Live Play Strategy vs Replay Strategy

I know many people on here also play in live tournaments and cash games. From the videos and strategy guides I’ve seen, players in those settings (focus on semi-professional play/casinos; home games are a different beast) seem to be much more aggressive - more open-raising and 3-betting preflop, check-raising, and less passive call/checking.

For those of you who play in live settings, how do you adjust your strategies - if at all - to cope in the face of increased aggression? On the other hand, are you able to keep playing your game with no significant adjustment to ranges, open/raise sizing, and river decisions? If you’ve played a few sessions live, and jump back to playing on this site, do you find it difficult to revert back to your Replay strategy?

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i haven’t played a lot of real money poker yet, but i’ve been in the casino a few times with very mixed results. i haven’t played high stakes or something, just a few 2/2 cash games and a 90 euro tournament.
the first and most important thing i saw (unless you are referring to high stakes of course) is that in the most cases ABC poker is still the way to go. of course there are solid regs out there that know what you are doing, but there are still plenty of fish as well. and most of your money will come from them. the tournament i played did go really well but in the cashgames i screwed up a lot. it took me a while to figure it out where i did go wrong or if it just was a skill difference between the two. but in a while i figured out my main mistake was fancy play syndrome, i made moves that technically were right, but i was stupid because i made them at players that didn’t think far enough to understand what i was repping with it (some of em were probably even LV1 thinkers). i still think some fancy moves can be profitable when you are facing a reg, but defenitely not when facing a fish.

so my main advises would be to stick to a solig TAG play, and only adjust when you know a player understands your thinking progress and acts to it. which will both be fine in a casino and on replay because you stick to basic strategy in both and adept according to the player (which you obviously need to do more much often in a casino)

as for when you face an aggressive player in general, when it is a weak player, the answer is obvious, let them hang themself when you got it. but the kind of aggressive players you decribed will probably have a thought proces behind it. so just consider what they might have in their range and try to be aggressive as well with a carefully chosen range of hands. simply said you still need to be TAG most of the time, but much more thinking is required.

hope this helps

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My biggest challenge is always chip and time management. Starting chips and blinds in live play don’t relate equally to Replay. I always have to be ultra aware through the first few rounds of a live tournament that tI’m not blowing through chips.

On the plus side, you get to see the occasional quirks of other players, so when you do hit one of those decision points at the turn or the river you can sometime use the other player’s body language and/or quirky habits to help make a decision on whether you’re continuing with a call or a bet.

other than that, I got nothin’…

This is from my HALLOWED HOLD’EM POKER book. It may be of some help to you:

25 Skills Needed to be a Great Live Poker Player

  1. Experience.
  2. Knowledge of odds and math.
  3. Discipline.
  4. Patience.
  5. Position Knowledge.
  6. Card reading ability.
  7. Tell reading ability.
  8. Attention to detail.
  9. Ability to focus.
  10. Ability to change gears.
  11. Energy.
  12. A passion to succeed.
  13. Inventiveness/creativity.
  14. Humility.
  15. A love of poker books.
  16. Adaptable to every situation.
  17. Emotional detachment.
  18. An attention to detail.
  19. Bluffing skills.
  20. Being able to absorb and assimilate information, quickly.
  21. Learning from the opponents.
  22. Starting hand knowledge.
  23. Being able to think a few steps ahead.
  24. Recall abilities.
  25. Fearlessness.
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When you’re talking the differences in strategies, you also need to define your game. Strategies that work in a tournament / SNG setting will never work in ring games and vise-versa. Learn the differences and than see how they translate to the real world.

On Replay and any chip site, the non-ring play is subject to the maniac. In many cases, these bingo players will dominate both live and online in the early rounds. Patience is the key and you’ll most likely loose more often than win when challenging them. Online they kill each other, in real life you have to pick your battles.

Ring games are not subject to the maniac as often when live. One loss and they usually run. Real money going out will hurt these players so wait for the opportunity. Not saying you don’t have the aggressive player. In a social setting they will kill your game, eliminating the fun of playing.

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