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Preparing for First Trip to Vegas
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Taicho
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04-02-2009, 05:38 PM
Post subject: Preparing for First Trip to Vegas
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#1 (permalink)
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3-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Bloomington, IL
Posts: 102
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Sup FTR,
I'm turning 21 in a few weeks and I'm heading to Vegas with my brother for a few days. While I'm there I want to play a bunch of poker, but I've played very little live poker (I'm not really counting home games with my friends because I'm never uncomfortable there). I'm a winning player at the micros on PokerStars, and while that's certainly no grand achievement, from what I've read here the play at $1/2 sounds similar.
I'm hoping to do some sort of preparation to ready myself for the differences between online and live games. There's a local charity game around town that plays every now and then that I'm planning on going to a few times, if not to make money then at least to get more comfortable. I figure if I can walk away with a better sense of what it's like sitting next to strangers, trying to pick up tells and observing proper live etiquette, it'll be worth my time.
Besides that, what else would you recommend I do? Are there any relevant books I should pick up? I already have Caro's Book of Poker Tells and Lessinger's The Book of Bluffs, but would be happy to pick up anything else you might recommend.
Also, are there any specific casinos that you know are usually fishfests or shark tanks? As mentioned, I'll be playing $1/2 (broke college student, woo), where I guess the play is pretty universally bad. Still, if you know Friday nights at ___ Casino are filled with baddies, I'll schedule accordingly 
Thanks!
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LawDude
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Full House
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 940
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Click on "Live Strategy" on the left side of the screen. Some great stuff there.
In addition to that, the tips I would give you are these:
1. Tip everyone who provides services to you. Casino employees tend to be underpaid, and floormen and dealers resolve any disputes you have with other players. Tip the guy who brings you chips, tip the floorman who seats you, tip the dealer whenever you take down a significant pot, and tip the cashier if you cash out a significant number of chips. $1 or $2 in each case is fine.
2. Be very careful to act in turn. It takes a bit of time to get used to live poker, and you'll see people throwing their chips in the pot, making calls that look like raises and raises that started out looking like calls, all sorts of hand signals (standard and nonstandard), etc. Get the hang of the mechanics of the game (how to look at your cards discreetly, who is next to act, verbalizing your raises so that nobody accuses you of a string bet, etc.) before you worry about things like giving off tells, wearing sunglasses, and fiddling with your chips.
3. Even though it's live poker and everyone is consumed with physical tells, try to remember to play your game and (especially) to do reads based on good old fashioned betting patterns. These tend to be more reliable in most situations than physical tells anyway.
4. You will need to adjust to not knowing constantly what the pot size and everyone's stack sizes are. Try and keep a tally of approximately how much is in the pot and how large the stacks of any opponents who are playing the hand are. Nobody is required to count the pot for you, but you can ask for a count of another player's stack if he or she goes all in, and you can ask that a player make his or her stack clearly visible to you so that you can count it before making a bet.
5. If you take a hand to showdown, show it down until you are very used to things. You will see players throw cards into the muck, show one card, show a card just to the neighboring player, etc. There will be a time when you have all of your mechanics down when you can think about how much information to give other players. But when you are just starting out, don't worry about it (most players don't process information anyway). Just table your hand at the showdown, and then you'll never lose a pot because you accidentally mucked the best hand.
6. If someone does something that looks like cheating or unfair play, call for the floorman and do it immediately when the action takes place. The floorman can resolve disputes and make rulings, but he needs to be brought over ASAP when a dispute arises or else he will no longer have the power to act.
7. Try to be nice to everyone at the table. Don't be a jerk. Not only do jerks make poker less fun; it also tends to lead to losing poker strategy.
8. If there are only 2 players left in the pot and no raise pre-flop, chop the blinds. If you insist on seeing the flop, all the money will end up in the rake and go to the casino anyway.
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kfaess
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Flush
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 556
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Read stickies about string bets, etc..
Pay attention to everyone at the table and take your time when acting. Often players to act after you will tell you exactly what they are planning to do. For example, he may tap his finger for a check out of turn, get his cards ready to throw in the muck.
When you first start playing and pick up a big hand you're going to get really nervous. Just try and calm the nerves and after a while you'll get the hang of everything.
Have a good time, live poker is so much more social than online so don't be afraid to strike up conversation. Just don't let it affect your game.
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bigred
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PROFESSIONAL TROLL
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Nest of Douchebags
Posts: 2,184
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Penicillin
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LOL OPERATIONS
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Taicho
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3-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Bloomington, IL
Posts: 102
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Ah, I didn't see the Live Strategy section. That's got pretty much everything I was looking for 
Out of curiosity, when it comes to chopping the blinds...say you're in the SB and it gets folded to you. Do you (personally) ask the guy to your left for a chop before you look at your cards? What if he's looked at his cards? Is it sort of an unwritten rule that blinds should be chopped in general? I understand the reasoning behind it, I think I'd just feel awkward asking for a chop if the guy to my left was going to go "huh"
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LawDude
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Full House
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 940
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Taicho
Ah, I didn't see the Live Strategy section. That's got pretty much everything I was looking for
Out of curiosity, when it comes to chopping the blinds...say you're in the SB and it gets folded to you. Do you (personally) ask the guy to your left for a chop before you look at your cards? What if he's looked at his cards? Is it sort of an unwritten rule that blinds should be chopped in general? I understand the reasoning behind it, I think I'd just feel awkward asking for a chop if the guy to my left was going to go "huh" |
I don't know about Vegas, but here in California it is an unwritten rule.
I always look at my cards though. That gives me the opportunity to whine about how I had pocket aces and wish I didn't have to chop. 
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meeloche
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,131
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For 1/2nl i would suggest the smaller poker rooms like planet hollywood. It will have less regulars cause all the regulars are gonna be playing at vennetian and wynn mgm etc. If you're playing on a weekend night you can probably play anywhere and find a huge fish fest.
As for chopping i would always chop look at your cards or not. apparently once you chop once with somebody there's an understanding that you always do it regardless. Especially if you have a big edge in the game no need in pissing anybody off.
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drmcboy
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DrButtInski
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 9,603
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we had a vegas fish at our table once who refused to chop after it was explained to him. He had A4 and the BB had 64.
446 flop
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Taicho
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3-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Bloomington, IL
Posts: 102
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Great, thanks guys.
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