When looking at the average player, those sitting in a tournament at a casino will typically make decisions that are colored by fear more often than those playing online will. There are a number of components that go into this fear, so let’s look at a few.
Fear of the Casino
This is a factor primarily for those who are much more accustomed to playing online than live. It can be intimidating to step out from behind the computer. The noise, the tournament registration process, finding the right seat, having to handle chips and count pots, remembering when it’s our turn to act, and remembering not to string bet; there are so many things that occupy our minds that we don’t normally worry about on the internet.
Because of this, those new to the live game often play very tight during the first few orbits. They are trying to get their bearings. It is tough enough to follow the action, manage their chips, and get used to everything without having to concern themselves with how to play marginal hands from middle position. Thus, they are going to take it easy, only play premium hands for a while, and let you steal their blinds.
Fear of the Early Exit
When you play online, if you bust out of a tournament early, the poker room will likely have another one starting in a few minutes or even one accepting late registrations at that very moment. If there are no options at the room you are logged into, then you are just a click away from checking out the options elsewhere.
Brick and mortar tournaments are a bigger commitment. When you are playing, that’s all you are doing. You can’t catch up on e-mail, you can’t help your son with a math problem, and you can’t take a call from your mom. You have to budget time to get to and from the casino, plus the time it will take to get to the poker room, register, and find your seat. The last thing many players want is to be eliminated right away. It feels like they just wasted a lot of time. So again, you will often see players in live tournaments, especially those who prefer to play online, being overly patient early on just so they can at least get their money’s worth.
Fear of Embarrassment
People tend to bluff and play poor hands less frequently when they are playing in a live tournament because they are playing in front of living, breathing opponents. The average player is afraid of getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He doesn’t want to have to see the look in his opponents’ eyes when he tries to represent the nut flush when, in fact, someone else has it. He doesn’t want to have to see the perplexed faces when his power play with 9-3 offsuit fails. Online, he can be bold. If he makes a mistake with an ugly hand, there are few consequences. Nobody knows who he is. Sure, he might hear it from that table captain who tells him, “lol u suck… nice hand, fish,” but that guy is just an avatar.
Fear of the Stakes
Like the first example earlier in this article, this applies to internet players who are not as used to playing live more so than to frequent casino visitors. Online, most multi-table tournaments have buy-ins smaller than triple digits and it is really easy to find one under $10. Live, even the cheapest tournaments are usually around $60 and anything with a halfway decent structure is typically going to be over $100.
Therefore, players often are worried about getting knocked out early because of the money that’s at stake. It’s not necessarily that they are afraid of losing the money; they want their poker experience to be worth the price of admission. It can be pretty disappointing from an entertainment satisfaction perspective to spend $100 or $200 and only get to play for ten minutes. Therefore, look for your opponents to play tight early.