Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

Tomorrow I will be playing in a $100,000 freeroll at my cardroom.
The relevent facts are:
*An estimated 225 players
*Pays Top 40 finishes (min about $300)
*1st Place is $40,000

Any B&M advice for playing in a live tournament vs an online tournament?

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

- Observe
- Don`t suck

Weak payout format IMO.

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

1)people fold to smaller bets than online
2)People suck more offline (But it is a big freeroll, which I'm guessing you need to play there a lot, so this may not apply as much)
3)No one has a clue about inflection and will be v low on chips before shoving
4)People will try to bust you to show they busted someone
5)You have to wear pants

All I can think of for now

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

Disagree with #5 - a kilt is always an option

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

It's equivalent to playing a $1 mtt on stars, maybe worse if this is a free roll. Play abc poker, abuse people on the bubble who won't call off their chips with 55. You can generally bluff a bit more on the flop. Punish limpers with solid hands, cause live donks will limp with K7s utg with 6bb, go ahead and raise with AT, KQ, 55+. Most of the time they'll fold and if not you're usually ahead.

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

Try to get a copy of the structure beforehand so you can know what kind of a tournament you're in for. Do you start off with an M of 20 and 17 minute levels, or do you start with an M of 150 and 45 minute levels (more likely the former than the latter)? The structure will dictate how fast or slow you can afford to play, and therefore will provide some guidance towards your best chance of cashing and/or winning (whichever is your priority). Obviously this advice doesn't apply to only B&M tournies, but make sure you embrace it, as many of your opponents may have no idea what the structure is like or what the implications of it are.

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

Thanks this sounds like good advice...of course this all depends whether I'm on a table of donks or sharks... I just hope I get some cards...

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

Most difficult part will be the Pants requirement.

Seriously, my guess is that unless a lot of the guys at your casino play online, you should be able to make a decent showing. Play ABC poker, don't bluff early, profit.

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

[ QUOTE ]
Most difficult part will be the Pants requirement.

Seriously, my guess is that unless a lot of the guys at your casino play online, you should be able to make a decent showing. Play ABC poker, don't bluff early, profit.

[/ QUOTE ]

The biggest mistake I make with crappy players is trying to get fancy with 'em. ABC poker works best.

Re: Live Tournament Play vs Online Tournament Play
 

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3)No one has a clue about inflection and will be v low on chips before shoving

All I can think of for now

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This is very important for someone used to playing online tournaments. (assuming you aren't playing freerolls and $1 SnG's)

The average live tourney player is somewhere between Weak-Tight and Rock. All they want to do is make the money/final table. A great majority of them don't consider themselves short-stacked until they have less than t500 or 2-3 times the BB(whichever is higher). So when your A9 in the BB is raised by the Button with M3 - M5, you have to give it MUCH more respect than you might online. (unless of course said button-player is a complete moron)

* I can't even keep track of the number of times I've seen a live-tourney donk fold AK to an all-in bet of less than 25% of their stack, getting 4,5 or 6 to 1 on their money because "He had to have JJ or QQ and I didn't want to race."

Update: Trip Report
 

Update:
I finished in the top 1/3 of the tournament but I did not money.

Start ($5000, 25/25, 40 minute rounds)
The first table I was at had a very good skill level. People were laying down QQ in re-raised pots in pre-flop. My first table was on the tight side. There was one player that you could either call a 'call station' or a master reader. He called two big bluff barrels from a 'young gun wanna-be poker pro' and earned a slight chastisement that he should have folded to his 2nd bluff. I pegged him as more of a call station but he made it to the final 3 tables out of 240 players so he was either very lucky or he knew what he was doing. It makes me wonder if being a call station is a good play in some of these tournaments....as long as you do it with the right player.

A big stack was moved to my table on my left. I hit top pair with him and kept check-calling him. He was firing a way with a gutshout. I did the classic rope-a-dope check/calling play on him but he rivered me by hitting a 3 outer. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Later when this same guy made it to the final 3 tables as well. When he busted out, he came to my cash table and I licked my chops. We got heads in in a pot and he made the same 2-barrel bluff play on me.....and rivered me again. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] No justice in poker.....

In summary, I found the level of play to be quite good in this tournament....