ONLINE POKER VS LIVE POKER

This is a constant topic of argument between players who have honed their skills on the live circuit and players who have developed their proficiency by playing Internet poker. One thing is certain, online poker is an accelerated way to pick up the game, not only because of the convenience, but also because of the sheer amount of poker than can be played online as compared to live. A dedicated online player can enter 10-100 times more tournaments than a live player will have physical access to. Just this little fact gives you an inkling of just how faster poker experience tends to come to those who play online rather than those who play live. And bear in mind it's not just about how much poker you actually get to play, it's also about how much you see played, how many different hands going up against each other you can witness online, because, after all, this is how you internalize that knowledge and gradually find yourself knowing exactly what to do at the right moment.

Certain aspects of the live game do elude the online player and it is worth taking a look at these for a moment. Much of the live game boils down to how mentally strong a player can be, how he can hold his own in the face of players who are purposefully trying to undermine his abilities and psych him out. Many online players will find themselves coming unstuck in the presence of a table full of live poker sharks. Not only do they dislike the online players (for the reasons we have outlined above), they will do everything in their abilities to force a naïve live player (no matter how much online experience he may have), to make mistakes and not play to the peak of his abilities. Also, and quite obviously, the online game is a game in which you see nothing other than how your opponents are playing, no other cues about their frame of mind, their body language and facial expressions are taken into consideration by online players. This is where they find it so tricky to keep a grip of their own reactions that may be undoing them when everyone at the table has their attentions focused on them.

But the online game does have its advantages above and beyond quantity. Robbed of the sense of sight, online poker players, especially the good ones, develop an uncanny ability of reading the way their opponents are playing. It can be quite startling to observe a good online player reading the game of other players at the table. To call it a sixth sense may be taking the analogy a little too far, however it certainly borders on this sometimes. Game reading is a phenomenally valuable skill, and with an absence of other cues to work with, online poker players who have been around the block several times are fantastically capable of doing this. When the very best go head to head online you end up having a game that is functioning on a myriad of levels. Each player, second, third, forth and fifth guessing every other player at the table. For the uninitiated this can be extremely daunting as it can seem that your opponents are reading, not only your cards, but your mind as well.

Ultimately the very best poker players will be able to thrive in any environment. They are ever-capable of adaptation and will quickly bolster their repertoire with any new information they are able to gather from their surroundings. Whether we are talking about a live player gone cyber, or a cyber player going live. Each forum has its own dynamics and its own skill set, and each adds to the complexity of that most challenging of modern games.