Today poker is available for almost everyone. You can play in the casino, at home with friends, or online from your cellphone or laptop. There may be nuances and rules of the house depending on where you play, but the basic rules are the same. It’s not far to say that poker is a global sport!
However, there are important differences between various game formats. When we play at home with friends, we usually do it for fun, not trying to make a living. Another thing is direct poker and online. There are many opportunities here to make money. For some people, this is the same entertainment, but if you want more than just fun, it is very important to know which option is better to play for money: Online or Live Poker. This article will take a closer look and analyze all critical differences between online poker and live poker. You will also find tips on adjustments if you move from life to online or vice versa. Finally, we will tell you which option is best for beginners who seriously build a poker career.
What is the difference between online poker and live poker?
On the one hand, online and live games are very similar to each other. However, the structure of the rules & bets is the same in both. On the other hand, they are completely different. Many poker players who previously played only online or live poker often felt anxious about their first game in a new location. To help you with the transition, we have compiled a comparable table to help you quickly see the main differences, compare every factor and get ready for a new poker experience. Quick access – Online: You can join the game at any time of the day. You only need to launch a client application or poker cellphone, and in a few minutes, you’ve played poker online. Direct: You have to go to the casino first. Luckily if you live near the casino. If not, you need to spend time on the road, and in some cases, it will even take the whole trip if it’s illegal gambling in your country.
Game schedule – Online: cash games and poker tournaments available 24/7 – You will always start a cash game session in your stake or play in the tournament with a suitable buy-ins. You can choose a comfortable time for your own game, and spend a weekend, for example, with your family and friends. Direct: Poker games usually take place at night or at night, so you won’t be able to play in the morning and evening. Most games directly occur on Friday night and weekends, so you have to tie your schedule tightly to the weekend if you play regularly.
Additional cost – Online: all your expenses pay for the internet, which you always pay in your bill. Direct: You need to pay for travel, food, and sometimes accommodation. However, it’s expensive.
Convenience – Online: You choose a playground and when to take a break. If you want, you play online on a bed, on the couch, in the park, or in a cafe. You control the environment around yourself and choose a place where you feel the most comfortable. Direct: Your comfort level depends on the institutions – chairs can be uncomfortable, people at the desk can be smokers, behave noisy and provocative. But you can’t change it, and you have to accept this factor or go.
Security – Online: Main rooms put very emphasis on protecting customers from fraud and ensuring security. Yes, there is still the possibility of a hacked game or bank account, but with a responsible attitude of your protection, this problem cannot affect you. Direct: Cheating and collusion are more common in casinos. And if you win a large amount of money, it can be very dangerous to transport victory.
Atmosphere – Online: We cannot say that the world of online poker is completely without bright emotions. At the last table the main tournament, emotions can be fulfilled, and bad beats can be very sharp and difficult to survive. However, all actions take place automatically, their minds are busy with calculations, and there is no time to enjoy the moment. Direct: This game has many social interactions. You see your criminal and try to outsmart them. The expression in front of the player who folded his strong hands to bullying you was difficult to exaggerate. There is a unique atmosphere in the casino; So many people like poker directly.
Game choice – Online: Format game is available for all tastes. You can play hold’em without limits, Omaha pot boundaries, studs, draw, and mixes, and other exotic forms such as Badugi. Various tournaments available: Knockouts, Sit & Go, Spin & Go, Rebuy Tournaments, Satellite, Deep-Stacked and Time-Limited Tournaments. You can play whatever you want anytime, and you don’t have a limit (other than your bankroll). Direct: Usually there are many game choices. Most often, the casino offers Texas Hold’em, sometimes Omaha. You can find another option in a large tournament series, but a large tournament is periodic. So, if you come to a land-based carton room for the tournament, and there are no tournaments there today, you won’t do anything. Competition – Online: The level of players has grown rapidly in recent years. Regular online use a variety of software to improve its achievements, watch video tutorials and read strategy articles. Many online gamblers already have extraordinary experience, and will challenge to compete with them. Direct: Most people come to the casino for fun. If this is a casino in the tourist area, often at a green table that doesn’t even know the rules. The majority of extraordinary people at the casino playing poker with very rare and not considering this game, so they don’t study at all and know a little about the strategy. It’s much easier to defeat such a field.
Direct communication – Online: no need to talk about direct communication. Most poker sites do offer online chat support, but few people use it. And comparison of chat and direct contact will be wrong. Direct: It is impossible to imagine poker directly without talking at the table. Of course there are people who are silent who just focus on the table. But after all, almost always, everything is thrown with each other in the phrase.
Bonus, promotion, rackeback – Online: There is a fierce competition between poker space for new clients, so they regularly offer their customers various bonus poker, promotion, and rakeback. You can find a bonus deposit, the first deposit bonus, high rakeback, free tournament tickets, and other promotions on almost all poker sites. Direct: As a rule, the casino does not offer any bonus, especially rakeback. In some cases, visitors can rely on free drinks as promotional offers, but this promotion will not help increase their bankroll in any way.
Sweep – Online: Usually, Rake is around 5%, but no more than $ 3. Direct: Rake 8-10% or lid to $ 15 will not rarely occur.
Betting – Online: betting starts from $ 0.01 / $ 0.02. So, if the player has at least $ 2, he can sit at the table. Every bet, from the lowest to the highest, is available at any time. The average buy-in tournament ranges from $ 1 to several thousand dollars on average. Direct: As a rule, the stakes start at $ 1 / $ 2, and in rare cases, you can find lower bets. In the tournament, buy-in usually starts from $ 50. With high bets, building a bankroll that can hold an inevitable swing won’t be easy.
Multi-taplain – Online: You can launch a few dozen tables at once, and then there will always be an action – only have time to press the button! Direct: With all desires, you will not be able to join several tables simultaneously, so you must just depend on playing on one table.
Statistics – Online: in a lot of poker space, you can use HUD – real-time statistics. Statistics help you make the best decisions and see the tendency of your criminals. Direct: Of course, no statistics are right in numbers. All you can do is observe your opponent during the game and take note.
Hand per hour – Online: On average, at one table, 60 hands handled per hour. If you open a few tables at the same time, the number of hands will increase accordingly. High speed is because there is no dealer, and all cards are automatically processed by the computer. Direct: the best, it will be 30 hands per hour. Professional and super fast dealers can handle around 40 hands per hour, but this is an exception than the rules.
Table – Online: in recent years, short tables or 6 hands have become more common, and the main game in most poker rooms is 6-max. In this case, there are more actions. Direct: Casinos often offer full ring tables for nine or even ten places. Therefore, in general, this format is more passive.
Stack in cash games – Online: Usually, the maximum buy-in is limited to 100 bb. Direct: Most often, the maximum buy-in is limited to 200 bb, and sometimes there is no limit like that.
Opening and limping range – Online: grinders open a narrower range, usually balanced with a position on the table. The environment is relatively rare and found especially on weak opponents. Direct: Because the game runs at a slow speed, and the players are just bored, they open wider and make preflop calls often.
– On Flop: Multi-way pots vs heads-up
– Online: Because most of the time, players open pots with preflops raise, the cost of playing becomes too high for most players if they don’t have strong hands.
– LIVE: When many players go to hand, the pot is getting bigger, and some people are more likely to call a big blind or minimum bet even with trash hands. Therefore, multi-way pots everywhere.
Bet size – Online: Usually, a regular charger uses standard nimble measures – 2-2.5-3 bb. Direct: bet size can be completely unpredictable; Someone bet 5bb, and one more – all 10BB. Blinds protection – Online: Players realize the influence of positions in further games and rarely maintain curtains. As a rule, if a player at BB or MB calls the bet, he will have at least one good hand. Direct: Because many players enter their hands, curtains are far more likely to call bets and often even garbage.
Squeeze and isolate the limpers – Online: players are far more likely to use these techniques because they are more knowledgeable in the strategy. Direct: such movements are very unusual, and if someone squeezes, other people will soon think that he has AA. Calculate the Odds Pot – Online: Regular has learned to make post-failed decisions based on Odds pot automatically. Direct: Frankly, some people at the desk have heard the concept of pot chances. You will often see folds when it’s easy for your opponents to call or exaggerate a weak card.
Aggressiveness – Online: Raises Preflop, Reraise, 3-Betting, 4-Bets, Push-Forn in Tournaments, Post-Flop Aggression – It’s hard to imagine online poker without all these movements. Direct: This game is often too passive. Preflop aggression is quite rare, and post-flop players also prefer cold calls.
Unpredictable – Online: no one can see your reaction to the hand you get. You can dance when you get an ACE or a cunning smile when you bully – no one will see it. Direct: When you play offline, it’s important to control all emotions. There is no muscle movement on your face, not a movement, must betray your feelings.
Physical tells – Online: You can’t see criminals and analyze their behavior. Usually, online gamblers make decisions based on the opponent’s reading range. Direct: Many pros especially trying to improve reading skills from their physical words. This knowledge can help defeat weak opponents who do not know how to control their emotions.
Hand analysis – Online: You have a very good opportunity to download hand history and analyze your movements after a session to find patterns and leaks. With deep statistics, it is possible to explore each of your decisions and find the best payment path. Direct: After a few hours of play, you can hardly remember even some hands in detail. The possibility for further analysis and improvement is very limited unless you write all hands in the notebook.
Perception of variance – Online: visitors still understand that the results of the optimal decision will only be seen from a distance distance, so they are calm about situations such as losing QQ against AK when the All-In Preflop. They know that QQ will have 56% equity against AK, so that it encourages AK will be profitable in the long run. Thus, online players have a healthy perception of variance. Direct: Only few people understand that optimal decisions will not always be profitable. And in the QQ vs AK situation. Ak, the player misunderstood their defeat and, as a result, came to the wrong conclusion, for example, never pushed with QQ again. Thus, poker players immediately exaggerate the variance.
So who is the winner of the online poker vs. Live Poker? We think that every player will find their winners, depending on their needs. But at the same time, you don’t have to choose only one format – you can succeed in mixing poker directly and online.
How to adjust to play directly? If you have never played a live poker, but you have a lot of experience in online games and want to test your strength in a green cloth, it won’t be too difficult for you. Online players have a lot of experience; Thanks to the high rate of gameplay, they have played more hands than players in Live Poker simultaneously. But there are some tips to help you feel better on your first visit to the casino.
Look at home rules, if any. Usually, the casino puts the rules of the house in a prominent place, but if you can’t find it yourself, ask the staff. The rules of the house can sometimes be completely unpredictable, and the best is preparing you to not experience a awkward situation. Watch games for a while before joining the table. See how the dealer agreement card, how other players announce the action and handle chips. This will help you feel more comfortable at the table. Try to control your emotions. It is possible that in the first direct poker game, your hands will even vibrate because of your nerves, but very few people managed to sit at the table with foreigner for the first time and calm down. But after a few hours, you will be more relaxed. Be prepared for a game that is much slower than at the online table. But be patient and don’t go to extreme. Don’t open a garbage card just because you are bored. It’s better to spend this time watching your opponent.Ad d more loose-passive dramas to your direct cash poker strategy. Passive style drama can be very unusual in shaping victory strategies, but it makes sense to adapt to coatings who like to see more flops. If you are good at playing post-flop, you will have a significant advantage.
How do I adjust to online games? If you have never played online before, but it is a visitor who often at the poker table on the Live Poker, be sure to try playing poker on the internet at least finding out what it is. At present, online card space offers a lot of different formats and regularly accommodates large tournaments with large guaranteed funds. But let’s say soon – it won’t be easy. No favorable direct players will be profitable from playing online poker. So if you want to make money playing online, you have to work hard.
Starting from lower bets. If you are used to playing offline with $ 1 / $ 2 bets, then in online poker, it’s good to move to a lower bet because there will be a solid regular at the NL200. But we also advise you not to play for virtual chips – playing to play money has nothing to do with playing online for real money. Be prepared to act quickly. Online games have a limited time bank for decision making. It’s better to think first that ranges from where you will be ready to enter your hand. Lemas less. If nothing is troubled before you, try to open the pot. Online poker is more aggressive, so the limpers are often isolated, and if you don’t have a solid combination to continue, you will lose money. Install poker tracking software. Stupid not to take advantage of online poker that is not offline available! Download and install the holdem manager or poker tracker, and you will always have real time statistics complete before your eyes! Learn poker strategies and mathematics. Many customers remain online trying to make optimal decisions based on mathematical calculations. If you don’t study the strategy, you will quickly lag.
What is the best choice for beginners: direct poker or online poker? Comparing Online Poker vs Live Poker will give you an understanding of many nuances, but it won’t answer any questions that would be better for beginners. Players who have a lot of online and live experiences found that live poker is easier than online games because there are usually more weaker players in the casino who are willing to give up their chips with a garbage card. Also, usually good direct players will have a higher level of victory than online players.
However, we recommend that beginners try to play online first. There are several reasons for this. Play faster. You can get more experience in poker online than at the same time playing in a land-based carton room. While the casino plays an average of 30 hands per hour, online poker usually plays more than 60 hands per hour. But in practice, the difference will be more significant. The more you play, the more experiences you get. You need a small bankroll to start. You can start from micro betting, and you will feel confident with a $ 100 guarantee at NL2. Such airbags will allow you to learn to play poker calmly and to make the right decision. Although there are no low bets to play offline, and the cozy bankroll on the NL200 will be $ 8,000 – $ 10,000. Clear difference, right? Bonuses and Rakeback. When registering on a new poker site, you can expect to receive a good boost for your bankroll in the form of the first deposit bonus. Some rooms even offer free initial capital, free tournament tickets, and other promotions. It’s easy to start playing poker online! This is the main factor, but in fact, there are many more. You can start playing online within 5 minutes after reading this article. You don’t need to go anywhere and somehow prepare. Some poker sites offer a quick tutorial on how to play on their site so that even superficial knowledge about rules will not be an obstacle to participating in the first hand. However, we advise you to learn the rules of poker, combination, and basic strategies before.
If you want to play poker in a real casino, then after the game online, it will be much easier for you: You will have experience, knowledge, and confidence to defeat your opponents!