Online vs. Live - Musings on my first live experience. (Long with LC)

[Wyers]

Is this post more suitable for the B&M forum? Maybe. But seeing as how in my year and a half as a poster, 80% of my posts have been made in the Internet forum I figured I'd throw it in here. Why break with tradition, right?

After 288K online hands, I had yet to play a live hand. Oh, there were a few home games and such however they were mostly played out for shits and giggles, an excuse to get together with the guys and LAG it up while drinking a few (too many) choice beverages.

Online has been good to me but over recent months it was feeling a little stale and I was getting bored. Needing to shake it up a bit, I decided to (finally) go play in a live game. I arrived home after work and nearly changed my mind when my wife, sick of hearing me debate with myself about whether I should go, virtually kicked me out of the house for the night.

So off I went taking the one hour drive from my house to Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario.

I arrived at 6:30 PM and hovered around the Poker Room for nearly an hour. Despite some butterflies, I put my name on the waiting list for a 5/10 table. Good thing I finally got up the nerve when I did. I was third on the list but by around 8:00, the waiting list had swelled to what looked like 25 plus people. Of the 11 tables they were only spreading 2 5/10 games. There were 4 2/5 tables, 2 5/10, 4 10/20 and 1 20/40.

Half an hour after joining the waiting list I was called to my table. I went to the cage and purchased 300 in chips and the floor person escorted me to my seat - seat 10.

Some (naive) musings:

There were 11 players at each table. I was surprised by this fact.

I still cannot believe how loose the games were. Easily 8 or 9 players to each flop. I know this has been commented on before, but until you see it first hand... unreal. Players who don't even consider folding until they see the river card... and when they do catch their miracle card will not raise. One woman at my table hit the nut flush on the river and simply called the opposing players bet.

The above scenario actually led to confrontation at the table as a table coach piped up and started to advise this lady on how to play her hands. The only problem was the coach was also the dealer. Another player at the table had enough and put an end to this by going to talk to the floor person.

It is amazing how much the dealer impacts your experience at the table. Some of the dealers were social, sharp guys who dealt at a breakneck pace. Through all of the chatter and niceties, they were still able to maintain a solid pace. A slow dealer with zero personality makes you want to push your stir stick into your eyeball to try and induce some stimulation.

To all the "online poker is rigged" folks - and I'm not talking about the trolls, just the guys who REALLY believe it (FlFishOn)... the same crazy [censored] that you experience online also happens live. Two incidents stand out: I saw set over set with the top set being beat when the lower hand drew quads on the river. Twice in five hands the same player flopped a K high flush and lost to someone playing Ace-rag catching the 4th suited card on the river to make the higher flush. It was truly sick.

It was 2.5 hours before I won a hand as I was largely card dead. The few hands I did play didn't hold up and my $300 stack had dwindled down to $120. Part of it was me having to adjust to such a loose game.

Rasing to protect your hand goes largely ignored. Raising for value however is very effective. By the end of my 9 hour session I had actually turned a profit and was up $120 when I finally went home.

Most of my money was made playing suited connectors as opposed to big pocket pairs which were often drawn out on if they didn't catch a set (although I did rake in a monster pot when my pocket aces turned a boat vs. my opponent's flush)

To the 21 year old kid who sat down at my table at 3 AM with his sunglasses on, ballcap pulled down and hood drawn over his head... heh heh. While it was amusing at first, he actually was almost tossed for having to be warned 3 times by the floor person to remove his hood. I was a little embarrassed for the fool.

The stories. Oh the stories. Guys talking about how they were having an off night but you should have seen them the night before at [insert casino name here]. Terrible players but very amusing BS. And they keep trying to top each other. No one truly listening to what the other is saying - just eagerly awaiting their turn to talk and share their tale. A bunch of one-armed fisherman bragging about how they caught one "this big".

Looking over my shoulder at the 10/20 game, the level of competition wasn't much better. I think I will tread into those waters next time I play. At 20/40 the quality of the game seemed to be significantly better. I do feel that I can play at a much higher limit live vs. online. My 5/10 table played like an online microlimit game. From what I observed the 10/20 looked like Party 3/6 (probably closer to 2/4 at times)

I had a better time than I anticipated. Some live players can best be described as very bizarre individuals, however there were also some enjoyable and pleasant people as well. While I certainly don't claim to be a great (or even a very good) player I can confidently say that with the exception of one guy, I don't think I played anyone better than myself that evening. Not even close actually.

Frightening.