Return to Paradise .....NOT (way long)

I'm sure my story is not unique. I saw Rounders. I decided my destiny was to be a professional poker player. I bought a beginners Hold'em book complete with start charts. I learned to play poker online. I took some beatings in the early going. I bought more books. I studied some more. I played some more. I won. I moved up. I eventually took a beating. I moved back down. I bought some more books. I studied some more. I won. I moved back up. I took a beating. I moved back down. I studied some more...etc.


I never really got anywhere but could tell I was much better than most of the other players I encountered online (at least at the limits I played). I felt that the meager amount that I was down overall was pretty reasonable tuition for the accelerated learning experience that online poker provides. I continually read posts on here about people teaming up in the higher limits. This seemed to correlate with the fact that I always lost when I got above a certain limit so I knew my future was not at PP.


Having never played live poker, I decided that I couldn't give up my dream without at least trying it. After all, the greats of the past hadn't played online. They worked their way up the ranks in dark smoky poker rooms. I entered into my first live poker game a very slight loser after almost two years of online play. It has now been a few months since I switched to exclusive live play.


In case there are any readers out there whose experiences mirror mine, my observations are as follows:


1. Live poker is MUCH easier than online poker.


2. MANY more people pay to see the flop in live poker than they do online at the same limits.


3. When opponents in live poker draw uphill against you they get there much less frequently than they do online...it really amazed me at first when the scare card never seemed to hit on the river. After years of Paradise I came to expect it.


4. 5/10 live plays like 1/2 online. 4-8 plays like .5/1


5. Opponents make a lot more moves against you online than they do in live poker...probably because they have to look you in the eye so they are less inclined to bluff with air.


6. People don't tilt as bad or as often in live games. I have concluded that PP tends to push people over the edge with the propensity for river suck outs.


7. It is MUCH easier to read hands and read opponents in live games. People seem to come in with a strategy and stick to it rather than Paradise where everybody is constantly adjusting their play to try to compensate for the ridiculous frequency of bad beats.


8. It is actually possible to gain control of a game in live poker because your opponents stick around for a while rather than jumping tables every few minutes. If you get in a good game you can really take advantage.


9. In live games most players in the same card room seem to gravitate towards the same style of play. Because of this it is easy to adjust your playing style to beat the majority of them, as opposed to Paradise where playing styles are all over the board.


10. The number of hands played per hour is soooo much less it is very difficult to get used to. I think this is one reason so many people pay to see the flop. If you pass, it takes a while to get another hand as opposed to PP where if you play two tables you get a new hand every few seconds.


Now that I have played both live and online Hold'em I have come to realize that playing at PP is a great training ground. You gain experience at a very rapid rate. You encounter every possible type of opponent and every type of game imaginable. You get bluffed often so you develop the ability to play stronger. You get rivered so often that you have ample opportunity to develop the right attitude towards suck outs and bad beats. You learn to adjust to rapidly changing game conditions. You have to make fast decisions so you become good at assessing many variables quickly. You learn to make correct decisions without knowing much about your opponents because the seats roll over so quickly. And most importantly, you learn how big the downswings can be and develop an advanced understanding of bankroll requirements and fluctuations.


In summary, if you are exclusively an online player...get in the casinos. If you are even close to break even or a slight loser over a long period of playing online you will absolutely rip up a live game at limits much higher than you play online. Just like the track athletes who run with the leg weights on...once the shackles of oppression are removed you will find that you have developed into a BAD MOTHERFUCKER of a poker player. Don't take my word for it, go see for yourself.