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How to Look Like a Poker Pro When Playing in a Casino. Guide to Live Poker Etiquette.
Playing poker live in a casino is very different to playing poker online. Even if you are a seasoned online poker pro your first entry into casino maybe overwhelming so it is good to know basic live poker ground rules, otherwise known as poker etiquette. Knowledge of those rules will make you feel more relaxed, give you a chance to concentrate on your play and assure players around you that you know what you are doing and should be taken seriously. If you won your seat in live poker tournaments through some of the online poker promotions and you are new to real casino atmosphere it is especially worth taking time to get familiar with Dos and Donts of the casino play so you always look and feel like a regular.
First and foremost Be Polite at all times. Yes poker can be very frustrating whether you play live or online. Those words that you say to air your feelings at home have no place in a casino. However angry or upset you are stay polite to players around you and the dealers. Do not express your opinions about other peoples play. Expressing your emotions this way will also make you more of a target for other players. Throwing your cards at a dealer is big No-No and makes you look amateur and rude. The dealer is not giving you bad cards on purpose while saving all the good cards for your opponents.
Do Not Splash the Pot. Dont push your chips into the middle of the table where they can get mixed up with other players chips. Stack them in a neat pile about a foot away from you. The dealer will take care of them when the action is completed for this round.
Do not String Raise. The famous phrase “I will call your $500 . AND raise $1000” does not have place at a casino poker table. If you put out enough chips for a call and then decide to change your mind and raise by adding more chips, it will be called a String Raise, and is not allowed. The dealer will ask you to take the raise back. This rule is in place to stop players getting an advantage from reading the possible tells of the call and then take advantage of it through raising. So if you want to raise just say “Raise” or simply count the number of chips you want to bet and move them all at the same time.
Play at a Reasonable Speed. When you play poker online, poker room software allows you a certain amount of time to react, if you take more time than allowed the “sitting out” feature will take you out of that hand. Although it is OK to spend some time to think about your actions live playing live if you take too much time on every hand you play you will only irritate players around you and make yourself look indecisive and unprofessional.
Act in Turn. This is another difference playing live compared to playing poker online. In an online poker room you can click your action button at any time and your action will be shown to other players when your turn comes. When playing live you have to wait for your turn before you make any action. Acting before your turn is impolite and gives unfair advantage to other players. If a player before you sees you folding he might decide on a different bet to the one he would have made without this knowledge.
Keep Your Cards on the Table. When you receive your hole cards have a look at them, while protecting them with your hand and place a chip on top as an indication to the dealer that you are still in play. Under no circumstances remove the cards off the table. If you are folding move your cards towards the dealer, making sure that they are always face down, as one quick glance at your cards will give an advantage to other players. Nobody should ever see your cards until the showdown.
Do not Discuss Hands. Even if you have folded keep quiet about your hand or offer other players advice with their hand. Your comments to your neighbour about your hand will put him in unfair advantage compared to other players at the table. This is not limited to verbal comments; remember actions speak louder than words. If you muck T, 3 unsuited and the flop comes with T,T,T control yourself. Rolling your eyes and groaning will tell everyone around the table that the forth ten is out of action. If you have a question, please, ask the dealer not a player sitting next to you.
If your idea of fun is to irritate as many people around you as possible just disregard the rules above, however dont be surprised if players at the table turn against you and the casino in turn may impose a fine or ask you to leave. Following this poker etiquette will not only make your live poker experience more enjoyable but will make you look like a real poker pro at live poker events.
The Winning Strategy for Poker Tournaments.
Poker Tournaments both live and online give players a wonderful opportunity to pay a relatively little amount of buy-in and win a big payout. All poker tournaments are exciting and fun events that give you a lot of play for your money. There is nothing like a thrill of the competition to get the excitement going and no winnings in a ring-table can be compared to battling your way to the top position and walking away as the winner of the day.
Playing in poker tournaments however requires different strategy to one used in ring-games and a lot of good players who fail to adapt to such changes leave the tournaments empty handed. To begin with there are three distinctly different tournament periods, each requires different tactic of play. At the early stages of the tournament there will be plenty of fish around, towards the middle stage most fish will be gone a part of a few very lucky ones and at the end of the tournament you will be left with some very good players and occasionally with one very lucky average player. So tournament strategy requires changing gears as you progress through the tournament.
At the early stage of the tournament your best bet would be to play extremely tight. Do not be tempted to try to increase your chip count with marginal or weal hands while the blinds are cheap. You should only be playing the best starting hands and never attempt to bluff at this stage. Your goal for now is to wait for the fish to hit the rail and with cheap blinds you can afford to be very selective. Although this stage can be very frustrating as you will not taking part in a lot of action and folding many hands.
At the middle stage of the tournament you can start to loosening up a bit. It is a good time to take a few risks and bluff a few hands to turn your hard earned reputation of a tight, conservative player to your advantage. Your bet or a raise will hopefully be taken on with care and consideration. So take a little gamble. At this stage you should be looking for every opportunity to steal blinds, so if you have a good hand, you are on the button, players before you folded, you should be aggressive and raise. Your goal at this stage is to increase your chip count to enter the last stage of the tournament with at least average amount of chips. You dont want to be short stacked at the last stage and get blinded out just before you make it into the money.
Hopefully you made it to the final table and have a fair number of chips. Now it is time to loosen up even more. You need to play like maniac though! Just be brave, aggressive and flex your strength. It is all about chip power now. This is a good time to push short stacked players all-in but be careful with big stacks as they will want to the same to you. If you are short stacked at this stage you must consider going all in when you have a reasonable hand as with blinds being so high you cant afford to sit and wait for the next opportunity to arise, you will bleed your chips too fast and leave with nothing.
To sum it up: play very tight at the beginning, loosen up a bit and aggressive in the middle and get extremely aggressive at the end. This is a proven winning poker tournaments strategy.
Before you pay your first $10,000 buy-in for WSOP Main Event, it is a good idea to practice playing online poker tournaments. Online poker rooms offer a huge choice of different level buy-in tournaments, including some with guaranteed minimum prize pool. Many players have built up their bankroll through playing online poker tournaments and you can even qualify to big live poker events through online poker promotions and take your seat in the next WSOP, EPT or WPT to hopefully win millions of dollars in prize money.