In recent years web based poker and particularly the Texas hold’em variant of the casino game has come to dominate our tv sets. I’m usually asked to comment on the differences in bet on involving web poker and traditional rooms which I look to set out in this article.
1. Speed of internet poker bet on is roughly twice that of brick and mortar poker play. The amount of fingers per hour in a land poker room would be circa thirty per hour at best, perhaps as low as twenty. Typical online poker casino game would see fifty to sixty fingers per hour, and anything up to 120 per hour for short handed "Turbo" play.
2. Rake collected by a web poker site will likely be 5 % or less of each pot whereas traditional rooms might be ten percent or even higher. In this regard web-based play may be the superior value option. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom have laws against the taking of rake. Instead they either charge by the hour or by the tournament. This will be the reason that Caribbean Poker is favoured over Hold’em in traditional casinos in the UK.
3. The high quality of player discovered in an on-line poker room will typically be lower than that in brick and mortar rooms. There are many reasons for this except to really go to a land based smoky space sitting down at a table of ten takes an element of confidence that you don’t need to have in an internet poker environment. Real world players are usually superior in that they usually understand the game prior to playing it. By way of contrast your average online poker newbie has just watched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel or ESPN. The only exceptions to this that I have found occur in Las Vegas where you get the full variety of extremes from holiday makers trying their hand with the most effective in the world.
4. On line poker players can pick and select the time of day they bet on as they can play twenty-four hrs a day, five days a week and do so from the comfort of their own home. Brick and mortar gamblers must plan ahead and receive to the venue at the due starting time.
5. On-line poker gamblers have much more option, in the amount and selection of games to choose from, ranging from free of charge bet on to cash games to tournaments of all sizes. If you would like to win a seat at the upcoming 2006 World Series of Poker, then you have to be looking towards internet poker tournaments where a far greater variety of options await such as satellite entries from as little as 5 dollars.
Six. Poker Tells among web-based and land based poker bet on are incredibly different. Traditional players spend much more time observing body language and voice tells by means of opponent questioning than they do observing time delays in between wagers and bet size relative to the potential odds of larger hands. Web based Poker Tells have much more to do with timing, wager size, and table position rather than the judgement of facial expression.
7. Poker etiquette is much more disciplined in real world poker rooms. The web poker understanding can often be spoiled by drunken fools who believe they have Phil Ivey’s level of skill even though they clearly don’t. Catch a lucky card in an online poker site and you may well locate yourself on the end of a number of verbal abuse (via the typed chat system). Phrases such as "you are an idiot" and worse would not be tolerated in a real world home except go largely unchecked on-line. You constantly have the choice to turn off player chat except my preferred playing style is to goad the offending player into playing on tilt (usually a basic thing to do). One recourse you do have against abuse is always to report the gambler to the pit boss and they will likely be either banned from chat or thrown out of the area altogether.
8. On line poker gives you the distinctive ability to bet on much more than one area at a time. Clearly this is not an choice open to brick and mortar players. I know of men and women who play up to six tables simultaneously.
As it is possible to see both environments have the possible for a actually excellent game of poker. Different experiences to suit distinct gambler needs. Personally I don’t have a preference among the two. I worth the convenience of online bet on, but still love the interaction of a live room.