While this is just one example of how play changes live, the examples are countless. Essentially, the two games while similar are very different and both have their own set of complexities that make the two versions of poker unique. If you are going to mix online and live poker, here are a few tips to help you learn from the mistakes that I have made while trying to play both online and live:

Cards are less important when playing live.
With the additional factors that come into play when playing live, the actual hole cards you have become just another part of the decision-making process at the table. While some very successful live players rely heavily on what cards they hold, there are a great deal of successful live players that will turn any two cards into winners based on their skills. Conversely, when playing online, cards become a major factor in your overall success especially if you are not one to take player notes or pay close attention to what players showdown.

The information available while playing online is more hidden than at a live game BUT just as valuable.
When playing online, a lot of players neglect to invest time in gaining valuable information available to them when playing. First, most sites have the ability to check and see where their opponents are currently sitting. With a few clicks and keystrokes, you can know if your opponents are playing at more than one table. Multi-table players are usually tighter and take less risks than single-table players as they rely on the large number of starting hands they get to see and focus their expertise on maximizing the value of their big starting hands. In addition, most sites have leaderboards and some even assign players icons to identify who has had previous success. It’s always good to know who the suckers are at the table and without digging into find out, more than likely the sucker will be you.

At lower limits, most online players have already lost.
A strange phenomenon occurs online that rarely occurs in live games: Many players buy-in to an online site expecting to lose their money. This is something you occasionally see with players new to playing in a live casino but frequently see online as the online arena has become a training ground for new players who don’t expect to do great immediately. The danger here is that you are playing an opponent who has nothing to lose…in their mind, they have already lost. These players are more difficult to bluff and more dangerous because they usually lack the fundamentals to be a great player. In a live game, these players are much less dangerous because they ooze information that gives away their hands and frequently go broke quickly. Also, they are more intimidated by the live setting as no one wants to be called out for being a newbie.

Leave behind the robotic approach when transitioning from online to live.
Online games are rapid-fire compared to live games. The number of hands seen per hour is much higher than at a live game and players expect the action to move. Frequently, when playing long sessions online, players have a tendency to fall into a robotic pattern of play that is dangerous for an online player BUT deadly for a live player. If you ever feel like you are playing because you have to rather than because you have the desire to, get up and leave (or turn the computer off if you are playing online).

The investment factor just isn’t there when playing online for many players.
When you make the decision to play live, it is never as easy as booting up the computer, logging on to a site and picking a table. Playing live usually requires preparation and planning. At times when I played online, I would log on, play for 20 minutes and quit. The shortest live session for me since November has been 3 hours with the average session lasting roughly 6 hours. When playing live, your opponent’s main focus is usually poker and if it isn’t, it is usually easy to figure out. When playing online, your opponent could be at work, in bed, carrying on a phone conversation, eating or not even in the room. It’s a lot easier to be patient when you are down half your buy-in online than it is live when your preset time limit is rapidly approaching.

Without a doubt, playing both online and live can be a great way to satisfy most poker players need to play poker. In some cases, it can be a dangerous combination that has a major effect on both your online and live play. Sooner or later, this effect could have a long-term effect on your bankroll if you don’t learn how to not let one style of play greatly alter the other. Trust me!

BJ316 is an amateur poker player who can often be found on Full Tilt Poker or at the $1/$2 No Limit table at one of the many casinos in Atlantic City. He has had moderate success in cash game play over the years and some tournament success in all formats of poker.

So, early in November, I decided to leave online poker behind completely. While playing online was a quick fix for my desire to play poker, it was affecting my live game and I knew I had to step away from the online game to work exclusively on my live game. Since then, I have played 16 live sessions of poker (mostly No-Limit cash games) and have had 9 winning sessions and 2 break-even sessions with just 5 losing sessions. While 16 live sessions in 3 1/2 months is nowhere near as often as I would like to play, every time I sit down to a live session, my mind is clear and focused and my play is fresh. Before giving up online poker, my live play was robotic, uninspired and predictable. More importantly, my live play was unprofitable.

In Daniel Negreanu’s new book, “Hold’em Wisdom For All Players”, he talks about what he calls the three levels of poker. At level one, your focus is on “what do I have?” Basically, you play your cards and make decisions based on the probability of you making your hand. You are playing at level two when you factor in “what do my opponent’s have?” Level two becomes more complex because you have to factor in not only what you have but what your opponent might have as well. At level three, you combine these to factors with “What do my opponent’s think I have?” This is the most complex of the three levels as you have to factor in your table image, how your opponent thinks, what has happened at the table, etc. Being able to play at level three gives you more information to make decisions and win some pots that you would have never won playing at levels one or two. This concept is vitally important when discussing the effect of online play on live play because these two areas cause a player to operate at different levels more frequently than others. Additionally, online players who have not flexed their memory as frequently as live players need to can make up for a poor memory with the utilization of Hand Histories and software designed exclusively to help players become better decision-makers online. In live poker, you have yourself and yourself alone to rely on to make the right decisions.

Additionally, online players can hide their tells easily, switch tables with lightning speed and get up from the table after an embarrassing bad call with the click of a button. At a live game, the information that is available to you to help you play better poker is never ending. What is your opponent wearing? How do they stack their chips? Are they talkative? What are they drinking? Online poker relies heavily on playing the cards dealt whereas live poker relies heavily on playing the players. In my case, marrying the two versions of poker caused my live game to tank because I failed to switch gears back to a live poker mentality because I played so much online poker.

Is this the case for everyone who plays both online poker and live poker? Of course not! However, there are many players who don’t realize the effect of playing mostly online poker can potentially have on live play. For example, players who are successful online players by playing multiple tables at one time have a completely different skill set to be successful than a live player does. It usually is a combination of patience and great level one poker. A successful live player usually has to operate at least at level two to be successful. Personally, my game relies a lot on the style of play at the table combined with my ability to adjust to that style. When I switched to primarily online play, I focused a lot of my efforts on hand selection and eliminating betting patterns. Success at online play allowed me to bring this skill to my live game but I also dropped certain key elements of my live game that negatively impacted my level of success playing live.

To further illustrate the major difference between online play and live play, here is a recent situation that occurred at a live game that provided me with a lot of information that led to a successful session. While playing $1/$2 No-Limit, I was at a fairly tight 10-handed table with two younger players basically running over the table with aggressiveness. I was in the 3-seat at the table and they were in seats 7 and 10. Early on in the session, I caught a hot run of cards and was able to win a few pots and was able to do it without showing down many hands. While both of the younger players were aggressive, they were also somewhat weak as they usually got out of the way when they were played back at with a raise or re-raise. In addition, they were astutely paying attention to everything that was going on at the table while the other players were more tuned in to the sporting events on the television or the talk at the table then what was actually going on. So, with me in late position, the younger player in the 10-seat raised the pot to $10 after two other players limped in, which was becoming standard when a few players limped in front of him. Noticing this, I decided to see if I was correct and after glancing down at 8-5 offsuit, I bumped it to $25. The rest of the group folded around to the 10-seat and after thinking a while, he folded and showed one card, an ace. At that point, I decided to ruin my table image and showed my bluff. Both younger players were visibly affected by seeing the hand and now I knew I had a shot at hitting a home run. About 20 hands later, I was in the big blind and had pocket aces. Like clockwork, there were two limpers ahead of me and the 7-seat raised to $10 with the 10-seat calling and the button calling as well. Looking to set a trap but not wanting to allow too many players in the hand, I made it $25 again. Quickly, the limpers folded to the 7-seat who made it $50. At this point the other players folded to me and after I thought for a little bit, I just called. The flop was near perfect for me, Qd-8c-4s. Immediately, I pushed all-in for over $250. My opponent, sitting on about $150 was well covered and started to think hard and long about his decision. Normally, with a board as perfect as that, I would have let my opponent walk into trouble with a continuation bet. In this instance, my ruined table image set up the all-in move as I didn’t think he could fold if he had a pocket pair and if he had A-Q, he was done. The only fear I had was if he flopped a set of 8s or 4s but I was willing to take the risk. Once he started thinking about his decision, I knew I was ahead. He started mumbling to himself and at one point said, “I just have to know what he has.” After about 6 minutes, he finally made the call stating that he thought we had the same hand and I quickly flipped over my pocket aces. The turn and river brought no help to his hand that he never revealed other to say that he had A-K to his friend sitting next to him in the 8-seat.

…to be continued

BJ316 is an amateur poker player who can often be found on Full Tilt Poker or at the $1/$2 No Limit table at one of the many casinos in Atlantic City. He has had moderate success in cash game play over the years and some tournament success in all formats of poker.

Many of you have played poker before. Many of you have watched poker before as well. As we all know, any two cards can win. Not only can any two cards win, I’m here to state that starting with my client, 7-2, as your starting Hold’em hand is not your worst option.

First, let’s revisit the evidence shown throughout this trial. As presented, there are 169 starting hands in poker yet 19 of those starting hands (over 11%) are behind before the flop. At this point, the plaintiff would argue that while those hands are behind before the flop they are more playable because they are closer together. Their contention is that hands like 5-4 and 6-3, while unplayable, are better to play because of the odds of making a straight are greater.

Using that logic, now let’s look at other 5-gapped hands. More specifically, let’s look at 94. 94 is very similar to 72. They both have the same odds at flopping a pair, two pair, 3 of a kind, a full house or 4 of a kind. The only difference between the two statistically is that 94 will flop 4 to a straight roughly 2% of the time more than 7-2. However, poker is not a game of solitaire. There are opponents. Usually, a normal game has 10 players who all must decide which hands to play. As discussed earlier, other than playing against an over pair with under cards, the worst position a poker player can be in going to the flop is being “dominated” by another hand. As presented by our poker experts, being “dominated” refers to when your opponent holds one of your cards but has another card higher than your second card. While 9-4 has a slightly better chance of improving over 7-2, what are the odds that your opponent has you “dominated?” It’s hard to pinpoint the playability of starting hands but let’s re-visit two well trusted advisors on the playability of Hold’em hands presented earlier in the trial.

From “Hold’em Excellence” written by Lou Krieger, there is a Texas Hold’em Starting Requirement Chart. The chart has been seen by many poker players and many beginners utilize this chart to mold their play when forming their poker skills. Looking at this chart, there are 78 playable hands depending on table position. This means that roughly 46% of hands are playable in some way shape or form. According to this chart, neither 9-4 nor 7-2 are playable hands in any position. Analyzing the playable hands, 20 of those 78 hands have 9-4 dominated while 7-2 is only dominated by 15 of those hands. This means that the average player applying the basic fundamentals of poker will dominate their opponent. That means that 26% of the time, 9-4 will be “dominated” by an average player compared to 7-2 which will only be dominated 19% of the time. As far as being favored against one of these playable hands, 9-4 would be favored about 8% of the time compared to 7-2 being favored roughly 3% of the time.

Another starting chart, a more selective chart endorsed by poker legends Mike Caro & Doyle Brunson, has only 42 playable hands. Players consulting a chart such as this will have 9-4 dominated 19% (8 of 42 hands) of the time whereas 7-2 will only be dominated 7% (3 of 42 hands) of the time. Against a player like this, neither hand will ever be favored and will need the flop to catch up. At the least against these opponents, 7-2 will be completely live 12% more often than 9-4. As stated before, Hold’em is not Solitaire, there are opponents.

Finally, one of the keys to winning poker is having a concealed hand. As 7-2 has a reputation of being the most undesirable of poker hands as proven by my counterpart, doesn’t that actually improve its’ playability when applying the above concept?

As you make your decision, think about the evidence presented by both sides. There is no denying that if you polled poker players, universally 7-2 would be identified as the most unplayable hand in poker. At one time, though, the world was universally identified as being flat. Ladies & gentlemen of the jury, you have an important task ahead of you. You and you alone can remove the stigma that my client has had to endure and right an injustice that has gone on long enough. Find 7-2 innocent and it will no longer be referred to as the worst hand in poker. The defense rests.

BJ316 is an amateur poker player who can often be found on Full Tilt Poker or at the $1/$2 No Limit table at one of the many casinos in Atlantic City. He has had moderate success in cash game play over the years and some tournament success in all formats of poker.

Here’s a recent scenario that played out for me in a 1-2 NL game. In the cut-off, I am dealt 8d3d and everyone folds to me. The small blind and big blind are weak players and I raise to 8 to steal the blinds. The button folds but, to my disappointment, both the small blind and big blind call. The flop is 8c-7s-3s…SAVED! The small blind bets 10 and the big blind calls. With both players having less than $50 left, I decide to push all-in as I figure that one player has a big flush draw and the other player has an over pair. Surprisingly, both players call off the rest of their chips. The small blind turns over pocket 9s and the big blind turns over 10s-9s. Instantly, I realize I’m in huge trouble as I’m only 38% to win the hand and not even the favorite (10s-9s at 48% and pocket 9s at 11%). In the end here, I’m only 38% to triple my stack. Statistically, over time, this is not a the worst situation in the world. However, I’m not particularly fond of being an underdog, even when ahead. Even if just the 10s-9s calls, I’m a coin flip away from losing. On the other hand, if the pocket 9s call, I am in the best position I could possibly hope for being 70% to win. Other hands that call here either have me beat (8-8, 7-7, 3-3 or 8-7) or are anywhere from a slight favorite (like A8 of spades) or, if I’m lucky, the hand that calls is a 2 to 1 underdog.

Here are some things to think about when changing gears and playing weak hands.

1. Limping with weak hands increases the danger

At this point, any hand is in play, especially with the blinds involved. A flop of 10-8-5 looks great when you are holding 8-5 but failing to raise also fails to push out foldable hands like 10-8.

2. Showing a weak hand winner makes you a target

Whenever I play weak hands, my goal is to win as much money as possible without showing. Winning a hand with 6-4 can be a huge rush but when you just cracked somebody’s misplayed aces, you might as well paint a big red circle on your chest. Typically, you have to set up playing weaker hands by playing and showing stronger hands. Once you win a big pot with a weak hand, my advice is to switch gears again and play tighter unless you’ve noticed that the players you are playing with are not very observant.

3. Hitting the flop can be fatal to your chip stack

As illustrated in the above hand, flopping two pair couldn’t make me a favorite despite being ahead. Playing weak hands often challenges your ability to read your opponents and understand their betting patterns due to the amount of trouble you can get into.

4. Weak hands 9-high or above are extremely dangerous

You decide to play 9-6 in late position and flop top pair. At that point, it becomes difficult to bet or call a bet or raise because there are 6 playable hands that have you outkicked. I rarely play ace-rag, king-rag, etc. due to this reason even when I’m playing “junk.”

5. “But they were suited”

Suited cards increase your odds of winning a hand by roughly 4%. While this can make a difference over time, increasing the amount of hands you play because of this reason will hurt you more than the 4% increase in your odds of winning will help.

6. Position is paramount

Playing weaker hands as a change of pace does not mean limping under the gun with 75 suited. Continue to apply the normal theory of poker and play your position wisely. Players who have position on you are more likely to call and there are many flops that can freeze you when playing weak hands that make it difficult to continue firing away at the pot.

7. Ace-rag is the most dangerous hand to play in No Limit Hold’em…for you!

Many average to below average players overvalue an ace in their hand. Hands containing an ace with a weak kicker are difficult to play after the flop. Think about this: you are holding A-3 and two other players see the flop with you. The flop comes A-2-8. How comfortable are you at this point with continuing on with your hand? I know I’m not very comfortable with it. I would play 6-4 before I play A-4 when changing gears for that very reason.

8. Bad players aren’t afraid to call with big drawing hands

As mentioned above, the key to changing gears is to steal as much money off the table as possible without anyone knowing the wiser. Setting up a tight image at the table early is often the key to maximizing your success using this strategy.

Finally, here are some things to make this “gear” work for you:

1. Save this strategy for tight play

Get loose when tight players seem reluctant to play even moderate hands. Sometimes you’ll sit down at just that table where it’s easy to pick up the blinds with a raise. This is the time to broaden the spectrum of hands you play. When I’m at a table like that, I’ll play almost anything.

2. Getting caught means getting called…tighten up!

Once you have to show your hand, playing this style is usually out the window. One thing that I particularly like to do when I’m ready to switch back to tighter play is ensure that I’ll get to show my cards even when I muck them by putting myself in that position. Bumping the pot to $10 and then folding 8-3 face up sends out a message that you are willing to put pressure on with any hand and will increase the likelihood of being called. Remember, though, this means tight, A-game poker until the shown bluff pays off. In addition, very good players usually know this is a work and will not fall for the trap.

3. Your poker literacy will be tested…pay attention!

Reading your opponents, especially betting patterns and styles will increase your advantage playing these cards more than any.

4. Position, position, position

I know it was said before but playing out of position puts you at a disadvantage with strong hands. Now, you are compounding your disadvantage with playing weak hands, not a good idea! Play your position more than your cards when choosing this gear.

5. Be prepared to get sucked out on

You have pushed pre-flop with 75 and the miracle flop hits 4-6-8. You bet and the one caller pre-flop raises your bet. When you push all-in, there is no way he or she is going to lay down the set they just hit because why would you be raising pre-flop with 7-5. Despite being a favorite, it will be a scary ride down the river as your trapped opponent will have 11 outs that will get him or her out of trouble.

As for the hand I mentioned in the beginning, it held up. It was probably the main reason my pocket aces were paid off four hands later. For every story I have like this though, there is one that goes the other way. As the most experienced players know, winning and losing in poker can often resemble a roller coaster ride. While playing weaker hands is sometimes necessary and expected due to table conditions, it’s often a scary ride to the finish.

BJ316 is an amateur poker player who can often be found on Full Tilt Poker or at the $1/$2 No Limit table at one of the many casinos in Atlantic City. He has had moderate success in cash game play over the years and some tournament success in all formats of poker.