I’m sure the majority of you reading this likely started out your poker careers by clicking a few buttons on the virtual felt one day in an attempt to get to grips with the general rules and fundamental strategy of the game. Then, out of nowhere, you experienced that sudden urge to walk out of your front door into natural sunlight, not to go see a loved one, but to venture down to your local casino/cardroom (or, even better, the pub) and experience live poker.
The practice of live play offers you a completely different side of the poker experience where you can sit upon hours on end staring down real live individuals as you attempt to lock away your emotions and hold your nerve while glancing across the felt at a 6 foot 6, 17.5 stone resemblance of boxer Wladimir Klitschko. Although online poker has definitely contributed and helped out a tonne in terms of preparing you for the live scene, there are some areas – like the aforementioned example - which online poker cannot recreate, thus leaving you at a slight disadvantage and somewhat ill-equipped. Hopefully, this article will help you not only become more aware of those pitfalls, but allow you to enter the Nottingham Live better prepared.
These are some of the more common mistakes made by online players dipping their toes into brick and mortar:
1. Acting out of turn
When we play online, the software makes it impossible for us to act out of turn, so it’s understandable how this somewhat minor mistake can catch out so many new, live players who are experiencing their first live sessions of play.
Acting out of play can consequently influence the decisions of players who were meant to act both before and after you. It is, therefore, vital that you remember to pay attention to the action as it moves around the table; when it is your turn to act, and so on. It is extremely common for players with monster hands to get all excited and act out of sync in an over-zealous bid to get their money into the middle as soon as possible. I’d therefore advise you to try and keep a little composure at the felt and wait your turn.
2. String Betting
String betting is when a player commits themselves to a certain bet by failing to verbally declare their intent and making their bet by going back and forth to their stack instead of moving the chips across the line in a single, forward motion. For example, if your intentions are to make a raise of, say, three times the big blind at the 300/600 level, and, instead of making one single bet of 1,800, you slide over the line, one at a time, 3 chip-stacks of 600, then this will be declared a string bet and only your first stack of 600 will count towards the bet.
The main problem with string-betting is the confusion it can cause for players seated adjacent to you, as they could assume that once you have committed the first stack of 600, your action is complete, and that you are making a call. In turn, they may then proceed to make their own play unaware of the fact that you wish to commit more chips to the pot.
3. Removing cards off the table
In the world of online poker, we can always see who is still in play and who has folded. Live, however, you do still tend to find the odd player who enjoys holding their cards to their chest, old school style, thus making it more difficult for the dealer and other players to see if they’re still in the hand. Therefore, when you are dealt a hand, you should always keep your cards in front of you and on the table where they are clearly visible. Failure to do so could result in your hand being declared dead, or you missing your turn.
Another reason for leaving your hand on the table is that it eliminates the possibility of being able to switch cards or, in slightly more direct terms, cheat. Some players around you may not be 100 percent clear on why your cards are on your lap, in your top pocket, or wherever you decide to put them over the course of the hand in play, and the last thing you want is for people to accuse you of cheating.
4. Reacting to your hole cards
When you’re sat at home in your underwear with that pizza box from last night and several Red Bull cans lying around, there is no one to witness your reaction when you fist-pump the air with A-A, or cry when you have bricked the deck on the river. Live, your emotions are open to everyone around you, so just try and relax and remain as calm as possible when glancing down at your cards.
Our main aim is to avoid handing out free information to our opposition through our emotions. A decent tip to take on board is to observe your opponent as the flop is being dealt and not stare at the cards; this way, we can see how they react to the flop in terms of their cards before steadying ourselves and deciding upon our own course of action.
5. Keeping track of pot / opponent’s stack size
As has already been detailed, there are many perks to playing online, one of which is being able to track the size of pots and our opponents’ stack sizes. This is probably the most important area of live poker to pay great attention to as, unlike online poker, the numbers are automatically displayed to us at all times and so it is up to us, as individuals, to keep an eye on the size of every pot/stack.
We are entitled to request that the dealer spread the pot in play, in addition to asking our opponent the size of his remaining chip stack (although he is not obliged to respond) if we have come to a point where an important decision needs to be made. This does, obviously, slow down the game, and it’s best to try and stay vigilant at all times rather than abuse the situation by continually inquiring, “How many chips do you hold, sir?” or, “Dealer, please can you spread the pot?" Others will soon find this very tedious and frustrating.
6. General etiquette at the table
Here are a few things you should avoid if you wish to display good etiquette at the poker table:
• Speaking about a hand during play, especially when you’re not even involved in the pot.
• Resting your pint on the table or on someone’s card protector. It doesn’t go down too well.
• Holding up the table by failing to pay attention to the action.
• Berating the dealer.
• Splashing the pot.
• Touching the pot in play. Leave this to the dealer.
• Slowrolling other players (i.e. dwelling unnecessarily when you have the nuts and there is no further action).
• Abusing other players at the table or issuing unnecessary rub-downs (such as fist-pumping, cheering, berating, etc).
• Knocking over another player's stack. It’s simply not nice.
• Forgetting to put in your antes (if you make the antes, that is). This, I imagine, is undoubtedly highly frustrating for the dealer.
I hope this article has given you some insight into what you should be keeping a close eye out for and how you can pick up on the leaks of others while simultaneously information regarding your own hand which could easily come back to haunt you / cause friction within your quest to become Black Belt Poker Nottingham Live Champion.
You’re not going to get shot down or anything if you do find yourself making any of the mistakes highlighted above. However, it’s good to know in advance and be in a position to minimise any potential damage. The main thing is to relax, chill out and enjoy this unique Nottingham Live experience.