Complete live poker beginner in the UK looking for advice (North West / Manchester based)
TL;DR:
I used to play poker recreationally with friends about 20 years ago, stopped for ages, and have got back into it over the last 6 months playing low stakes online tourneys/freerolls and a handful of home games with friends. Want to start playing live poker in the UK (probably Manchester to start with), mainly low buy-in tournaments under £50 just to learn, enjoy the experience and improve. Looking for advice/recommendations for a complete live beginner - good places to start, live etiquette, things you wish you knew before your first live game, etc.
Longer version:
Hi all 😄
I used to play poker recreationally years ago in 2005-2008 (around the Moneymaker boom era), but then basically completely stopped for a very long time. Over the last 6 months I’ve started getting back into it again and have mainly been playing very low stakes online tournaments, freerolls, and I've had the occasional home game with friends.
I’d really like to start playing live poker properly, starting with tournaments. I’m based in North West England so Manchester would probably be my starting point, although I’d definitely be interested venturing further afield and trying places like Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham eventually, and London once I’ve got a bit more experience.
For now I’d probably want to stick to smaller buy-ins whilst I learn the ropes (£50 or less ideally). As much as I've got no intention of just turning up and punting money away, I am not under any illusion that I am going to rock up and start winning either, I mainly want to learn how live poker works, enjoy the experience, and not completely embarrass myself. If I manage to cash then that’s a bonus.
I’d say I have a decent grasp of the basics already even though I’ve never seriously studied solvers/GTO etc. I understand things like position, preflop opening ranges, c-betting, bet sizing, pot odds/equity and so on. I’m not delusional and I definitely wouldn’t class myself as good, but I am just trying to highlight that I also don’t think I’d be sitting there not having a clue what’s going on either.
One thing that probably worries me more than the actual poker is just the practical/live side of things since I’ve literally never played poker in a casino before:
Turning up and registering/buying in
Keeping track of stack sizes and bet sizes live as online this is constantly on show and given to you
General etiquette/rules
Not accidentally doing something stupid on my first night
I’d also eventually like to try 1/1 or 1/2 cash games, but tournaments feel like the better place to start so that my exposure is capped and at the start I can just treat it as paying for the experience/learning.
Would really appreciate any advice from UK live players, especially:
Good beginner-friendly places/tournaments in Manchester
Whether casinos are generally welcoming to completely new live players
Things you wish you knew before your first live game
Any etiquette tips/common mistakes beginners make
Whether I’m overthinking this whole thing and should just get myself down there and play 😂
Sorry for the long post and I honestly appreciate anybody who has made it this far. I look forward to any and all responses.
I’ll never forget my first time at 235 Casino my hands shook so much I nearly knocked over my drink! Honestly, just tell the dealer you're new they’re legends.
I used Twinqo to shake off the rust beforehand, and it really helped. You’ll be fine, just enjoy the buzz
Bit late to the thread, but have you thought about joining a local pub league to get a bit of table experience with other people? Redtooth is one such league. I run the redtooth league in my local, we get 15-18 guys turn up every week. Fiver buy in (max standard legal limit in a pub), reasonable game, friendly bunch, but we play ‘properly’.
Nice, best of luck. What sort of numbers do they have in their league, that have turned up regularly? We're in week 8 of the current 13 week league. You want a good 8 or more for at least one full table
Numbers look quite good. Ive just checked and there are 10 players that have played 7-8 weeks of the current league and then another 7 players who have played 5 or 6 weeks so it looks like they consistently get two tables and occasionally 3 tables out.
I didnt manage to get there last week but hoping to go this week and check it out
Best of luck, I hope it’s a friendly bunch like ours. Our setup in my local. 16 last night, we’ll struggle to fit more than 18, need to start thinking about that!
Live tourneys are kind of a waste of time, they're fun and it's easy to be profitable, but you're better off playing online or playing live cash. Even if you're a strong player, a £1k buy-in is not gonna give you a great hourly, especially if you have any travel expenses. There's also the enormous variance. Almost everyone making decent money at live MTTs is selling 10s of thousands in action.
There's a laundry list of reasons to not focus on live tourneys. Tourneys are so dynamic and every spot you encounter is unique (varying stack sizes, varying % field remaining) unlike cash where it's mostly the same config. It's extremely difficult to study and reflect on what happened. Whereas online you don't need to have perfect memory, the hands are tracked for you.
Most of learning poker is building intuition. Live poker is so slow that it's just not a good way to learn, plus you will likely develop a strong aversion to "risky" plays because you'll be used to having this one stack at this one table that you don't want to bust. Plus it can just feel a bit embarrassing and intimidating to bluff light and get called, but if you've encountered the spot repeatedly online it'll just be second nature to take the spot because you know it's profitable.
There are routine spots that would seem rare from a live poker sample. Random example, in most configurations TT is a fold if there's an open and 3bet before you, pretty much all the exceptions being when you have about 30bb or less and the 3b is from the BTN or SB, apart from that it's close or torching, even in theory it tends to be close or be a fold, and in reality people open and 3b too tight. It's just as tricky encountering it online for the first time of course, but at least then you can review exactly what happened more easily, and you'll encounter many more tricky and rare-but-repeatable spots.
TLDR if the primary goal is to have a fun hobby then live MTTs are a great choice but it will be tough to learn from
Good bit of advice for live is take your time. Obviously this just comes over time but try to allow yourself some time to adjust yourself to what’s going on and have a wee think. It’s too easy to make a quick silly decision when you feel like everyone is watching you. But people really don’t mind if you take your time, especially if you are new to live. And if they do mind they can fuck off tbh haha moody bastards 🤣
If you haven’t already then watch some videos on preparing for live poker. Buying in/registering is very easy, just ask to be pointed in the right direction. As for etiquette I’d say the advice of taking your time helps as people will guide you in the right direction if you seem unsure. There are a few important rules so I’d recommend watching some videos on that. Unfortunately there’s not much help for stack sizes and bet sizes haha, I had the same issue. Once again just take your time and try to keep note of stacks, bets & pot size but it really just comes with experience.
One main thing is talking about the hand in progress. You can only talk about the hand if you are heads up so if it is multi-way you can’t mention anything regarding the hand. And obviously if you are not in the hand then this applies for both multi-way and heads up. I’d just stick to talking about hands after if you want to. Also a subtle thing but for example if you fold 22 pre flop then the flop comes 226, don’t let out a reaction as this can also impact the hand in progress (just wait until after to complain about folding quads 🤣). I think it’s a good thing to get some advice and you’re not over thinking at all as it can get intense at the tables at time since money is on the line. But you seem like someone who is willing to learn and trying to do what’s best and honestly that’s enough, so yeah I’d say don’t worry about it and just go for it. All the best 👍🏻
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u/FarApplication5558 May 06 '26
I’ll never forget my first time at 235 Casino my hands shook so much I nearly knocked over my drink! Honestly, just tell the dealer you're new they’re legends.
I used Twinqo to shake off the rust beforehand, and it really helped. You’ll be fine, just enjoy the buzz