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Going
Live
By Aaron J. Moore
Posted: 3:00 am PDT 2006-10-09 |
Courtesy Of Internet Casino and Poker Room at WagerWeb.com |
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After playing in scores of
tournaments held at casinos and card rooms over the past year, I have encountered numerous
online players making their first foray into a live event with actual players and dealers
sitting across the table from them. This information about their lack of playing
experience did not come my way because rookie onliners are required to wear a scarlet
letter during their inaugural live event. Instead, I easily obtained this
information by just paying attention to the table talk prior to the
event.
Maybe it's nerves or just naivete, for whatever the true reason many players making their
first move from online games to live events are willing to let their opponents in on their
less than secret secret.
Because of the Internet and television, there has been a democratization of poker. The
game no longer belongs to the card sharks who live in the shadows of casinos or card
rooms. Now playing alongside these old-timers are college students, housewives,
insurance agents, etc. The poker boom can be attributed to all the first-time players
willing to make the dive into a pool often filled with sharks.
For those itching to make their first move to a live event, they should decide to go for
it. Poker is not only a great way to make money, but it's a fabulous and challenging
hobby. However, once a person decides to play against live opponents and not just
computer-generated images, there is no reason they should make the rookie mistake I
encountered so many times. A novice must keep his background quiet; it's a quality
that strong players can easily exploit.
There is a reason first-timers are often referred to as "fresh
fish."
Commonly during tournaments, experienced players will single out first-timers and place
extra pressure on them by making big raises in front of them and then following up their
bets with a loud re-raise. Novice players tend to buckle when faced with a re-raise
made by a stoic opponent sitting across from them, if opponents are unaware that a player
is new to live games, that technique might not be used as much.
Also, experienced players will target the novice from the beginning and try to steal pots
because they are thinking first-timers won't fight back because of the fear of quickly
getting knocked out of a tournament.
Playing against strong players is hard enough, so there is no reason to give them more
ammunition by exposing your limited background to them.
That is why it is imperative for beginning players to watch a live game in person to see
all the actions and behaviors before hand. Don't just watch a televised event that has so
much of the dull (yet important) action edited out for time purposes. Beginning players
should first go to a casino or card room and watch a lot of tournaments prior to making
their first move.
Those with little experience in live games should focus on how the players talk, their
interaction with one another, and how the dealer controls the game.
Another technique novice players must avoid is the critical mistake of looking at the hole
cards prior to their time to act. This move sets off a silent alarm at the table and
will result in experienced players making every possible move to nab the rookie's chip
stack. A first-time player should watch how the others before him react to looking at
their cards. That is the best time to find a tell an opponent might have. Once it is the
rookie's time to act, he should quietly and confidently look at his cards and then make a
smooth but calculated decision.
The game of poker looks so easy on television and the rules are simple enough to learn;
however, before a player goes against live competition for the initial time, he must
understand the intricacies of the game. If not, he might as well just hand his chips over
to the players who treat the game like a second language. |
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