William, look over this site:

http://casinogambling.about.com/hobbies/casinogambling/?once=true&

Scroll down and click on "Learning Casino Poker". I'm a beginner too and this was pretty helpful. I played in the Chinook Winds Chip Show tournament as my first experience and had a lot of fun and went out 8th from 17 players. This series of articles is really informative about the blinds, which can bamboozle us newbies. Hope to see you across the table at the convention tournament!