Yesterday I went to a newer casino in Salamanca New York to play some live poker/ They have 2 no limit games they spread there, 1-2 blind w. a 100.00 max buy in and 5-5 blind 200 max bet. I had every intention of playing the 1-2 blind game, but when I arrived there were several people there who had very deep stacks and I did not want to sit down in a game where I could be pushed so easily.
I sat in a 3-6 game that was just getting started and began to play. About an hour later the floorman said they were going to start the "Big Game" and I thought to myself, what the heck at least everyone will be starting out with the same amount of money, I'll give it a shot. My concern here was that a 5-5 game and a 200.00 max buy-in, would be pretty loose, I was also a bit worried i would be swimming with the sharks, as this is the biggest game they have at this very new casino.
I played rather tight for a while and watched the game. I soon learned I was not at a loose wild game and that calmed my nerves a little. I also saw that many of the people in the game were not to concerned about letting people draw cheap. $20.00 bets seemed to be about all anyone was willing to put in the middle regardless of the pot size. I played a few pots and won a few pots and started to get a little cocky, I guess. I took a shot at a pot with two overcards to the flop and fellow looked me up. When the turn produced another blank I fired another bet abou the size of the pot and was called again. The river brought a 10 and the other guy checked and i did the same, he had pocket jacks. I lost my first pot.
About to hands later and I'm in late position and a somewhat loose player makes it $25.00 to go in EP. It's folded to me and I look down and see KK, I make it $65.00( about pot sized bet) to go and it's folded back to the original raiser, who thinks a minute and puts in his stack. I make the call for about $85.00 more. He turns over QQ and I show him my Kings. Anyway a Q flopped and I got no help and my second biggest fear just happened, losing a big pot and most of my stack. To my suprise, I did not get upset at all, I just pulled 200.00 more out of my pocket and bought in again. I continued to play the best I could and got back in the game, eventually getting back all the dough I lost and then some.
I guess there is not a big point to all this except i finally sat at a live no-limit ring game and lived to tell about it. After a few minutes I was n ot intimidated by the players and after I lost the big pot with my kings, I was no longer worried about losing a big pot. it almost had a calming effect on me. The other thing i learned is I like to play live no limit much more than On line. Well thanks for listening.

Hehe! Thanks for posting it!

I can understand that losing that big pot calmed you a bit.

I've only played in a real casino a few times but each of those I was pretty nervous and tense before I'd been in any major conflict.

I guess the anticipation is massive beforehand, and afterwards all the stress dissipates.

Sounds like for your first time in that game you did great, and good luck to crushing that game in the future...

Heh, I still vividly remember my first trip to a casino to play poker a year ago. I couldn't stop my hand from shaking the first time I put in a raise, and man was my heart pounding. This was on a $2/4 "beginner" table -- no check-raising allowed.

I used to play live quite a bit, but I'm slightly worried that as a result of 18 months of almost exclusively internet poker i'd now be a quivering mass of hopeless tells! Damn West Yorkshire for not having any decent live action!

Monk
xxxxx

Nothing better than playing NL live...espeically seeing all those kids in there wearing sunglasses during a ring game!