Offline and online poker
With online poker gaining more and more in popularity over its brick and mortar counterpart, poker professionals are increasingly drawn to the online tables themselves.
The game they'll be treated to online, however, will be radically different from what they're used to, to such a degree, that some authors even go as far as to call it an entirely different game. Annoying as it is, many people tried to get to the bottom of the mystery why sometimes good live poker players are abysmal online.
Here's what they came up with:
Basic human psychology is definitely one of the contributing factors. Famous poker players are generally expected to play well in live games, and what's more important, they expect themselves to play well and act right. This constant pressure will make them more focused and more keen on not committing mistakes. In online poker this pressure is entirely gone. While this may be just the thing to attract rookies, for pros it's but a nuisance. No longer under pressure, they no longer bring their A-game and commit mistakes easier than ever. Even if people know them, it's usually an easy matter to just lie about someone else using their name in order to save face. There is absolutely none of the pressure they grew accustomed to, and thus they become just another player, part of the crowd, prone to mistakes just like anyone else.
Another factor that ruins a pro's play in online poker stems from the peculiarities of online play. It is a well known fact that it's much harder to pull a successful bluff online than it is in live poker. Exactly why that happens is not clear, but the fact that a call is never further than a mouse-click away, could have something to do with it. The same goes for every other action you can take. This will speed up the game on one hand ( compared to the relatively slow pace in offline poker) and will also speed up the decision-making process on the other hand. Whenever you're rushed to make a decision, you're likely to make mistakes. Speeding things up is in the interest of the poker room, which – just like online casinos – likes the action to happen as fast as possible. The time limit you have whenever it's your turn to act is relatively small, and you need to move as fast as you can.
Another factor that will have a good poker player confused in an online game is reckless play. Used to playing other good poker players all the time, our pro will find it absolutely surprising that some players are seemingly out there to ruin someone else's day and that's about all they care for. The preflop all-ins and the absolutely wild bluffs will have him confused too.
Going on a tilt is easier in online poker. Nobody sees what he's doing anyway, so there won't be the image thing he needs to keep up, to prevent him from going on a tilt.
Playing in a game in which he's hopelessly under-bankrolled is another common mistake pros make. Whether you make this mistake online or offline is all the same. It's going to lead to your downfall sooner or later.
In online poker things happen faster, so the bad beats you'll be on, will also be much worse than you'd expect. Being under bankrolled is bad enough in poker, but in online poker it's much worse.
A piece of advice to keep your game from deteriorating when taking up online poker: pay attention to the following 2 issues: Don't play in a game which is above your bankroll.
Keep focused no matter what. Don't let the false sense of security offered by the fact the nobody can see you, overtake your senses.
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