Last to see your cards

[LombardiStix]

I'm not sure how much feedback I will get from this online forum about live strategy, but here goes...

I was wondering what you think about when to look at your hole cards during a live game. I know some people look as soon as they are dealt. I know there are many who also wait until it is their turn to act. What do you think? Do you believe that either gives you a strong advantage? I'll weigh in after a few responses are up.


Stix

[scrawnybob]

hi Stix

the general rule is too be looking at all the other players while they are looking at their cards to gain tells and then only look at your cards as its your turn to act ... thus minimising the amount of time for your tells to be obvious

however if your tell is to jump to attention silently mouthing "yes yes yes" when you get a good hand ... thats going to be pretty obvious when everyone else is looking at you

then again its going to be obvious whenever you do it

the crucial thing here really from what I can figure is that what you really doing is using YOUR time most efficiently ... ie. concentrating on other players and their bets before you look at your own cards

It does imho definately work - you pick up on more tells (still principly betting size and patterns same as online) before you look at your own cards ... youve also formed an idea of the table before being influenced by your own

the other thing which IMHO can starting out be much harder to get down is NOT looking at your cards again ... OR looking at them again on purpose knowing full well what you have already

this is why IMHO a site like PKR is great because you can see - and setup some tells and misstells of compusively re-looking at your cards

cheers scrawnybob

[jeffsbabe]

Having just gotten back from Vegas and playing live cards I don't know which is best for me. I played 2/4 limit. If I were playing NL it may have been different. I always look at my cards right away, then check out the table. I need time to process the cards, my position, how many people in the pot, etc. I try to be aware of what i'm doing so I don't give away my intentions. I always put my cards in the same position, whether I'm folding or not, don't handle my chips ahead of time- that sort of thing. I'm sure I have plenty of tells because I only get to play live cards about once a year so I don't have much practice.

[rakoe]

yep, thats the cool thing about pkr, i catch myself doing it sometimes (also on purpose offcourse) too.

people looking at their cards about ten times in 1 hand.

i multitable a lot so maybe thats a disadvantage for me because i tend to mix up hands, lol

[kingmotan]

Bob pretty much said it all.
I always look at the cards when it's my turn and try to catch any tells I can get on a player.
Usually it pays off.

[LombardiStix]

What about the thought that... all eyes are on you when you are looking at your cards? I was doing a quick look and then watch the table. This also gives me a good bit of time to consider possible actions... but it also divides your mind between your cards and reading your opponents.

[rgchan]

If i was the 1st or 2nd person to receive my cards I,d take a very quick peak then watch the reast of the table. Regarding PKR and online in general you really can,t make too many assumptions.I and many others may have other games going on and I forget what my exact cards were(suits stc.) and will have to look again.Or if I had AA I may look again on purpose to make me look weak.And the time of reaction could be from multi-tabling too.
Rg