Preparing For Live Poker Tournaments

Although online poker is exciting, thrilling even, there is no substitute for taking part in live tournaments. The sound of the chips being riffled, the electric atmosphere, the table chatter and the usually deep stacks and slow structure make playing in live tournaments one of the most enjoyable forms of the game.

Many players who are successful at online poker tournaments struggle to reproduce their form when playing in live tournaments because they fail to adapt to the different conditions and player types they will come across in a typical live game. For the most part online poker tournaments are shallow stacked and play to a quick structure which leaves players with 20-40BB for the majority of the tournament but in most live tournaments the average stack size will be at least double that and a lot of players simply do not know how to play deep stacked poker properly and effectively.

As a general rule players make their most costly mistakes when they are deep-stacked so live poker tournaments are the ideal place to find weak players. Try to remember that when the stacks are deep in relation to the blinds a player must take into consideration not only implied odds but also reverse-implied odds, which are the opposite of the former. For example, a hand such as king-jack offsuit has huge reverse implied odds as the potential is there to make an expensive second best hand.

Best live poker tournaments in the UK

British poker players are in a great position as the poker scene is booming over here and there are some great live poker tournaments UK-based. One of the best live tournaments just outside the UK has to offer is the Ladbrokes Poker sponsored Irish Poker Festival in Killarney. Ladbrokes have sponsored this particular event for four consecutive years now and it is one of the most eagerly anticipated live poker tournaments UK side on the poker calendar.

Live poker tournaments UK-based are generally good value all the way up to £1,000 buy-ins as the British fields are full of players who either love to approach poker as one huge gamble or play a loose-passive style that is easily exploited. Once the more expensive tournaments hit our shores, such as the EPT and the WPT, most value is quickly lost as the £5,000 entry fee prices out the majority of weak players and the fields are extremely pro-heavy.