subject: Key Differences Between Live Poker And Online Poker [print this page] 1. Tells. In a live game, tells are readily apparent; facial tics, verbal cues, and a plethora of other physical tells that a player may give off over the course of a hand. Online? You can stare at the avatar of your opponent all you want, but its unlikely to give off any useful tells. Instead, you have to use timing tells (how quick/slow a player bets) and bet amounts (1677 instead of 1600, for example) although, these tells tend to be much less useful than the tells you pick up live.
2. Speed. Live poker is a slow, slow game. Youre looking at getting somewhere between 25-40 hands per hour. This causes live players to be a lot looser and more aggressive than they would be online, with hundreds of hands per hour being dealt to them. With the option to run 2-20 tables at once on most sites, youre never short of hands in the online game. When you play live, keep in mind this slow play syndrome; youre going to see oversized bets and 5+ players to the flop much more often in the live game than you will online.
3. Buy-Ins. On cash tables online, almost every table has a cap on how much you can buy in for, at least in NL games. Live, most of the time, theres no cap on games above the $1/$2 range in most places. This means that live, you may sit down at a $2/$5 table with $1,000 (200 BBs) and be the significant short stack at the table in a no cap game. Online, most tables will generally cap at 100-200 BBs, meaning unless someone at the table has been grinding for a long time, $1,000 should be a normal stack at the table. This is usually a big shock to online players transitioning to live games, so be warned before heading to a casino $2/$5 game with $2,000 and thinking, Yeah, Im going to be the big bully stack with this buy-in. You may still be the short stack.
4. Ambiance. When youre playing online, in the comfort of your home, you can play with music, or with a TV going, or however youd like to have your surroundings set up. Not so much in casinos, as the poker rooms are generally set somewhere near the slot machines and other loud, noisy machines. Any time someone hits a jackpot, youll know about it. The players at your table also have the ability to talk and mumble and be annoying, unlike online, where all they have is a chat box. Casinos are loud, bright places for a reason; the glitz and glamour attract gamblers to the slots and table games. Poker players, however, arent usually the glitzy type. So, bring an ipod, a book, or something that can help you feel more at home when you first trek out to a casino, as it may be a culture shock the first time you step into one.
5. Expenses. Online and live poker both generally have a rake. Online is usually slightly cheaper than live, but in the long run, online can be significantly cheaper for a number of reasons. At a casino, you are expected to tip your dealer and waitress; though its not required, its usually frowned upon to stiff your service staff. That can account for $10/hr+ of profits going to the staff. In addition, travel expenses to and from the casino need to be factored into the costs of making a casino run. A final important note; casinos generally are not as willing to give players comps for poker players as they would be table or slot players, because they dont make as much profit in the long term from card players as they do from the other games. So, if youre expecting to be richly comped for your play at the poker tables, you may want to set your expectations a bit lower.
by: James Mackinaw
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