Online Poker VS Live Events

Some poker players get their start at a home game, while others get theirs at one of the numerous online poker rooms. No matter which you are, you’ll need to know what the differences are before moving from one arena to the other.

It used to be that every poker player started in pretty much the same place: a smoky, dim basement or Poker Room where the cards flew fast and the jokes flew faster. Getting some friends together for a night of cards, beer and smokes was the way many a would-be poker player were introduced to the game. From there it was on to trying to find a regular game or making that trip to Vegas or Atlantic City.

But not anymore. With the explosion of poker’s popularity on TV, in movies and especially on the Internet, you’re just as likely to start with a mouse-click and a credit card as you are with a wad of $20’s and seat at a kitchen table.

So, what does a player who is used to one setting do when they want to try the other? Whether you are switching from online to live or vice versa, there are several differences you need to be aware of. Let’s take a look at some of the most important.

SPEED: One of the biggest differences is speed. If you are playing on an online poker site, you can easily play at 4 or more tables at a single time and see many more hands per hour, per table. Because of this, all aspects of your technical skills (knowing the numbers, spotting a good starting hand, knowing how your strategy has to change in relation to position, etc.) have to be much better, just because you use them a lot more. Other skills are less important online, but your level of basic knowledge has to be excellent just because you play a lot more.

TELLS: There are online tells, but they are much more difficult to spot. In a casino or home game, especially when you are playing against an inexperienced player, spotting a tell is usually just a matter of time. Whether the player talks when they have a good hand or pounds their bet onto the table when they are bluffing, knowing the classic tells at a live game goes a long way to increasing your profits. Online games are different. The only way you have in spotting a tell is by watching a player’s betting style. This is a valuable skill, but it’s a lot harder online because body language cues aren’t available to you.

DEALER: In online games, the dealer is just a machine. It deals and doesn’t make a mistake while doing it. In a live game, the dealer can be either a fellow player or a professional dealer who works for the casino. Live game dealers are human, and tend to make mistakes. Though the average home game player is much more likely to mess-up than a professional, mistakes happen everywhere, and a live player has to always watch the dealer to make sure they are paying attention. A mistake at a key moment in a tournament or at a home game can be the difference between winning and losing. Online players don’t have to know much about watching the dealer, but a live player has to be constantly vigilant.

OPPONENT OPTIONS: If you’re at a casino or a home-game, you usually don’t have much of a chance to select your opponents. Even at the most popular casinos, you have a few tables to choose from, a few different games, and that’s about it. At the largest online sites, however, you have almost unlimited options. Some sites have thousands of tables open at any one time, all of them with detailed statistics about how many players are in on the flop, what the average stakes are, etc. A good poker player knows how to use this massive activity to their advantage. Spotting a weak table is a key strategy in increasing your online profits, while keeping away from the tables loaded with sharks is just as valuable. If you want to increase your chances of finding soft players, online poker rooms offer the most choices, while casino or home games offer very few.