Comparing Live Poker and Online Poker

One of the recent trends in poker has been the rise of the online poker industry -I say recent because the industry is just over a decade old. When I began taking poker seriously back around 2001, a lot of the card-room pros were very wary of this “new” poker game, and it wasn’t until about 2004-2005 that virtually every serious poker player had an online account.

Live poker and online poker both have the same rules, game-play, and online poker even uses cards and chips, but to me the two games are as different as Holdem and Stud. This article will delve into the differences between live and online poker, and what skills and strategies work best for each game.

The main difference between the two is that online poker requires a more mathematical approach, where live poker needs to be played more theoretically. The reason for this is two-fold:

• First you can SEE your opponents when playing live poker, so you can utilize things like tells and body language.
• Second, online poker players have the power of tracking their opponents through hand histories and software, giving them a huge amount of data on their opponent’s tendencies.

Additionally, this mathematical approach -watching your opponents is impossible, and having their computer gather information on their opponents’ play– frees up online poker players so they can participate in more games (multi-table) without fear of missing information. This not only allows online players to play more hands, but also allows them to play at lower stakes than a live player., which will greatly reduce their variance.

A live player may see 30 hands in an hour, so they have no recourse but to play in games like $10/$20 limit or $500 No Limit, it’s there only way to make enough money.  On the flip-side, an online player will see 3x the number of hands in the same time, and can open multiple tables! Playing four $1/$2 limit tables online is akin to playing $10/$20 live!

A final difference is the compensation: Online players feast on smaller rakes and no tipping, in conjunction with rakeback deals, bonuses, and other promotions. Live players not only have to deal with tipping, but there are very few “perks” offered by the casino.

Basically, live players need to be observant and have a good “feel” for their opponents; online poker players need to really know their math, and be willing to examine the data they have on their opponents.

All-in-all I feel each form of poker is equally profitable, so it really depends on a player’s likes and dislikes, as well as their individual skill-set. Personally, I’d take live poker over online poker any day of the week because I have a steel-trap memory (which is unneeded online, so my opponent’s can nullify this advantage) and I’m really good at reading people. However I friend who have wandering eyes and are really tech savvy that prefer, and thrive, in an online poker environment.