My first live tournament

Hi all,

I think this is the most relevant forum ?

So I have played a lot of online poker over the last year and last night decided to take the plunge and tackle a live tournament.

There were 45 players and I place 19th.

I was quite please with this considering it was my first live tournament. I was really nervous at first but managed to settle in and in the end I think it was my over confidence that cost me! Although I did have a couple of really unfortunate beats.

My last hand I went all in as the blinds were getting high and I really needed to double my stack.

I had AQ suited and the guy had J9..

flop - A59

Turn J

River J

So I was fairly unlucky and felt that I had done the right thing at that point.

My question is, how many tournaments should I give it before I decide live Poker is not the way for me? I have done fairly well online but must admit I found playing live much more exciting!:

if you are playing for fun then just play with money you can afford to lose, if you are playing to make money then its hard to match the online hourly due to structure, but its an easy way to learn and its fun and social so go for it imo.

Sirell, live poker tournaments are clearly a lot slower and will take more time to adjust to than online tournaments. There are pros and cons to each. Live tournaments will usually have weaker players but keep in mind you can only play one at once, whereas online you can play several. Play atleast 10 live tournaments and re-evaluate the way you feel about it. Best of luck!

Firstly congrats on finishing 19th out of 45 players, not bad for your first live tournament. As per the long term dynamics of live versus online, i dont see any reason why you should not do well live. Best of luck with your games.

I am in a similar situation....I have played a lot online since this past summer but recently i tried some live tournaments and they are quite entertaining. I Just made a final table in my 3rd one and what I noticed is that the competition at live tournaments is a lot softer than online. I was in a $46 buyin tournament and one of the players at my table didn't even know what game we were playing...she asked the dealer and we all thought it was a joke at first but then she proceeded to play in a completely spastic manner until busting out. The excitement of the final table is unmatchable, I definitely like live a lot better, although it is on average a lot more expensive and offers lower guarantees than online.

Congrats on finishing 19th in your first tournament. Playing live can be better because the skill level of the other players is usually lower than online players.

Live tournaments are fun but the problem with alot of nightly live tournaments are that the structure is not always good. Blinds rise quickly and the levels are short (10-15 mins) I say give a tournament series from your local casino a shot where the field is bigger but the structure is better and you would get a better feel for live tournaments.

Good luck Grinding