Preventing boredom when playing live

If you play most of your poker online it can often be a large shock to how slow play can be when you make the transition to the live arena. When seated at a single table online you will play between 60 and 90 hands per hour at a full table, but in a casino or cardroom you will be lucky to play 30 hands. If you regularly play multiple tables at once online, the change in pace in a live game can become very boring, very quickly.

A large percentage of online poker players listen to an iPod or something similar when they are playing in live games. Most listen to their favourite music but others have been known to listen to podcasts, comedy shows and some even use the opportunity to attempt to learn a new language! The downside to using a music player is that you often miss out on valuable audible information or worse still, not hear someone's verbal actions and then either bet out of turn or end up calling a raise or all-in bet by mistake.

One way to prevent the boredom setting in is to keep your hands busy and learn cool trick poker chips. If you watch any televised poker game you will see the majority, if not all the players on view, playing with their poker chips attempting to perform some cool tricks.

The tricks look difficult to perform but with a little practice you will be fiddling with your chips like a seasoned professional. One of the main advantages about performing chip tricks is that it gives the impression you are more experienced at live poker than you actually are. Successfully pulling off tricks will make your opponents think you are comfortable handling chips and therefore will know what you are doing with the rest of the game.

Tricks also keep your hands busy when you are not involved in a hand which can stop you from wanting to leave the table for a cigarette or makes it less likely you will order food or drinks at the table, both of which can distract you greatly from the task in hand, playing poker.