The difference between Online and live MTTs

[benz0r]

Apart from the obvious difference that you can see all the other players at the table is there anything majorly different about playing live MTTs that I should be aware of?

I have been playing online for a few months but I have only just decided to start taking my play seriously (learning, reading books, these and other forums etc.)

However I was just made aware of the Australian Poker League. A couple of the venues are close to me and I will be getting along to at least 1 a week (hopefully 2) and I figure its a good cheap way of developing my game and reading skills.

Of course I have no illusions of going in and cleaning up the last table straight away (although I'll still be playing as if I'm going to )

Any tips would be much appreciated.

[RiverGhost]

well seeing the players is the only difference....and it makes all the difference. poker is a game of information and there are 100000 different ways of getting information live then there are online. just make sure you try and pay attention to the bet sizes and the size of the pot because there is nothing to display that for you.
the main difference to me is that i am always respectful and have fun with everyone in person and that i sometiems talk trash and try to tilt and manipulate people online. the main difference between doing that live and online is that people can't put u on ignore in person unless they are that mentally focused.

[KoRnholio]

Live tournament are almost always played with a super-fast structure. At my local casinos it's usually 15 minute blinds. Basically gives you one orbit of hands per level.. Think of it as a turbo.

[Hubris1]

1) Live tourneys have less players. 90-100 is usually a good sized field.
2) Live tourneys at low stakes, even in respectable casinos, often have insane blind structures. A 50 dollar tourney is going to get a rake from you, let you play a few dozen hands and get you out. On the other hand, higher stakes live tourneys 1k on up are going to have much slower blind schedules and allow more poker. I have seen some nice blind schedules on 200 and 500 buyin live tourneys.
3) The low end of the buyin for a live tourney is much higher than online, 30 is pretty much as low as it goes with a real turn around at most casinos, I'm sure you'll see lower, but 20-30 is pretty close to the low.
4) Because thats the low end, the caliber of player you are going to see is comparable to the low end online tourneys for 1-3 dollars. I've played in a dozen live tourneys (Won one at the luxor) and the player base is terrible.

Edit: Also, one other thing to consider when looking at schedules and the like is that you generally see about half as many cards in a live game with a real dealer than you do in an online casino, and since blind schedules are faster, a 15 minute schedule is more like eight minutes when you consider the amount of hands you see. That's a very very important difference.