Poker Strategy: Live Poker

Learn how to transition from online play to your local casino.

Live poker games tend to be much softer than their online counterparts, but it’s still crucial to adjust your game so that you don’t leave any money on the table. While you could probably play like you usually do online and still make a profit, it’s far better to acclimate yourself to common live poker situations so that you can maximize your returns. There are many more multi-way pots in brick-and-mortar poker, so you’ll want to become familiar with how to take advantage of these bloated pots. Then there’s the whole aspect of spotting tells while giving away nothing yourself, which is largely missing from poker played over the internet. Adding live poker to your repertoire can really boost your bottom line. The articles below focus on traditional poker, as played around a physical table, so they’ll help you get a leg up on your opponents in casinos and home games.alike.




While Waiting Poker Tells

While Waiting Poker Tells

insights into reading opponents' body language and actions when it's your turn to act in a poker game, covering topics like identifying potential openers, raisers, and bluffers, as well as understanding subtle cues that can indicate a player's intentions
While Waiting Poker Tells

Babysitting Blunders: How Not to Treat New Players

During my time at the tables, I've had a chance to observe an extensive amount of human behavior. Thanks to the growing popularity of the game, I'm seeing more and more diverse personalities sported by players operating on a variety of skill levels. But with the ever-expanding pool of competitors, I find many of my brothers and sisters who've been around for a while are forgetting some of the cardinal rules of the game. I'm talking, specifically, about the treatment of new players at the tables. It happens both at live events and when surfing through the online card rooms. There are veterans (and even more who think themselves to be veterans) who, by carrying themselves in a certain fashion, do themselves a disservice and consequently reduce their own level of play.
Brick and Mortar/Live Poker Strategy

More Poker Tells and Reviews

When playing live poker, you can get important tells on your opponents by carefully paying attention to their movements and actions. Whenever players seem to deliberately go out of their way to give you information, the actual information is usually the opposite of what they're trying to tell you.
While Waiting Poker Tells

The Problem with Physical Tells

While many novice poker players place significant emphasis on physical tells and bluffing, the article highlights the challenges and inaccuracies of relying solely on these cues, emphasizing that tells can be misleading, often overlap with standard play, and can detract from more critical aspects of the game like spotting betting patterns and board reading
Brick and Mortar/Live Poker Strategy

Personal Attacks and the Check Raise

There's a weird school of thought that check-raising in live poker is unfriendly or ungentlemanly behavior. But it is merely just another tool in your strategic arsenal. It's usually not used to make a personal assault against an opponent. Use it to bet for value or bluff as usual.
Card Looking Poker Tells

Card Looking Poker Tells

the importance of observing opponents' reactions when they look at their cards in poker games, suggesting that players can gain valuable insights into their opponents' hands by noting their behaviors, such as the speed of their reactions, shuffling habits, and responses to the flop
Betting Poker Tells

Betting Poker Tells

the significance of betting patterns in poker, emphasizing how they serve as crucial tells for reading opponents, with professionals often relying on the nuances of how much and how players bet, rather than just physical reads, to gauge the strength of their hands
Brick and Mortar/Live Poker Strategy

The UTG Live Straddle

Straddling under the gun is sometimes done in live, loose poker games. When a player straddles, the blinds lose value, but every other position gains value. Because the pot will play about twice as large as normal, you should change your starting hand requirements to take account of the straddle.