I think I'm the black sheep here. While I enjoy much playing online and I do my best there, I absolutely don't like playing live in tournaments or against people in general.
My last tournament, in fact, is marked 2008, my last live game is of 2010.

Sadly I'm in the exact opposite place. I have never faced a human over a goban but have only played people online or bots/engines. Unless something unexpected allows me to attend a tournament I will likely never play live.

Never is a long time. I am sure there must be other players in El Paso, and most definitely there are some tournaments across Texas.

You might try your local China town - there is one in el Paso I think. Look for Weiqi...

For my two cents I prefer live play bit I'm in a priveledged position of being surrounded by Chinese players who are much better than me.. having said that I'm not too familiar with winning a game live.....

No local Chinatown. There was one 100 years ago but Korean and Japanese communities are much larger here. Hmmm... I wonder if a Korean church might have a baduk club...?

I like both, really.

In person, it's more social and less stressful. Probably because almost everyone in my group is a raw newbie being coached, and only one other player is stronger than I am. Even when I get beaten, it's all fun, if somewhat slow. If I play really badly, we just laugh it off, and I swear to get revenge next time.

Online is much more emotionally intense and stressful. I am afraid of looking like an idiot when I play a bad game. I'm ashamed to have my rank go down, but feel like it's over-stated as it is, which is frightening, because I know people will expect me to play at that level. I find that I can often read the opponent's emotions in the way they play, which is interesting and surprising. There's an awesome variety of players to challenge and the room is never the same twice. Losses can be humiliating, victories are exhilarating. It's exciting, but not always in a good way.

It would be very hard to pick one over the other.

I suppose after enough times that nervousness would vanish,

In person, it's more social and less stressful. Probably because almost everyone in my group is a raw newbie being coached, and only one other player is stronger than I am. Even when I get beaten, it's all fun, if somewhat slow. If I play really badly, we just laugh it off, and I swear to get revenge next time.

Online is much more emotionally intense and stressful. I am afraid of looking like an idiot when I play a bad game. I'm ashamed to have my rank go down, but feel like it's over-stated as it is, which is frightening, because I know people will expect me to play at that level. I find that I can often read the opponent's emotions in the way they play, which is interesting and surprising. There's an awesome variety of players to challenge and the room is never the same twice. Losses can be humiliating, victories are exhilarating. It's exciting, but not always in a good way.

It would be very hard to pick one over the other.

I like both, really.

In person, it's more social and less stressful. Probably because almost everyone in my group is a raw newbie being coached, and only one other player is stronger than I am. Even when I get beaten, it's all fun, if somewhat slow. If I play really badly, we just laugh it off, and I swear to get revenge next time.

Online is much more emotionally intense and stressful. I am afraid of looking like an idiot when I play a bad game. I'm ashamed to have my rank go down, but feel like it's over-stated as it is, which is frightening, because I know people will expect me to play at that level. I find that I can often read the opponent's emotions in the way they play, which is interesting and surprising. There's an awesome variety of players to challenge and the room is never the same twice. Losses can be humiliating, victories are exhilarating. It's exciting, but not always in a good way.

It would be very hard to pick one over the other.

Con:
Seeing the faces of the other people when you make a bad move.