Live and online are very different animals.
On-line - the good thing about on-line is the massive amount of
hands you can play in a short amount of time. I calculate that i have played more than 1.2 million hands. The good thing about this, is that this is how you really see the game and understand how it works. ( This helps to explain how new players can get "good", so quickly.) You realize that what are considered bad beats are actually fairly normal occurrences. I have never been fortunate to play anything but micro stakes and
freerolls on-line, so my view of on-line is tainted in a negative way - at these levels, competition is weak and unpredictable and it makes it tough to learn if what you are doing is correct.
Live - there is a lot more happening. Obviously it takes a lot longer to play a tournament, so you might think it is slower, but there is so much information to digest that it seems to go too fast at times. I much prefer live play, but the same phenomena regarding the buy-in takes place. If you play a $35 tournament, it may be quite unpredictable and you may just have to get lucky. If you play a $200+ tournament (this is a big buy-in in my area), you are probably going to play with more experienced players and will be able to put your poker skills to the test. Of course, the ability to multi-table or even play more than one tournament a day is not going to happen. It will take you 33 yrs playing 4 hrs a day/5 days a week (assuming 35 hands/hr) to get in 1.2 million hands live.
