Poker Strategy
Online vs. Live Tournaments
Many tournament poker players find themselves making the jump from online poker tournaments to live ones. This can happen in a number of ways. Some players actually win entries to live tournaments through online satellites. Others may have had no interest in live casino poker in the past, but have decided to take a trip after seeing some success in the online game. Others may have been seduced by seeing the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker on television. All of these players will have to make some adjustments in order to succeed in the live game.
Keeping Track
In an online poker tournament, everything is recorded for the players. It takes only a click of the mouse to find the average stack, number of players left and how many chips are in play. A player can see with a glance exactly how many chips everyone at the table has compared to you. In a live tournament, each player is responsible for gathering this information. It's difficult to get more than a general sense of how many chips opponents have without extended, detailed scrutiny, which can be distracting. To figure out the average stack, a player has to count tables and do the math himself once the total chip count has been posted.
Taking Breaks
In an online poker tournament, a player can run to the bathroom or the kitchen whenever he wants, often without even missing a hand. Players can leave the table whenever they want to in a live poker game too, but usually food and restroom facilities are not nearly as easily accessible, which means players can expect to miss a few hands and will have to try to time their breaks accordingly. There are scheduled breaks but many players will be taking advantage of them which means lines for food and restrooms during those times.
Handling Chips
Some players who have never played in a live tournament before simply have no experience handling chips. They may fumble with counting them out or stacking them. This is not a big deal as long as it doesn't give away any information about the player's hand, but online players may want to get some chips and practice handling them at home just to be prepared for the live tournament situation.
