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Message: [QUOTE="OzExorcist, post: 1966050, member: 23910"] Live players are generally awful. It's been said lots of times before but in my experience it still rings true - expect the standard of play in a $1/$2 or $2/$3 live game to be about the same as (if not worse than) a $5NL game online. There's nothing wrong with playing a standard TAG game, it should make you money in the long run because the majority of players you come up against won't ever work out what you're doing or adjust to you. That said, be prepared to go off the script in the right situation. Most live players are bad because they hate to fold, but there are also some who are bad because they're too scared to call - they live in permanent fear of straight and flush draws hitting. Make sure you punish these players too when you recognise them. Definitely do a bit of reading about tells. They're not the be-all and end-all gold mine of information that some people would have you think they are, but at the same time they're certainly useful to know about. For example, I played a four-hour session over the weekend and I think there were maybe two hands where tells were a factor. Both times they made or saved me money though - one in a hand where the player was obviously weak and I was able to push him out with nothing, and another where a player was very strong and I was able to get away from a marginal hand without losing any more. IMO Joe Navarro's [I]Read 'em and Reap[/I] is easily the best book on the topic (skip Mike Caro's book of tells, as two thirds of it is stuff that only applies to stud poker home games :P) As far as bankroll management goes, the same rules as online apply because you're just as exposed to swings. That said, if you've got a well-paying day job that you can use to top up your bankroll then it's not like you have to have a full 30-50 buyins just sitting in a drawer somewhere. You can improve your game in a lot of the same ways you could when you were playing online, you just don't have the luxury of having a full hand history waiting for you at the end of the session. Things like participating in hand analysis discussions and posting questions about any difficult spots you find yourself in will still serve you very well though. And there's a bit less of a burden, because you don't need to be as good to beat the live games in the first place :P Oh - one last thought. It really can pay to be friendly at the tables. Recreational players will represent far and away your biggest paydays, and they're only at the table because they want to have a good time. If they're having a few drinks and some laughs, they probably won't even care that they're losing money. If people are berrating them or making them feel uncomfortable, however, they'll usually just pick up their money and leave. So do your best to make them feel comfortable. [/QUOTE]

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