There are many differences between online vs. live poker, and while playing online is the current fad, it has only contributed to current success of the live poker rooms.
Some benefits of playing online include:
– Playing online provides an excellent opportunity for new players to learn without being intimidated by the live poker room environment. For someone who has never played before, sitting at a live poker table can be daunting. By playing online, you can sit at any table with a just click of a button. Worried about acting out of turn? Online poker notifies you when you are to act, and keeps you from acting before others. Worried you might use the wrong poker lingo? Online poker sites provide helpful guides you can read while playing to help you understand the individual terms. Worried about giving away tells? By playing online, you can shout in joy after flopping the nuts and your opponent will never be the wiser. Also, all of the poker sites offer play money tables that provide ample learning opportunities. When you are ready to step into the world of real money poker, you can play for limits as low as 2 cent / 4 cent Hold’em on Pokerstars.
– You don’t have to tip the dealer. In live poker you are supposed to give the dealer at least a dollar from every pot you win, and these dollars add up quickly. Some pros end up tipping as much as $10,000 a year. Add in tips for waitresses, travel expenses, and the price of food and it is easy to see how online poker can save a regular player a lot of money over the long run.
– Online poker let’s you play multiple games at once. Most sites allow you to play a minimum of 3 games simultaneously and Party Poker allows up to 10 games to be played at one time. When starting out, we recommend that you play only 1 game at a time.
– The games are dealt at a faster pace. There is no waiting for the dealers to shuffle, calling the floor on a disputed call, or changing decks. While live poker deals about 30-35 hands an hour, online poker deals 60-70 in the same amount of time.
– Online rooms offer shorthanded poker. It is very hard to get a shorthanded game going at a casino, but online you can choose from hundreds of shorthanded games at any given time. If you prefer shorthanded play, online is the only sensible choice.
– Player notes. Players can take advantage of some of the fabulous software available to keep notes on opponents. By using popular programs such as Poker Tracker and PokerAce HUD, it is very easy to keep updated statistics. Without having the amount of tells available to a live poker player, these statistics play a crucial role in an online player’s long term winrate.
Though there are many advantages of online poker, live poker rooms have also been flourishing. In fact, many high stakes professionals still chose live play as their preferred choice. We at All-Poker-Online.com suggest that, after you get your feet wet playing by online, you supplement your play by visiting some live cardrooms.