The stress....

[GinaSD]

I don't do this in live tournaments, but I've caught myself doing this a few times (ok- probably 10 times at least) in online tournaments, and it really bothers me..

Here it is..

I'm uncomfortable with the online environment. When I enter tournaments, they've typically been 45 or 180 player MTT sit-n-go's, and a few of those monster 10k freeroll type things.

Well, blinds often go up very fast, and there comes a point where without physical cues of my opponents, I feel VERY uncomfortable. In person, I am a very intuitive player- and often can sense strength or weakness in a player by watching chip handling, posture.. the usual. This is all GONE online, and it freaks me out.

In addition, the need for reads grows exponentially as the blinds increase in proportion to the stacks.

So what have I done? I KNOW I've dumped chips when I probably shouldn't have, not wanting to continue dealing with the stress of the situation.

UGH. I'm tired of being late-game chippy santa-clause to my opponents.

Any ideas on how to make a smoother transition??

Gina

[GinaSD]

ps.. I've seriously thought about entering a few micros, just to force myself to blind out-- if that's what it takes. I dunno. thoughts?

[raze]

I've got the reverse thing going. I played a ton online before ever playing in a casino, so whenever I'm in a spot where people are staring and waiting for me to make a decision, I rush myself and make a lot of bad plays.

I would advise focusing more on hand reading by noting your opponent's betting patterns, since there is less to 'work with' in online play as far as tells go. Other than that, it all comes with practice [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Rek]

You are never going to get the same reads as you do live. That is just the nature of online poker. Betting patterns are what you really need to look for.

You are right about the blinds increasing quickly. As they do your starting requirements need to get a little looser. However, there does come a point where it seems a bit of a luckfest. That is just tourament poker towards to end.

Try playing some 6max turbo games - I think that may help a bit and give you good experience.

[uDevil]

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In addition, the need for reads grows exponentially as the blinds increase in proportion to the stacks.

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This seems wrong. Is there a tournament player in the house?

[chris269]

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Betting patterns are what you really need to look for.


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And - at least some times - for timing tells.

[ahsfl]

Tourney player here. UD, it seems wrong but it actually is pretty right because of the quickly escalating blinds steals are vital to being able to stay afloat while waiting for a decent starting hand (i.e. finding the super tight wads to steal blind). Gina, part of your read problems could be helped by using software like pokertracker/pa hud. I had the same problems transitioning online for a while and pahud is a lifesaver for read dependant situations especially late in tourney play where it becomes circus poker with all the small stacks and maybe a quarter of the players actually over the average chip count. You might be right in moving down to some micros not to just be blinded off but work on adding more steals to your playbook in middle stages and from other than obvious positions (anyone can steal from the button, takes balls and very good reads to steal from UTG). Hope this helps.

[uDevil]

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Tourney player here. UD, it seems wrong but it actually is pretty right because of the quickly escalating blinds steals are vital to being able to stay afloat while waiting for a decent starting hand (i.e. finding the super tight wads to steal blind).

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It's not hard to spot tight players online.

At some point, the size of the blinds must swamp every other consideration and any information you might get from a read becomes worthless. I don't see any reason why the progression from having some value to none shouldn't occur more or less smoothly. If so, the opposite is true: reads become less important as the blinds increase.

[GinaSD]

I downloaded the trial version, and will likely register the full version of poker tracker. Hopefully the video on Cardrunners will teach me the ins-outs of the software well enough to where I am not so confused by all of it.

Thank you all for your responses.

Though-- I do tend to believe having reads at the end of the tournament (even when in push mode) are still very important-- because if I can't be ahead of someone's range- I at least want to try to have 2 live cards.

Adjusting to a world where I can't watch someone's face, their posture, and how they handle their chips is proving to be quite an adjustment.