Switching from Online to Live Poker

Part I of this series began by saying that most people believe they won’t go on tilt, but that they probably overestimate their self-control.

You may never crazily throw away chips, but you will probably go on tilt as I defined it. “Tilt” means making mistakes that you wouldn’t normally make, for emotional reasons.
You’ll probably make emotionally driven mistakes live compared to online, because live games have many frustrations that you don’t know how to handle:

1. Much slower games
2. Players’ mistakes that can’t occur online
3. Dealers’ mistakes that can’t occur online
4. Much higher costs
5. Inability to play your preferred game
6. Noise and other distractions
7. Excessive socializing
8. Pressure to control your body language
9. Pressure to read opponents’ body language
10. Pressure to get information you were given online
11. Much higher stakes
12. Much larger swings
13. Much looser games
14. Much worse beats

Part I discussed the first five, so let’s look at the next seven.

Noise and other distractions

You probably created a good environment for playing online: a comfortable chair, a quiet space, and few interruptions. Casinos’ chairs may be less comfortable, and casinos have slot machines, cocktail servers offering and bringing drinks, players conversing, and televisions.

You may wonder, “Why is he discussing chairs? Who cares about them?” The answer is, “You do.” You proved it by using a comfortable chair. And every stress, even something as small as an uncomfortable chair, increases tension and the probability of tilt.

Noise, conversations, waitresses, and televisions will be more distracting. All distractions will reduce your concentration and cause mistakes. Making a mistake because you’re distracted can be extremely irritating. You may even say to yourself, “I’d never make that stupid mistake online!”

Excessive Socializing

Socializing is especially distracting and annoying because you can’t avoid it by closing the chat box. You’ll get annoyed by small talk and even more annoyed when people get so involved in discussions that the game slows down.

I put “much slower games” first on the list of frustrations because – after playing hundreds of hands per hour – playing 30-35 hands can be boring and irritating. When the action gets even slower because people are talking, you may get really upset.

You may want to say, “Shut up and play poker.” You’ll be annoyed because dealers – who work for tips – often don’t push players to act quickly.

You may politely say, “The action is to you,” and then be shocked by the answer: “Are you in a hurry?” Anything you say is wrong. If you push the issue, you’ll be seen as “too serious” or “anti-social.” If you back off, you’ll resent the player and dealer.

Some players will want to socialize with you. They may ask your opinion about politics, sports, or poker. Or they may want to make small talk about jobs and families. The weakest players are often the most social ones. They play for fun, and socializing increases their enjoyment. Some smaller games seem like “cocktail parties with cards.”

No matter how much you dislike socializing, you may feel obliged to do so. Perhaps you’re just being polite, or you may not want to hurt the weakest players’ feelings and drive them away. If you socialize, you’ll reduce your concentration and make mistakes. Those mistakes can be especially aggravating because you wouldn’t make them if you’d been more focused.

Pressure to control your body language

You didn’t think about body language when you played online, but you’ll have to control it in live games. If your opponents can read you, you don’t have a chance. What’s more, you may have no idea of how to control it, which will increase your frustration.

Pressure to read your opponents’ body language

It takes time and energy to collect and interpret this valuable information, increasing the pressure on you. If you don’t try to read their body language, you’ll miss information. Trying to read it takes time and energy you normally use for other tasks, which can cause mistakes. Every mistake you make increases the pressure you’ll feel.

Pressure to get information you were given online

Before joining the game, websites told you the average number of players seeing the flop and the average pot size. While playing, they told you the size of this pot and each opponent’s stack. PokerTracker, Hold’em Manager, Sharkscope, and other software or web applications told you how much opponents won or lost and how they played on every street.

In live games you can’t get much of that information, and you have to work to get the information that’s available. The pressure to get that information and the fact that – despite your efforts – you’re making decisions with poorer information will certainly be irritating.

Much higher stakes

If you play for less than $1-$2 no-limit hold’em or $2-$4 limit hold’em, you won’t find a game at your usual stakes. If you’re a multi-tabling pro or semi-pro, you can’t win as much as usual without playing for five to ten times higher stakes. So, you’ll have to play above your comfort level. The higher the stakes, the more stress you’ll feel, especially when you lose.

Much larger swings

If you play for much higher stakes, you’ll certainly have much larger, more stressful swings. You’ll also need a much larger bankroll, but may not have enough cash. You probably know the dangers of playing above your bankroll, but you may decide to take that risk. If you do, you’re on tilt: You’ve let your feelings cause serious mistakes.
Your feelings can get much worse if you take some large losses. It took you months or years to build up that bankroll, and a large chunk of it can quickly disappear.

Even if you have enough cash, you may not have a large enough “psychological bankroll.” Your psychological bankroll is the amount you can lose without getting severely upset. It’s much smaller than your financial bankroll. You may have a $15,000 bankroll, but get very upset by a $1,500 loss.

After passing your psychological limit, you can easily get into serious trouble. You may decide to buy more chips than usual because “I’ve got to get even.” Those are the dumbest words in poker, and countless people say them every day. Once you start thinking that way, you can lose control, keep buying chips, go to the ATM, perhaps even blow your entire bankroll. It’s happened countless times.

Final Remarks

These frustrations build on each other: Any one of them can put you on tilt, and the combination of them is deadly. You may be able to shrug off this or that irritation, but the cumulative impact of so many of them can push you past your limits.
Tilt is obviously a much greater danger than you believed. If you don’t protect yourself, you can easily get hurt. Future columns will discuss the remaining frustrations and tell you how to react less emotionally. ♠

“Dr. Al” (alan[email protected]) coaches only on psychology issues. For information about seminars and webinars, go to propokerseminars.com. He is David Sklansky’s co-author for DUCY? and sole author of four poker psychology books._