I always thought it was capped at like $5-$6, or some other number for the other games. I should pay more attention to these things but I don't. Although, the more I start treating it like a job, and a business, looking at what I can potentially earn "consistently" in terms of dollars per hour on the daily grind, I start paying more attention to the bigger picture. I've figured that Commerce casino is well worth it because of the massive influx of new players. Always new money going on the table. Very loose risky players. The internet crowd is very tight and mathematical. They don't take many risks. You don't get paid off on the internet. Live casino poker, you get paid off a lot more. It's so much easier to swallow someone's stack playing live.
You should definitely find out for sure if you play there regularly. IDK if it is the 5% (Ithink I saw that somewhere for internet poker at least), but it could well vary from site to site and different casino's. Check their house rules it should say there.
I'm going to have to try a live cash game I think. I also heard that in live peoples bet sizes (especially inexperienced players) tend to be regularly around 5 times the BB and higher. I don't know if this happens in all casino's or just a few. But it does mean you can potentially make more from players putting a lot more at risk, also partially making up for not being able to multi table. Whereas online - as you say the play is more tight and mathematical - so players tend to use much smaller bet sizes, meaning you'll make less on any one table.
Tangent: I do think online is fixed. I'll elaborate more later if you want.
The reason I play live is because I'm a competitor at heart. I want to get better, and I'll do it one table at a time. I believe the internet is valuable because if you can easily beat a game, say $100 n/l, and you can multi-table it 8 tables, then you can make a pretty decent living; however, you're never going to reach Phil Ivey status that way. Also, live is where I have my greatest advantage. I think I am good online, but my skill set is much better suited to playing live.
I agree with this. Although I'v only played much smaller stakes. I've definitely profited much more from live play then online play.
Over the last few months, I've had a few of the regular players comment that they think I'm the most improved player where we play. And these guys are fairly experienced; they often seem like they're on high alert when in a hand with me.
I'm not saying I'm the best, I still make mistakes/misreads and am quite beatable if my opponents are paying enough attention. I got taken out last night in a sit and go with 16 players by a tight player playing J3 suited hearts from the button. He min raises and I call from the SB with KJ suited clubs and BB calls with KJ suited diamonds. Flop comes down J23 all spades. I bet the pot, BB thinks a while and then folds, SB flat calls me. Turn comes 6 of diamonds. I check, button bets what I bet last, I raised to treble his bet, he calls. River comes 10 of clubs. I bet half my remaining stack, button shoves all in (just more than I had back). I called.
This is an example of a hand I played extremely poorly. Based on what I already knew of the player on the button, tight, notoriously unlucky, talks a lot and uses distraction tactics (very likeable at the same time). !Doesn't call or bet with large amounts without solid hands! - Something I momentarily completely overlooked.
His raise put me on edge, so I was right to call pre flop. My bet was to scare off flush draws primarily, I was happy to take the pot there. Buttons call says he's strong (my read at the time was maybe a J with flush draw, and or high card) too optimistic.
My check raise move is debatable - based on what I already know of this player - a stupid move. If I checked and just called then that still doesn't tell me much and is a bad move. If I bet and was raised then I could fold, or just check fold. - optimal move I think. A bit more thought to this hand and I would of realised I was beat and could get away without losing most of my chips.
I don't regard myself as a bad player, but I can still make some really bad plays sometimes. Still though I have plenty to learn, and much to analyze, that hand did give me a lot of new information about my opponent though which is a plus.
The tables at Commerce have 9 seats; although often, you could be playing with just 5-6 players because people are sitting out, seats empty, etc. But most often they are full. Yes I'm more of the big stack who waits and becomes a whale. Then I may steal a decent pot here or there when it seems everyone is just avoiding me all out. I've never really favored the bully approach. I see the bully approach as winning a bunch of small pots and putting yourself at risk; but, some people use it very successfully. I am the bully's worst enemy. I just use a large stack as a really good excuse to stay patient and cherry pick good spots to swallow someone else's stack whole. So I'll wait for the bully to slip up and bluff while I'm holding a monster. But I generally haven't seen to many people utilize the bully approach successfully. The bully generally loses his money. I'm weary to use it because it only takes one or two bad bluffs to erase some really hard earned wins.
This seems like a very good approach. Nice description too, just make sure you don't beach yourself and explode.
I agree that bullying seems to offer more risk than reward. Whenever I have tried it, I have made it work very effectively. I sat at a 1/2c blind table with $3 sat tight until I had 9or 10$ then went into bully mode and trebled it again. Then I decided to go tight, got caught up in a hand with something geniunly really strong, but bust to a better hand and lost it all. I was annoyed that I'd made so much then lost it, but it was only really a $3 loss. I'v also just lost with this approach too though (I know I lost then too but I should of really left once I reached 30 times).
So I think a lot of it is picking your moments and the right players to bully once you have a sizeable stack (and a certain amount of luck :P)
yea I'd like to think I am always this way too... but I have to admit that when the pot size is equal to everything I make in a month at my job, I have to care a little bit.
Then never gamble what you can't afford to lose! Any kind of anxiety can really put you off.
so when you're a super large stack, and you see this happen, you don't really care and you're just kinda like "lol have fun kids" and folding because you have the privilege of staying patient and waiting for a better spot. With a big stack I'd even fold AK when I'm heads up with the guy, because my skill allows me better chances than coinflipping for a guy's stack;
Yes. But with a big stack I'll stay patient and only call all ins with very strong hands. I'll call small stacks with ak-j and play a much tighter game with stacks that could cripple me.
Sounds weird, but I think live tourneys are much like internet tourneys. Tells and reads are not very important because the game becomes very mechanical (early on, at least). Lots of early folding. People playing positions and cards textbook style. Also, people getting shifted around as tables merge, so it's not worth trying to invest too much time reading a person until the final table. Everyone has a singular goal, to multiply their stack as many times as possible. Because of this motivation, the game becomes almost completely unfamiliar to its cash-game counterpart. In cash games, you have the ability to stay patient. In tourneys, you have one additional opponent, and that is the clock.
Yes, but it's easy to work out generally which are the better players, who bluffs a lot etc. And to estimate which players you think could be around a while and pay more attention to them.
Although you have the added pressure of the clock, patience is still key! With a big stack you can be patient all day long and just cruise into the money. A small stack and you have to become even more patient, for as long as you can hold out. Get you chips in when it counts and keep holding out, even if you bleed to a couple of BB's, I'v done this and seen many shortstacks doing it and they can crawl into the money also. Even if that does seem a bit weird, it shows you actually have more time then what most think.
One thing that might throw your game off is being COMFORTABLE in a live tourney setting. Every tournament has different rules and colors of chips, etc. If I'm put in an unfamiliar surrounding and handling unfamiliar chip colors, these drain my mental energy, as I'm getting accustomed to the newness of the place, and I won't be playing optimally. This might seem like an insignificant issue, but it does affect me when I'm not comfortable in my setting. That's why I like playing at the same casino. I know all the rules, all the chip colors. Sometimes even shuffling new chips annoys me. The chips at commerce shuffle a certain way. This, I think, is the biggest challenge transitioning from internet to live poker. You play optimally in the comfort of the seat of your computer because you're at home; you can slide the amount you want to bet with your mouse while you're drinking a coke and smoking a doobie.
If you can replicate that same comfort in a live-setting, you'll be gold.
I don't understand the first sentence, it seems to contradict the rest of the paragraph?
I play best when I'm most comfortable.
As I started off playing live, my challenge from transition to online was learning a much tighter strategy and the mathematical approach. Now I still have different approaches to both games, there's still a lot of things I'v taken over from each game to improve my game overall.
Shame you can't smoke in live play
do you have any tells? it's not like people are going to tell you. If you have a good friend you should have him watch you while you're playing. A good friend of mine pointed out that my shoulders got really tense when I was bluffing, and this was completely subconscious for me.
Yeah, I have one tell. Apparently. My ENTJ friend who I described earlier in a hand example told me over a reefer we were smoking that he's observed my play and my hands shake (which I'v noticed), I don't really have a poker face, I'll crack a smile or a smirk at any point (I'm not obviously giving away information from what cards I see). I'm also usually very quick with making decisions, the time it takes me is becoming longer and longer recently as I think a lot more now.
But none of these are tells, it's all too random to get a read, and I'll do these things regardless of if it's a bluff or not.
My friend said he's got one tell on me, but he won't tell me what it is! ahaha
He also thinks he's the only one who knows what it is though so I'm not too worried, I just have to be extra careful when against him.
My entire strategy is heavily biased to read and react on a hand by hand basis and relies on detachment... from damn near everything. As far as hold'em goes, $1000 limit $5 blinds is all I ever get to play in the casino because the high stakes tables are always empty. Blackjack is my game.
which I'v noticed, tends to make your opponents more nervous and on edge when they're in a hand with you. 
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