Identifying Tells In Live Play

Author: Simon Dexter

Hi Guys
I appreciate that playing online differs in several ways from playing live, but apart from the obvious difference when it comes to identifying tells, are there any other subtle nuances this regular online player should look for when playing live?
BS
Aldershot

BS,

Tells are just one of the differences between live and online games. Several other areas of the game require a modified approach - whether you’re at a computer screen or in a casino. For example, betting patterns generally differ: in live games, players tend to play considerably looser, often for much smaller bets early in the game, although conversely, they generally fold more frequently to smaller bets as the game progresses and as the blinds and antes get higher. Research suggests this pattern is the complete reverse of online play.

Why is this? The accepted thinking is that most live players engage in poker games as a form of pure entertainment; they consider calling small bets with absolute junk ‘early doors’ as entertaining, whereas online players tend to do the opposite. However, as a game progresses, a subtle change overtakes the live player who tends to tighten up considerably as he seeks a result for his evening’s efforts.

Naturally enough, if you’re tight and patient when playing live, you have the opportunity to become aggressive when the antes come in and, as a consequence, steal very cheaply. Ordinarily, a raise of perhaps twice the big blind will take down the blinds and antes live, a ratio which is considerably lower to an online game.

Finally, as the live player has no chance of simply starting another game when he goes all-in, this tends to make such a play more serious than when playing online. Accordingly, the live player will respond to betting much differently than the online player the longer a game progresses. Does all of this mean the online regular can be complacent when he nips into his nearest casino? Not at all. On the contrary, you must take everything you’ve learnt online and apply it in live games if you’re to have a chance of emerging successful.

Tags: live poker, Online Poker, Poker tells

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:45 am and is filed under Have Your Say!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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