Online vs Live

[MattGN]

What is the assosciation of stakes between online and live poker? What is 1/2NL Live compared to online like? I want to play one level higher its comparison online before I play a B&M 1/2 game.

I currently play 0.02/0.04NL but I believe I could hold my own in 0.05/0.10NL and possibly one higher, as I have tried them out before on a few occasions with relative success. Would I stand a chance at a live game, and if not, what level should I hit online before I make the transfer?

[Liquid_Quik]

Usually 1/2 NL is the smallest game in a B&M, so you are going to get a HUGE range of people in them. For many people 1/2 is a large commitment for one sitting, so even some strong players, or average, but experienced players (like myself..) would be hesitent to play higher then 1/2 live. On the internet, however, i would be hesitent to play more than NL25 or possibly NL50 (I mostly play sngs), becuase you get mroe hands, can play more tables, etc. I would recommend playing NL25 if you want a feel of what 1/2 live (depending on where it is.. a casino with higher stakes might be fishier than a 1/2 at a club, where less people will just happen to see poker and want to try it out)

[Mr.ScragglyBeard]

If you are curious to see what the difference is between online and live poker (and you happen to live in Canada) I would recomend that you check out the Red Hot Poker Tour.

If you are in the US (in a major city), I'm sure there are free live games going on, or you could even join a poker league - http://www.amateurpokerleague.com/ is a site that I found through Google that you might like to check out.

I'll let the more experienced B&M players handle this thoroughly, but playing live you have the benefit (and drawback) of physical tells, which is a massive difference. Get comfortable playing live for free, and then hit up the casinos/live games. But that's just my 0.02 cents.

Quick note - obviously, you're going to have some crap play at these free events. People usually aren't staking anything on the outcome, so they can play pretty un-realistically. Find a league that has SOMETHING at stake - Red Hot funds a WPT buy-in if you have the most point at the end of the season. Find something like that, so that at least there is SOME motivation to play decent.

[MattGN]

Thanks!

Liquid_Quik:

That certainly makes sense. If I do go, I'll go on a Saturday at the time of a smaller tournament so maybe I can catch some players steaming or biding their time at the cash game after they get KOed. There's a huge mall where I live (Edmonton), so I might try it this Christmas just to get a feel what it is like (and maybe catch a tourist or two?). [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mr.ScragglyBear:

I'm actually planning on attending the next Red Hot event (I missed the last few of last season a few days ago), so that should be good. However, I do have a bit of experience live, but I wanted to get a feel if the live players shifted online, what stakes we'd probably find them at? Once I do work my way up to NL25 though, I'll definitely compare the two.

[formula72]

Online hard, Live easy

[rodders133]

I have played quite a few live MTT`s but only once full ring. The sb was the same as the bb (which I have never heard of) £1/£1, so $2/$2 in your money.
I was amazed how bad the play was, it was honestly like 2/4c online.
It was late on a sat night and full of bustouts from the main tourney so play was probably influenced by tilt/beer.
Ended up losing my stack of course through an unfortunate circumstance but that will not deter me. Cannot wait to get back there, but its a bit of a drive.

[SellingtheDrama]

Generally I'd suggest anyone starting out live begin in the smallest possible game. I was mathematically rolled for 5/10 or 10/20 limit when I started playing live, but still spent a session at 2/4 just to work out the kinks and get used to handling and remembering all four cards (I was an LO8 player then).

In terms of what stakes you'll find people at - generally the people just goofing around will be in the smallest games available - whatever that is. A minimum game plays about the same regardless of location. As you move up in the ranks, you'll find the bad players are still just as bad, but there are less of them and the good players are tougher on average.

[PantsOnFire]

1/2NL live can be the wildest ride in town. Generally, this is where the worst players hang out, the tourists, the wannabes, the newbees, the impaired, the uberLAGs, etc.

However, it also where some solid players hang out to take advantage. The good news is that most solid players are playing fairly tight ABC poker so you can spot them if you pay attention.

So in answer to your question, a 1/2NL live table can play at a quite a wide range of skill, mostly on the low side. Play tight, keep your eyes open and it should be a ton of fun.