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Online Poker
Comparing Online Poker to Live Poker
In the past learning poker was a time consuming, difficult, and generally expensive undertaking. The lowest games offered in a live, or brick and mortar (B&M) as it is commonly referred to, card room is usually $2-$4 fixed limit. These games have a high rake (what the house collects for dealing the games), and move along at a very slow speed, where as few as 20 hands per hour are commonly played. This makes it hard to get a lot of experience, as it will take a long time to play the requisite number of hands to gain that experience, and it is likely to be very expensive. This all changed with the advent of internet poker. Online card rooms do not have to pay a dealer and have no issues with floor space. This allows them to spread lower limit games with much lower rake. The pace of play is much faster online, as things like shuffling, dealing, splitting pots and what not are done instantaneously. It is common to play as many as 75-100 hands per hour. These lower limits, lower rake, and faster pace of play make learning poker not only much less expensive, but also much faster You can see more hands in a few months of online play then you could hope to play in years in a B&M setting. With the popularity of internet poker booming there are many players who are fairly experienced with the game of poker, but inexperienced with playing face to face, in a B&M card room. These players tend to make a few common mistakes that will be very detrimental to their results. There are also players who have played in a casino or local card room for years and are interested in the convenience and profit that online card rooms offer. They are, similar to the online player playing live, likely to need to make some changes to take advantage of this different environment. Hopefully this article will help to smooth the transition for both of these players.
Poker online is much faster than in a live setting. Many players increase this pace even further by playing multiple tables at one time. When they venture into a live game at their local card club the pace can be excruciatingly slow. You must show patience if you are going to play the game well and there are many things in a live setting that can test your patience to the extreme. The ineptitude of some dealers, the drunk who takes 45 seconds to act each and every time its his turn, and countless other obnoxious distractions can make you want to play hands that you know better than to play in certain situations. This impulse can be especially difficult to control when you are losing or have just suffered a bad beat. Online, another hand is on the way immediately, and another one almost seconds after that (perhaps simultaneously if you are playing multiple tables), but live it can seem like an eternity between deals. There is no easy solution to this problem and it generally comes down to being disciplined and patient. Some players like to listen to music on an Ipod when they play. This causes some problems, but if you can keep up with the game and it helps to keep you patient then by all means listen to music while you play. Just being aware of the problem can help. Be aware of what is going on and if you find yourself unable to remain patient then you need to set an ultimatum. Play better or leave.
Online poker also has some unique characteristics that can cause tilt. Cyber tilt, as it is sometimes called, can be especially disastrous due to the same speed of play that can sometimes help you to avoid going on tilt. When you play a game with chips instead of cash people loosen up their play because it seems less real to them. When all you have to do is click a button this illusion becomes especially dangerous. It is easy to slip past, what Mike Caro has dubbed, the point of pain. Everyone has a pain threshold and when you go past yours additional losses stop hurting. As far as pain is concerned you have reached terminal velocity and you are heading for big trouble. You are in danger of turning a bad run of cards into a catastrophic loss that may take a very long time to recover from. This is something you should always be aware of both live or online, but the rapid fire speed of online play makes it especially dangerous. Always try to be aware of your mental status when playing, especially when losing. Don’t turn a big loss into a catastrophic one.
Another common problem both online and B&M players face is the various distractions that each discipline presents. An online player making his first venture to a Las Vegas casino may be overwhelmed by all of the chances to throw away his hard earned poker profits. The sirens song of the slots, craps tables and black jack pit can cast a spell over them and before they realize what has happened, days of hard work at the poker table can find its way into the casinos coffers. Have a plan ahead of time. As long as you can stick to it there is nothing wrong with losing a small amount you are comfortable with at other gambling pursuits. If however, you find you are doing this with any sort of regularity or having a hard time sticking to your plan as far as how much you are willing to lose, you should stop these pursuits completely. There are many professional poker players who are constantly in bad financial shape because of losses in other gambling pursuits. It is hard enough to beat the poker games and if you add a bunch of negative expectation gambling to your play you will have no chance at all.
While online there is no shortage of gambling opportunities, it does not seem that it causes the problems it does for the live players. That does not mean that there are not plenty of distractions. Part of the allure of online gambling is that you can do it at home, and often while you are doing something else. This multi-tasking is not a problem for some players, but for others it is absolutely debilitating. If you have the television on, are playing six tables, checking your email, and browsing an internet news group it will be hard to be concentrating on your game. Every person has to strike their own balance as to what is right for them when playing online. I am not one to advocate never doing anything else other than concentrating on poker, although I am sure this would be best in an ideal situation. You should however, be careful not to overextend yourself.
One other way that online poker differs from live poker is that you can take advantage of software to assist you. Programs like Poker Tracker are relatively inexpensive and very helpful, especially if you multi-table. These programs can help you to track not only your play, but also your opponents. Make sure to check with the online card room you play at as to the legality of different programs. While Poker Tracker is allowed everywhere, some programs are not, and you should be careful that you are not breaking any of the card rooms rules.
Throughout this article I have repeatedly mentioned playing multiple tables at one time. This is one of the biggest advantages online poker offers a winning player. Some players can handle upwards of a dozen tables, although most find that between two and four tables is best for them. Players should experiment with adding an extra table or two and find out what is most profitable. For each table you add you can expect to win slightly less per hour but you still should win considerably more overall. For instance, if you win 2 big bets per hour playing one table but only 1.75 per table playing 2 tables then you will be making 1.5 bets more per hour by adding an extra table. There is a point of diminishing returns and everyone must find the number of tables that is best for them. Some players will find it too hectic to play more than one table and will find that adding an extra table will make them a losing player. Take advantage of software that will assist you and experiment to find what is best for you.
The single biggest difference between online and B&M poker is that when you sit down in a live card room you can see your opponents and they can see you. Even accomplished online opponents can give away a good deal of information about their holdings when they are learning to play in a live setting. Not only are they likely to give away a great deal of information, but they may miss a number of subtle clues that their opponents give off during the play of a hand. There are a few things that online players can do to make this transition smoother. First of all, wait till its your turn before giving any sign of what you are going to do. Online you may use advance action buttons to speed up play and you will see some players basically doing this live as well. When they plan on folding they get their cards ready to toss in the muck, when they are planning on calling they get the appropriate number of chips ready, and when they plan on raising they likewise get those chips ready to put in the pot. Never give your opponents any information about what you intend to do even if you plan on folding and will not be participating in the hand. I suggest, especially in a no limit game, that you not look at your cards until it is your turn to act, so as not to give any indication, however slight, about your intentions. Another helpful hint, that goes along with the previous advice, is that before you act look to your left. There are many players who give off the sort of “tells” that were just discussed and this can be very valuable information. If you are in middle position but know that two of the players behind you plan on folding, then your actual position is late. This will affect your opening standards and will make many more hands profitable. Always be aware of what the players to your left are doing. To learn more about tells in poker you should either read or get the video that Mike Caro put out called Caro’s Book of Tells. It will teach you the general principals of detecting tells and get you started down the right path. Some people may suggest wearing sunglasses to try to cover up your tells but I think they are unlikely to be of any benefit. They may peg you as a new player who watches poker on television and actually hurt your table image. If you prefer to wear them and are comfortable that is fine but I would not do so expecting to be harder to read.
There are many differences between playing online and in a live setting. Each setting has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you can follow the advice in this article you should be on the right track to being a winning player both online and at your local card room.
Enough of theory? Why dont you take some time to read our online poker section, where we feature the majority of the online pokerooms. We play there, test them and rate them - you can also read reviews and comments of other players and visitors.
Alternatively browse through our other poker articles listed on the site:
Poker Position - Poker Position at the table
Poker Programs - Various helpful poker programs
Sit and Go Tourneys - The ides of Sit and Go Tourneys
FM Ratio - Folding Money or Free Money ratio
Monetary requirement - Bankroll
Hold'em Starting Hands - Evaluation of the Hold'em Starting Hands
Computer Analysis - Computer analysis of the hands
The Bonus Factor - The added bonus factor and its consequences
or see the full list of the articles.