Just wanted to share a story.......

[checker-pete]

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.

[tetsuo]

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.

[Danhdan]

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

[Nortonesque]

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.

[Felonius_Monk]

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

[Random1156]

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

[kennyg]

[Rhound50]