Gambling has never been simpler with the numerous casinos available online. By definition, casinos are facilities for certain types of gambling which are more often than not built around other amenities, mainly hotels, restaurants and similar attractions.
Online casinos on the other hand are casinos that offer a variety of games just like regular casinos only remotely over the internet. You could play anything from live blackjack to roulette live, except Russian roulette perhaps.
This article will compare the ways of playing poker both online and offline.
Live Poker vs Online Poker
By definition, they both are poker, in case that wasn’t clear enough. The dictionary definition of poker is a family of card games in which players wager over which hand is the best – could be kind of confusing if you’re ambidextrous. The best hand does vary depending on what rendition of poker is being played with each version having a different set of rules.
Live poker is poker played physically, plain as that. If you want to see live poker in all its glory, just visit any casino in Vegas or any other established casinos you have heard of.
Online poker on the other hand is poker played online via the internet. Live poker software is the emissary sent to us by the poker gods to deliver live poker online – on what is known as a live gaming platform.
Below are the key differences between live poker and online poker.
Environment
The key difference between the two has to be the environment they take place in. Live poker goes down in brick and mortar casinos, which is just a fancy word for land-based casinos.
It can also take place in studios. Online poker takes place virtually in an online casino – it is conducted online via the internet.
Physical Tells
Most casino games come down to your bluffing powers and poker face, barring a few games like blackjack and roulette live, none more so than poker.
In line with the difference in environment come the physical tells or lack thereof. You could have the worst poker face there ever has been and still win because you are playing online poker. Being online, you cannot see your opponents, just like in a live gaming platform, let alone study their tells.
The mistake of having a physical tell when you are bluffing never goes unpunished in a brick-and-mortar casino so if you can’t bluff, you may want to consider online poker. Experienced players have a ball at live poker games as they are able to profile their opponents by studying their body language picking out said tells one by one.
On top of that, table talk is very different in the two. Table talk is very important and goes a long way in swaying the outcomes of games with people calling your bluff along with some friendly trash talk. Some live poker software try to combat this by introducing chatbox talk which just isn’t as good as actual physical table talk.
Pace of The Game
Just by observation, it is evident that the pace in online poker is a tad faster than in live poker partly due to the fact that there is little to no interaction between the players.
In online poker games, you can see up to 60 hands per hour or more in short-handed games compared to live games where you can get around 30 hands. You can even play at multiple tables online further increasing the number of hands you play.
If you think about it, playing online poker can help you get better at poker with the numerous hands you get to play. You know what they say, practice makes perfect. Playing more hands combined with the concept of multi-tabling raises the game difficulty but at the same time offers immense room for improvement.
Moreover, even the fastest, slickest card shuffler in the galaxy cannot be faster at shuffling than a computer.
In live games, games generally take longer with players taking their time to study their cards, count their chips and most important of all, size up the competition. In online poker on the other hand, cards are dealt and shuffled automatically and the chips placed in a click without manually counting.
There is also a time limit in online poker so you can’t take your sweet time while making a decision.
Calling and Folding
Poker players know I’m not talking about phone calls and laundry. Calling is basically calling your opponents’ bluff and matching their bet or even better, raising it. Folding on the other hand is dropping out of the hand or chickening out – it’s just semantics really.
That said, online players often make more flop calls or folds when they have weak or medium strength hands. The logical explanation for this is it is easier to just press that call button when under pressure without the risk of being embarrassed for making the wrong call live.
Formats and Variants
In a live poker setting, there is the option of cash games or tournament games unlike in online poker where there are a lot more formats and variations of poker to choose from- literally hundreds of games running at a time.
