Bad beats and suckouts are not unique to online play. It can happen just as rough in live play.
For my birthday, my wife took me to the Greektown Casino in Detriot for a weeekend of fun away. Part of it was the opportunity for me to play in a live tourney, something I only had gotten to do once before. I thought it was going to be an $80+15 buy in, but it turns out that the last Saturday of the month they do a $300+40 deep stack (10,000 chips) tournament. That was pricier than I wanted to play, but after some quick checking it was the only game in town that didn't involve a jaunt over to Windsor, something I did not want to do this time. So I ended up playing in it.
At first I was nervous. I've played and won several small stakes tournaments online, and I know that the level of play online is usually better at a buyin level than it's comparative live tournament counterparts, so I probably have played against at least as good competition if not better. But I just don't have the experience playing live really. I decided to play it close to the vest, pretty much ABC poker for the most part. Small preflop bets regardless of the hand to disguise my hand, never limp in first to a hand, continuation bets only with a made hand or a semibluff at worst, that kind of thing. I think in the first hour I played maybe 5 hands, taking down both I stayed in past the flop.
A few hands stood out before the first break. First was my first double-up. I minraised with with pocket 5's, and got a call from a loose player in the small blind. A 5 falls on the flop. He bets, and I call. An Ace falls on the turn, and I loved to see that, I figured he had called with an ace. No flushes or straights are out there. He bets, and I raise. He almost instantly goes all in and I don't think twice about calling. He turns over A8 for a two pair and my set of 5's has him with 4 outs to suckout, none come on the river and I am at 14,000ish chips and he is crippled.
Next two hands worth mentioning are where my relatively untested reading skills came into play. The chip leader at the table is this Russian guy who is just a nonstop talker, both in hands and out. To be honest I was pretty much ignoring him as best I could, but I got into a hand with him where I had KQ in the cutoff and he and 3 others had limped in. Flop hit a Q as the high card, and I bet and only he called, still babbling up a storm. Turn card is a 9, and now a low straight is out there and suddenly he gets quiet for the first time I can recall all day. He checks, I bet the turn and he calls. My alarm bells are going off in my head as the river is a whiff and he checks again. I trust my gut that tells me he is trying to trap me and check behind. He turns over 78 for the made straight and I avoided a big hit. He can't believe I didn't bet the river to set up his chckraise, and I simply told him "thanks for telling me I was dead earlier in the hand". He fished for how I figured that out for a good 10 minutes, I didn't even answer him, happy in picking up on that (probably easily obvious) tell.
Next hand is one that I had pocket Kings preflop. An early raise is reraised by the next guy, who is new to the table. It was the first reraise preflop all day, so I only called, as did the guy behind me (named Doc). Flop is rags, and this guy bets only 1/3 of the pot. My instincts are screaming he's got Aces, and I fold the Kings. Doc folds behind me, and tells me he had Jacks but got the same bad vibe. I never found out what that guy had, but Doc's played in a lot of live events, so having the same feeling that he did there was a comfort and a reminder to listen to my gut when it starts buzzing at me.
I made it through the first break, and after that the blinds started catching up to me and I went card dead. Twice I got down into the push/fold mode for extended periods, and both times I managed to survive, first with a triple-up with A10 of spades when two 10's fell on the flop, and another with KJ when I got called by J9 and it held up. Literally the next hand I got pocket Kings, and as I was stacking my chips I minraised (now finally having enough chips to get back to that play), and the same guy that earlier I thought had Aces thought about it, and wen't all in. I insta-called and he groaned. I knew I had caught him in a steal. My kings were up against K10 offsuit, I'm at least a 4-1 favorite I think.
Flop has an Ace and Jack. I've seen this one too many times online to know what's about to come and I brace for it. The dealer was kind, he at least turned over the Queen on the turn to make the straight for the other guy and spare the drama somewhat. I needed a 10 to get a matching straight but it did not come. When we counted the chips out we were exactly even so I was busted out in 16th place. Had I won that hand I was gong to be in good position to make a run at the final table.
Kinda puts a dent in people's incessant whining about "rigged" play online, I think.
As I left, Doc and a few others I played in (that all knew how inexperienced I was in live play) all said I played really good and hoped I'd be back. And I think I will a couple times a year hopefully, though maybe over at Windsor (which people say is really nice) or if at Greektown for the lower-cost tourneys until the budget says we can afford this one again.
All in all, I had a great time, felt like I belonged there, and had a great experience.
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