I have seen it literally dozens of times and heard it more times than I can care to remember. That is an online poker player speaking about how they would really like to try their hand inside a real card room and playing live poker games. The advent of online poker has brought untold numbers of new players into the game but the experience that many of these new players have has been solely in online poker and nothing else.

Sure you can have a great time playing live and it is a far better all round poker experience than playing online that’s for sure. But there are hidden dangers when playing live that may not be overly apparent to our online hero. Depending on where you are playing of course and against whom then the level of danger can differ substantially but rest assured that there is danger there all the same.

You may be up against players who are very experienced and streetwise who will stop at nothing when attempting to try and get your money. In this article we will be taking a look at some of the underhanded tricks and gamesmanship that the online player could potentially face.

Overbetting the Pot

Online poker players do tend to get soft in certain key areas of the game simply because they get used to the online poker sites software doing everything for them. The software deals the cards, shuffles the cards better than any human could, keeps track of the pot and any spilt pots and a whole host of other things. If you are playing pot limit poker online then you really cannot go wrong. Most sites have a “Pot” button that will automatically bet the pot for you and it will also not allow anyone to overbet the pot in pot limit as well.

But this kind of luxury is not afforded to live players in many games, most of who have to keep track of the pot size themselves. Most poker players tend to police the games that they are in very well and in many cases better than even the very best dealers can do simply because they tend to know best when it comes to knowing what to look for.

But in cash games where cash is being used instead of chips or a combination of cash and chips then keeping track of the pot is not always easy and the other players may not be so quick to point out any “deliberate” error when another savvy player “accidentally” bets £740 when the pot is only £620. Imagine the scenario where they have the nuts to your second nut. This tactic of overbetting the pot has escalated the next betting round substantially.

Imagine if this was done on the turn and your opponent bet and you called him. Instead of there only being £1860 in the pot there would now be £2100. Then on the river they bet the pot and you called with your second nut (or even raised), instead of the pot being £5580 it is now £6300. A difference of £720 all because you failed to notice that the pot was being overbet.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
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