun! That's what it's all about. If you feel like someone staring at you is going to be problematic, then I'd suggest sunglasses, but as  mentioned, it might make people less talkative around you. 

But the most important thing is, no matter how the tournament goes, just have fun. If you want people to talk, talk to people. 

Hope you all the best in Bucharest!

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You won the seat to a the 100e sat/games so will be a lot less pressure than the main event.

 

Just relax and have fun,  if people make you uncomfortable by staring at you, you dont need glasses. blow them a kiss and ask what they doing later that should put them off. :) more likely though there will be a lot of recreational players feeling the same as you.

You can exchange UO tickets again all is unicorns and rainbows in Unibet land.
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Thanks guys for all the tips :) 

@JeppeL , I already said to myself that I won't be wearing sunglasses. I don't want to seem like a player who wants to play too serious. (although I still could play serious). @jonny2192 what you said could be more my style :p I know for myself that I am able to hide or even fake my emotions. And of course the good poker players can read trough that, but as mentioned, I have the choice for a smaller buy in only, so less big players :) 

@Magicadil, wasn't there even a rule that said you should tell every action you do? Like raising (the amount) or calling? 

I see now that the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant... It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.
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Hello vikingsAF ... you can congratulate yourself to this experience they will be awesome big for you, on you will get much learning from this .... can give yourself some good tips myself have played over 80 live tournaments won on 12 of them around the world ... so remind tip is keep track of your cards, make sure they do not get past ought edge when your hand is dead ..... the same applies if you show your cards prematurely so huh sure to listen to the dealer .... do not let anyone intimidate you they do not have AA every time ... the belief in Dinna short on let no one steer you play your game all the way .... a little pot is a good pot against play a big pot on the förlora..de you win in the long run ... for is not in the vicinity of playing poker on the internet ... so little tip from me ..... then the sunglasses I have never had so absolutely no need, I can promise .... so make sure you get the gun there on I think Unibet makes sure that your experience will be reached extraordinary, you should see .... Regards robb-75

robb-75
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About the environment: as said above, just be yourself and have fun. There is absolutely no reason to worry about this beforehand. My first big live event was the Unibet UK Tour in Glasgow, and I had a lot of fun meeting the community members and the Unibet staff. Unibet tournaments are great fun for occasional live players like us. If you don't know anyone, ask a Unibet staff member to direct you to your nearest David, and ask him to point out some community regulars.

About the rules: if you have a positive attitude, you won't have any trouble with any rules. If you happen to break a rule you don't know about, so be it, people will tell you and that's that.

Here are 2 rules that I broke the first time I played live:

  • not putting my biggest chips in front of my smaller ones. This isn't a strict rule, but not doing so is considered unethical, because it prevents people from correctly estimating your stack size.
  • not putting all my raising chips forward in one motion. Strictly speaking, only the chips you put forward in your first motion count, so you can't add any with a second motion. This is to prevent angle shooting where someone first pretends to call, looks at his opponents reaction, and then quickly puts in a raise when his oppenent looks weak.

But again, don't worry about it. Also, there is no use in looking up the official tournament rulebook and reading through all that. You'll learn soon enough by playing.

About the poker itself: if you never played live, there are two very basic things you need to learn that you never have to do when playing online:

  • Remember your holecards: you could in principle look at them when each community card hits, but this might give away big tells, because people ofter forget or are to nervous to fake doing that when they have a monster that they never forget. To practice this, you can play online with a post-it that you put on your screen each time right after your new community cards are dealt until the hand is over.
  • Remember and/or calculate the potsize: it's only when you're sitting there wanting to bet half pot on the turn, that you realize you don't have a button for that :Cheeky: To practice this, you can go through your hand history in the Unibet client, and look to a random hand on a random street, and calculate the potsize based on previous action. Another way to practice this, is when you're in the train or the car or whatever, pick a random blind size in your head (say 150/300), and invent some random but realistic action (e.g: someone opens 3x, I call, blinds fold, he cbets half pot on the flop, I call, he checks on the turn, I want to bet half pot), and try to calculate what the pot is at that point and how much you need to bet.

When it comes to strategy, live there are generally more limpers, and more multi-way pots, so you might focus on thinking about how to deal with that. Also, pay close attention to showdowns and profile your opponents. You only have a few opportunities to learn about your opponents before you have to tangle with them. You're only playing one table, so you really have to play these players that are around you right at that time, and no others. Live is even more about playing the players and playing the situation than online is. Any information advantage you can get has a big impact. Other than that, your starting point for ranges and playing style can be the same as online.

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Hey,

As a guy who has played quite a few of UOs - I agree with above posts. Some more (similar) from me:

poker:

 Remember live tells are overrated :) At least that is how it used to be, now most online players now about this but it seems that in this event there might be quite a lot of live players that believe they can read your hole cards looking in your eyes - believe me they won't :). More likely they could see your cards reflection in the glasses if you wear them lol ;). I think people are already having some assumptions about your cards when trying to "stare you down" and they do it to reinforce them in their decision - rarely change them. Unless you say something that they are alert to as bluffing or strength - but it may be different for different players. You might look at someone and decide that for sure they are nervous - but some players ar enervous with nuts or very strong hand as well.

That said it's still good to be very observant as obviously there are things that you see live that you can't online. In general it's easier and faster to recognize a type of player and their style (although first impression might be wrong sometimes!) or that someone is steaming after losing a big pot. Easier to spot someone that rarely plays a hand but suddenly is very interested in their cards. In general all those small details that build up to better feel about other players.

Also regarding what MathrimC wrote - indeed it's good to remember showdowns etc. also very important thing coming from this - since the play is slower and there are less hands per hour this is what other players do as well most of the time - the consequence is one of your own showdowns may build/change your image for quite some time. Good to keep that in mind.

Last thing I would say that is very important as well - try to get a good sleep, eat ok breakfast and perhaps do some light workout if that's your thing. It's very good to be rested - unless you are used to playing hours of MTTs online, it's really tiring after sitting at the table for 8+ hours.

Outside of poker:

Like everyone said it's important to have fun. I always treated these tournaments as an opportunity at the same time to see some new and exciting places. Since AndreiBN already offered his hospitality it's great, still probably good to read something about the city to know what you can see in your spare time. Unless you want to play a bunch of side events or cash games remember that you spend almost 5 days there (depending on your flights) as standard. Tournaments are high variance of course so most of the times you are going to play for 1- 1,5 days so it's good to relax for the rest of the time to have a feeling of well spent trip and like wasted chance of winning some money. The Saturday tournament for Community is a great idea in my opinion to also offer some possibility besides side events to play more poker if you bust early - I am already looking forward to this - with my tendencies to bust at the end of day 1 :).

Have a great time and see you in Bucharest!

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Hello again then you should know that poker is like love, you will learn lots of your mistake the next time you spelr live again ..... and a big mistake many new live players make is that they do not wait for their turn without camp out poker chips premature ... because they happen often made the self a few times since, on every had on the throwing hand anyway to the player before has raised or added as allin ..... Things T's plenty more advice to you from many of poker players here .... as regards, find their thing on their game that they enjoy .....

Sincerely robb-75

robb-75
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If you get the chance to play some live poker before you go then it's worth doing, just to get used to the environment, handling chips etc. You'll be absolutely fine though. Naturally there are going to be some really good players in the field but most people just won't be very good. The standard of live play tends to be worse than online so don't let the size of the buy in worry you.

You're right to avoid the sunglasses. Nothing says frightened noob like sunglasses.

Most of all, enjoy it!

Formerly known as StartlingGrope
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My first live tournament was a 550E buy in, so kinda similar to your situation. I qualified online for 2 Euros.

There were mostly regulars and few recreationals.  My main difficulty was to keep track of the pot, becouse in online the software does it for you, so my bets sizes were wack.

They could tell I had no experience. Don't expect you will fool them on that.

Also, after they realise you are a novice, know that your bluffs will be more credible than online. I foud most of the players played tight, they did not came all the way to bust with weak hands.

Another mistake was i thought I could give false information about my hand strenght. Some believed me, but the good ones understood. I found it is better not to give any information.

Anyway, made it to day 2, runned Kings into Aces and did not cash, but it was a nice experience. You will like it.

Bucharest in December is cold,  last few years it didn't snowed till January, but better bring your winter jacket.

 

Good Luck !

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My suggestion is to follow your own style , do what is most comfortable to you.  I just focus on my play and not so much on the other players , except when Im in a hand . Try to stay calm and do not spend a lot of time thinking unless you have a big decision to make.  

 

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