roundcat
Creature of leisure
Silver Level
Until tonight, I hadn't set foot in a brick and mortar card room since October 12, 2005. I had lunch with some poker playing friends today and went with them to play in a tournament later on. I'd played half a dozen tourneys at local casinos last year before discovering that online play was more convenient.
I was very excited to play tonight, and was sure that with the months of additional experience under my belt I'd be confident and ready to go.
Well, I ended up feeling uncomfortable and like a total novice! I'm a shy person to begin with, and I was honestly quite nervous being there at the table. I acted out of turn twice and felt like a total dolt, especially the second time. Although I got some good starting hands, I wasn't able to do much with them, but did end up winning a couple of pots. I once bet on the river with a marginal hand, though, when I should have checked, then got check-raised by an opponent holding the nut flush (I folded). The guy on my right was busy chatting me up trying to get information about what kinds of hands I played.
On my last hand, I was somewhat short-stacked though not desperately so. I was in middle position and should have gone all-in with my pocket tens, but just raised a little more than 2x the big blind, giving him a good price to call with his ace small. An ace came on the flop and I went all-in hoping he wasn't holding one (doh!).
I'm bothered by the fact that I felt uncomfortable playing live rather than online, but I suppose I just need to do it more often so I can get used to it. Right?
At least I got some good feedback from the friends I went with, who have been doing fabulously lately (one of them just won a wsop seat + travel + $1,700 in a big local tournament). It's nice to have someone at the table who will tell me what leaks I need to plug!
I was very excited to play tonight, and was sure that with the months of additional experience under my belt I'd be confident and ready to go.
Well, I ended up feeling uncomfortable and like a total novice! I'm a shy person to begin with, and I was honestly quite nervous being there at the table. I acted out of turn twice and felt like a total dolt, especially the second time. Although I got some good starting hands, I wasn't able to do much with them, but did end up winning a couple of pots. I once bet on the river with a marginal hand, though, when I should have checked, then got check-raised by an opponent holding the nut flush (I folded). The guy on my right was busy chatting me up trying to get information about what kinds of hands I played.
On my last hand, I was somewhat short-stacked though not desperately so. I was in middle position and should have gone all-in with my pocket tens, but just raised a little more than 2x the big blind, giving him a good price to call with his ace small. An ace came on the flop and I went all-in hoping he wasn't holding one (doh!).
I'm bothered by the fact that I felt uncomfortable playing live rather than online, but I suppose I just need to do it more often so I can get used to it. Right?
At least I got some good feedback from the friends I went with, who have been doing fabulously lately (one of them just won a wsop seat + travel + $1,700 in a big local tournament). It's nice to have someone at the table who will tell me what leaks I need to plug!
