2+2,

I casually picked up poker in 2009 when I saw a friend of mine playing on ub and ftp. I've had decent success online, final tabling some smaller MTTs, and I've played as high as the 55+5 sngs on ftp and shown a profit. I guess I'm just trying to say I'm not poker ******ed, but that I don't play a lot of cash.

So I've started playing some MSNL at the casinos here in Louisiana, and I've burned through a few buyins.

For instance, the second hand I'm at a table I get QQ in the cutoff. UTG makes it 50, I flat (I know I know), and the BB makes it 145, UTG calls, I consider reraising but the hand before I saw him call down a big fish with top pair + weak flush draw and though he might be squeezing the presence of UTG concerns me. Flop is 359sss, BB bets 3/4 pot, utg folds, I call. Turn is a blank. BB bets pot without even thinking for a second and I'm not sure that my queens are good but I came to the table pretty short so I don't have to worry about a big river bet and put my money in.

I guess my big questions are:
Thoughts on the hand?
Should I just play rocky and straightforward until I get a feel for the table I'm at?
I don't think I'm putting off any big tells, but any advice on controlling them would be appreciated.
I know you can't just read about something and be good at it, but if you had to recommend one book regarding live play what would it be?
I'm not quite bankrolled enough for these stakes but I'm not playing scared money, either. Should I just look for a smaller game for a while?

Thanks guys.

do you have a lot of money? i suggest starting at 1/2....

if there is a 5/10 game, chances are there are ten times as many 1/2 games in the same area.

I'd actually start out playing micro FR online. No offense but your fundamentals 100+bb deep probably leave a lot to be desired if all you've played is online tourneys and live cash.

isn't online banned in USA?

idk if OP is in the US but even if he is there are a few US-based sites left. Even if you don't think they're safe I think putting on a small amount to get the basics down would be worth the money even if you never see it again. Like live it will literally take you a year+ to even get a sample to realize if you're a winning player or not. If you can use online to shorten that as well as move up to where you can actually make an ok hourly live (2/5nl at least but probably 5/10nl) it'll be worth a ton in opportunity cost if nothing else.

Yeah I am in the US... thankfully I withdrew my ftp balance days before the DOJ investigation just by luck. The main reason I started playing live cash is because I can't find a good option online... cake allows US players I think but their software seems like crap to me.

You should prob play 2/5 atleast to start out........I transitioned to live poker back in May going from playing online MTTs for a living to 5/10 and its a whole different ball game......people are tight, ranges are much different, and knowing your opponents is much more important.....there's alot of ways to play value hands/bluffs that work for one and dont work for the other, and if your not comfortable playing postflop your going to make huge errors.....just play 2/5 or at the very least buy in at 5/10 for under 100 bb.....

If you're in NOLA I'd probably play 1/2 for a few reasons:

a) you're not rolled for 2/5
b) NOLA 2/5 is 1K to max stack BI and 1/2 plays bigger than a normal 1/2 which should suffice while you get comfortable

I'd also play ABC for a little just to get comfortable and used to the game. In live poker people are so bad and will rarely fold (especially at these limits) that you should be able to learn and turn a profit with that style. Obviously over time you should be able to open up your game as you learn the live tendencies vs. online. Value and Position should be the name of the game.

Folding pre is prolly good/ok.

If u dont wanna fold, id jam pre, given u bought in shortish (altho we dont know how many bb u have, which would help).

Tells:

Dont think bout em too much at the table as you can make yourself anxious.

Focus on controlling your breathing and remaining calm during hands.

If you think u have tells try and do tje same thing during hands and develop a sort of pattern that becomes 2nd nature.

This is probabaly about right, and as others have noted you don't need to risk much money to do that. If there is really a crackdown and all the remaining US-facing sites go down, no big deal as long as you are not putting much money on them.

In terms of avoiding tells, focusing on a constant breathing rhythm will help. You might check outTommy Angelo's book Elements of Poker - not so much for the strategic tips but for the breathing tips.

I've been playing in Arizona recently. Mostly 5-10 in Phoenix but we've been trying to get something going higher than 1-2 in Tucson where I live. So one night at a local casino we do get a 2-5 game going. One of the young guys that sat down clearly had a grasp of the fundamentals - my possibly wrong assumption was he came from online. But everytime he was bluffing (like C-betting with a weak hand) he'd look up in the air. Lost a bunch of money. Don't do that

The 3/5 at Talking Sticks is a good game and even 2/3 there seems to be better than the 1/2 I have played in Tucson...

As for the online crazy transition... I think its all relative... once a "online player" gets familiar with the live flow then he is no longer an "online player" in my book..

Ranges? Reads? Bueller? Bueller?

If you aren't able to give any information on the first two, you shouldn't be playing 5/10. Start playing 1/2. If you're really that good, you crush it and have the money to move up. I suspect as others have mentioned that you have a lot of new concepts to master before playing 5/10.