In current years internet based poker and particularly the Texas hold’em variant of the casino game has come to dominate our tv sets. I’m frequently asked to comment on the differences in wager on among web based poker and land based rooms which I look to set out in this article.
One. Speed of on line poker wager on is roughly twice that of traditional poker play. The quantity of fingers per hour in a land poker room would be circa 30 per hour at very best, perhaps as low as 20. Typical net poker game would see fifty to sixty fingers per hour, and anything as much as 120 per hour for short handed "Turbo" play.
2. Rake collected by an online poker site will be 5 % or less of each pot whereas land based rooms is going to be 10 per-cent or even higher. In this regard web wager on will be the greater value option. Some countries, such as the Great Britain have laws against the taking of rake. Instead they either charge by the hour or by the tournament. This may be the reason that Caribbean Poker is favoured over Texas hold em in land based gambling houses in the UK.
3. The top quality of player observed in a web based poker site will normally be lower than that in land based rooms. There are many reasons for this except to actually go to a real world smoky place sitting down at a table of ten takes an element of confidence that you don’t require in an internet based poker environment. Land based gamblers are often better in that they usually understand the game prior to playing it. By way of contrast your average web based poker newbie has just watched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel or ESPN. The only exceptions to this that I have discovered occur in Las Vegas where you receive the full assortment of extremes from holiday makers trying their hand with the very best in the world.
4. Internet based poker players can pick and select the time of day they bet on as they can wager on twenty-four hrs a day, five days a week and do so from the comfort of their own home. Land based players must plan ahead and get to the venue at the due starting time.
Five. Web poker players have extra option, in the range and variety of games to choose from, ranging from free play 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 web based poker tournaments exactly where a far greater range of options await such as satellite entries from as little as 5 dollars.
6. Poker Tells amongst on-line and brick and mortar poker play are extremely different. Traditional players spend far more time observing body language and voice tells through opponent questioning than they do observing time delays in between wagers and wager size relative to the possible odds of greater hands. Net 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 a lot more disciplined in traditional poker rooms. The web-based poker encounter can usually 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 a web based poker site and you may possibly uncover your self on the end of a number of verbal abuse (through the typed chat system). Phrases such as "you’re an idiot" and worse would not be tolerated in a real world room but go largely unchecked on line. You often have the choice to turn off player chat except my preferred betting style would be to goad the offending gambler into playing on tilt (usually a simple thing to complete). One recourse you do have against abuse is always to report the player to the pit boss and they will be either banned from chat or thrown out of the room altogether.
8. On-line poker gives you the unique capability to wager on more than one home at a time. Clearly this is not an option open to real world players. I know of individuals who bet on as much as six tables simultaneously.
As it is possible to see both environments have the potential for a truly excellent game of poker. Unique experiences to suit different gambler needs. Personally I do not have a preference amongst the two. I worth the convenience of internet based wager on, but still love the interaction of a live room.