Live vs Online Poker
These days, I play both online and live and everyone I know, knows this. As a result, one of the common questions I get is what’s the difference between the two. Naturally, the online players ask me what are the biggest changes to make when live events.
They are usually players who have been playing for some time and have developed their skills to a level where they feel confident about their game. On the other side, the live players ask me about my online style.
For a long time, about 7 years I played almost exclusively online, as there were no local games that I knew about. This is where I my understanding of the different forms of poker. Personally, I think the biggest advantage of playing online is the ability to see thousands of hands and situations that would take much longer to see in live play. Also, I think it is easier to concentrate on the fundamentals of the game you are playing online, because you are not as easily distracted by your surroundings, which includes the players seated at your table. It’s a very different thing to be playing online against nine players with an avatar versus 9 guys chattering away about everything under the sun. Basically, it is easier to focus on the game, as online poker takes out the distractions of the game, which can affect the subconscious of a player tremendously.
Aside from the psychological jump to live play, giving off tells tends to be a hurdle to overcome for online players. With so many bad beats being taken in the comfort of your own room, where no one hears you complain or throw your mouse across the room, it is easy to get into a habit of “acting up” when you take a bad beat. However, all you are doing is making it that much harder for you to act calm and collected when the same beat happens live. To combat this, I would say to work on controlling your emotions when playing online as it will make for a smoother transition to live play.
After I graduated from college, that’s when I started playing more and more live games. When I started, I was very uncomfortable. I was almost afraid to play. As I became more comfortable, I could feel my game getting stronger because thanks to the online world I was confident in my experience level. Once I started getting respect from live players, they began asking me about online play. They would tell me stories of how they could crush live games, but had trouble beating online games. I’d always tell them the same thing, that online is different than live play, and they have to approach it differently. Online play is much more mathematical, since the psychological is not a big part of it. Online, there are more inexperienced players, and it is also harder to tell which ones they are. This makes some plays that work well in live play obsolete in online play, as plays are less effective if your opponents do not comprehend them. Respect that you have earned over the years playing live goes out the window when you log on to an online game. In all the other players’ eyes, you are just the new screen name just like everyone else.
All great players adjust to each game they sit down in. Hopefully these insights will help you approach any game you play in, regardless of whether it’s online or live.
Until next time, may the chips fall your way.
