The main complaint that live players make about online poker is that there are no tells in the game. They argue that online you can’t stare an opponent down and watch for shaking hands or a pounding chest that gives away a player’s strength.

There are, of course, plenty who don’t subscribe to that particular theory, such as online poker pro ‘Jennifear’. The sit-and-go expert has identified a massive 29 different online ‘tells’ as to the strength or weakness of an opponent’s hand and the type of player that they are. They include things like timing tells, bet sizing and even what a player’s avatar can tell you about them.

But if live cash games are your thing, then you’ll want to head to Vegas. Sin City has some of the most rich and varied cash games on the planet. While he was in Vegas this summer, Nick Wealthall got stuck into the $2/$5 no-limit Hold’em cash tables, and found that at those stakes, although the games can be wildly different depending on your table, you’ll still run into the same types of opponents time and again. Learn how to combat these different character types and you'll find yourself winning so much that your entire holiday is just a freeroll.

Short stuff

What you won’t find in Vegas, though, or any live cardroom for that matter, is too many short- handed live cash games. Online, of course, the six-max tables are probably as popular, if not more so, than their full ring counterparts. This is because the aggression factor is ramped up and they’re much more exciting to play. The problem with jumping right into them, though, is that many people don’t have the experience of playing short-handed games with 100 big blinds or more. It's an art that requires plenty of practise but can prove very profitable in the long run.