Many viewers who watch the TV tournaments decide to give live poker a try. They head on down to the cardroom and sit in at a low limit game. They then try to play the TV no limit strategy in a limit game and meet with disastrous results. Limit Texas Hold’em has structured betting rounds. For example in a $2/4 game which is popular in many card rooms the first two betting rounds are two dollars and the betting on the last two rounds is four dollars. You must bet and raise in these increments. There is no going all in unless you happen to be out of chips and can’t afford the two or four dollar bet.
Bluffing in a low limit game is an exercise in futility at beast. You are not going to be able to bluff out many players out of the pot. There will usually be someone at the table who will try to “keep you honest” or call out of curiosity to see what you have.
The TVEEPs also try playing any two cards from any position because they have seen it done on TV. Playing any two starting cards is a quick way to go broke especially from early position. You have to learn to be selective if you want to be a winner.
Online Tournaments.
Some players get their first playing experience by trying an online tournament. There are many online poker sites that offer free tournaments or ones with very low entry fees. I play in quite a few online tournaments and it is not very hard to determine who the TV Educated Players are. They have two bets; fold or move all in. Some of these players get lucky and win a tournament. Many online tournaments have very short rounds. An online tournament may have seven minute rounds in contrast to forty minutes or hour rounds major tournaments. The shorter the rounds the more the luck factor comes into play. This gives them false reinforcement that they are playing correctly. However sooner or later the luck runs out and they will start losing if they fail to gain any further education.
Skill Comes with Education
Poker is one of the games where a player can have an advantage based on their skill level. It takes studying and practicing to learn and improve that skill. It takes work and is not something you can learn completely by watching others play it on television. If you want to be a winning player have to get your education from other sources as well. There are plenty of books, magazine and website article available to anyone who wants to take the time to study the came correctly. If you read just one book about the game you will be ahead of about 80 percent of the other payers at the table. Spending the money for a good poker book is a lot cheaper than trying to get your education at the tables in a live game.
Until next time, remember:
"Luck comes and goes...Knowledge Stays Forever."