internet vs live games

I am a pretty new poker player, and want to know wat the difference between online and real (b&m) tournaments. I normally do pretty good in the internet tournaments I play on Pokerroom.com, but when I get into the live stuff, i seem to freeze and forget what I went in to do. I know part of this is just sheer experience, but how much will internet games help with the live experience?

and also, is pokerroom less competitive to some of the other free sites?

The fact you play more hands on the internet will give you a lot of game experience. Playing live is a different monster all together. Human interaction always changes how we go about doing things in life. It's easy to press a button without much forethought. You can sit and talk to yourself while at the computer. Jump for joy whe you flop the nuts. Do whatever.

This dynamic changes though once you're in front of another live person. It's almost like becoming an emotionless rock in order to preserve any kind of advantage you might have over another player. Do you notice your heartbeat while playing live and making a risky move? Take the same scenario online and your heart beats not nearly as much. Why? Because you have nothing to hide from the computer. Unlike everything you have to hide live. Don't smile, don't raise aneyebrow, don't look tight, don't look loose, don't.....don't.....don't... With alot of eyeballs looking at your every move.

What you need to learn is to relax and enjoy the game live. For me anyways. I like to chit chat and be sociable. This way I always look happy good cards or not.

that's nice advice - i played with friends a lot, but moved away from the people i used to play with so played online. Technically it is the same game, but without the interaction, the looking into people's eyes, the immediacy of the buzz - it just isn't the same