why is online poker harder than live poker?

[tomh7795]

I think people go to the casino for the experience and have fun while people play online for fun but mostly to win. there's also software for online too.

 

[10crow10]

because for the most part the people in the casion are there to gamble, where as more people online are taking it serious. my 2 cents.

 

[BelgoSuisse]

Online, the good players multitable heavily while the fishes play a single table. That means that even if the overall fish to reg ratio was the same, the fish to reg ratio per table is a lot worse online.

Also, the overall fish to regs ratio is a lot worse in the population that is younger than 21 years old. Young fishes don't have much money to blow, while young sharks have loads of time to spend on the game. So by cropping out that population from the live games, age limits make live games softer. With lower age limits (18) and no really good way to enforce them, online games get harder.

 

[Nukking Futs]

I think it is harder since you normaly play several games at the same time and you can sometimes loose track of your play. There are always people willing to play any two cards at any time going all in preflop with AA and the other person calling with 54 offsuit, you hit a set they hit the stright on the river. There are always more people you play against. Where I live for a freeroll you only play against 120 people at the most live, online it is several thousand players.

 

[BelgoSuisse]

There are always people willing to play any two cards at any time going all in preflop with AA and the other person calling with 54 offsuit

That doesn't make the games harder...

And fwiw, super micro stakes and freerolls - since that seems to be what you have experience with - are not harder than live games.

 

[forsakenone]

its harder to play online because people dont take me serious when i tell them i am busy. when i first started playing people ware mocking me for staying hours and hours at the computer playing freerolls and winning as little as 7 cent or often winning nothing those people ware my friends, my girlfriend and my family.

things have changed a bit since i show a profit and actual money, but not by much, people keep telling me i will soon lose more than i won.

 

[norriscjn]

Well obviously online poker setsup alot of Coolers so it gets the games rolling faster. Just my opinion

 

[IcyBlueAce]

Online, the good players multitable heavily while the fishes play a single table. That means that even if the overall fish to reg ratio was the same, the fish to reg ratio per table is a lot worse online.

Also, the overall fish to regs ratio is a lot worse in the population that is younger than 21 years old. Young fishes don't have much money to blow, while young sharks have loads of time to spend on the game. So by cropping out that population from the live games, age limits make live games softer. With lower age limits (18) and no really good way to enforce them, online games get harder.

I'm a young fish and I'm offended by this post.

lol, jk.

Nice explanation.

I'm a fish who plays 8 tables..

 

[Xavier]

I think theres multiple reasons why online is harder

1
Profitable players mass multitable online whereas the fish generally just play 1 or 2 tables, which makes the ratio of strong players on average tables much higher than live where everyone can only play 1 table.

2
People who aern't really serious players just go for the social experience of playing live in the casino. I think most people would agree its more fun playing live, so it attracts more casual players.

3
New Players online can play in micros as low as 1NL. In casinos its hard to find lower than 100NL so brand new players are forced to play at this high.

4
Probably the ratio of strong players to weak is higher in young people. I'm not being ageist but many bright young people got into it after the Moneymaker boom, who wouldn't have before. The ratio of young people is going to be higher online because young people use computers much more on average.

I myself watched a live cash game for a while at 200NL in my local casino, and was surprised at how bad a lot of the play was. Most players were just playing way too many hands, and there was just so much open limping, and 4-6 players commonly seeing a flop. One guy just went all in preflop with AJ about 100BB. The level of play at 50NL online which I sometimes play is certainly way higher.

 

[BelgoSuisse]

I'm a fish who plays 8 tables..

That can't possibly be a good idea.

 

[BelgoSuisse]

One guy just went all in preflop with AJ about 100BB.

fwiw, you see very good players players 5bet shove hands that are much weaker than that at 200nl+ 6max tables online. You're playing 50nl, and that's probably the nittiest stake of all. Regs start loosening up significantly when you move higher.

 

[KyleJRM]

fwiw, you see very good players players 5bet shove hands that are much weaker than that at 200nl+ 6max tables online. You're playing 50nl, and that's probably the nittiest stake of all. Regs start loosening up significantly when you move higher.

I read HA of players who are crushing NL100 and I can see how some of those shoves would seem donkey-ish to people like me, who just aren't at that level yet.

 

[Xavier]

fwiw, you see very good players players 5bet shove hands that are much weaker than that at 200nl+ 6max tables online. You're playing 50nl, and that's probably the nittiest stake of all. Regs start loosening up significantly when you move higher.

50NL certainly is really ultra tight online. My stats are just under 1BB/100 there. I think I play too tight waiting to hands and need to play more aggressively.

 

[CntryBoys]

See i personally have had much much more success playing live than i have online. Online is like a crap shoot to me and is hard to get reads from people. As for playing live i love it and have seenn 100% more profits than online.

 

[JEP712]

Most likely one of the following reasons:

1. Face cards = Aces
2. 2 Pair = Royal Flush
3. Uneducated in ratio and odds

 

[FTP_TheNuts]

Its not

Poker is Poker, if anything online is easier.

Online: So much more easy to access, so many more idiots playing, so many more tournaments you can play.

This is a pretty dumb statement in OP imo.

 

[IcyBlueAce]

Its not

Poker is Poker, if anything online is easier.

Online: So much more easy to access, so many more idiots playing, so many more tournaments you can play.

This is a pretty dumb statement in OP imo.

I don't get how you can state this, I really hope your joking.

Its already known fact online is 10x harder than live.

 

[5TR8 FLUSH]

a little off the subject but i heard this on a movie
"you know how the internet screwed poker up? When somebody sucks out real bad on you on the river, on the internet, you can't take them in the parking lot and break their freakin knees!"
hilarious

That movie is hilarious, think its called the grand. Not sure but its a good movie.

 

[FTP_TheNuts]

Its not

Poker is Poker, if anything online is easier.

Online: So much more easy to access, so many more idiots playing, so many more tournaments you can play.

This is a pretty dumb statement in OP imo.

Im not joking im talking from personal opinion, and imho, i find online poker easier than live, imo it just seems worse online bcause you get so much more volume in.

Swings are bigger, fields are bigger etc etc.

 

[drgilbert4]

The game is the same... The players are much different. I like to play online becuase of the volume of hands, but I like to play live because the fish stay at the table longer. A few weeks ago, I was at a 2/5 NL table in a local casino. There was a lady who bought in for $500 at least 10 times while I was at the table (I actually lost count!). The game slowed down and then broke up after she left. I bought in one time and left with a little over $3000 in just a few hours. I also like the social interaction in live play. You can't beat sitting at the table and fondling your chips while talking to the babe across from you with the "plunging neckline"... if you know what I mean! Far more interesting than clicking the mouse... IMO

 

[Xavier]

Its not

Poker is Poker, if anything online is easier.

Online: So much more easy to access, so many more idiots playing, so many more tournaments you can play.

This is a pretty dumb statement in OP imo.

Im not joking im talking from personal opinion, and imho, i find online poker easier than live, imo it just seems worse online bcause you get so much more volume in.

Unless you are comparing $5 online sit n gos to a $50 live tournament, or microstakes online to 200NL live, its not a matter of opinion you're just dead wrong.

In a $50 live tournament the players are very weak compared to a $50 online tournament.

 

[KyleJRM]

You can't beat sitting at the table and fondling your chips while talking to the babe across from you with the "plunging neckline"... if you know what I mean! Far more interesting than clicking the mouse... IMO

They have those on the internet too. But with a lot better things to see than some cleavage

 

[rcbstuff]

I don't think it's harder, you just have the ability to do more things when you are playing online. Where if you at a casino the only thing you have is the card game.

 

[IcyBlueAce]

Im not joking im talking from personal opinion, and imho, i find online poker easier than live, imo it just seems worse online bcause you get so much more volume in.

Swings are bigger, fields are bigger etc etc.

In any poker article or site that talks about online play vs. live play will tell you online play is way tougher vs live play.

A few reasons:
-The lowest stake is $1/$2 NL live, where as to online the lowest stake you can play is 1c/2c NL.

-Casinos are filled with drunks and gamblers wanting to have a good time, not caring if they bank a profit or not.

-Lots of people use all kinds of resources/programs online to pretty much know how to play you.

-In live play people get more tempted to play bad hands due to the simple reason that you can't multi-table and the hand rate per hour is about 50% less.

Those are just a few reasons, there are many others such as people simply do not know how to play correctly. The most popular CASINO in FL in my location is Hard Rock, when I play poker there, you always get 5+ people playing in a hand preflop which is ridiculous. A 3bet to them is like $20-$30..

Maybe the people you play live with are just awesome players, but generally its known that $1/$2 live is just like 1c/2c online (sometimes a little better).

 

[LombardiStix]

The game is no way near the same game. That's not to say that one can't have success in both arenas. However, to say that online is harder than live is a joke. The skill and discipline it takes to maintain focus at a live poker table is much harder than an online game which is perfect for the millennials who have the attention span of a flea... lol. However, not only do you have to maintain focus to be "really" successful live, but you must also have a memory that does all the things online "pros" HUD does. You also have to have control over your own body in order to keep from giving away information. IMO the true stud live player is a more complete player, but that is also very debatable. The reason there is a debate is because of the extreme differences in the game live vs. online. Anyway... I've seen the argument that online is harder because you can't "see" tells etc. It is easier because the lack of visual tells that most people don't know how to read because visual tells are extremely varied and complex... while online betting tells are much more simple. Much less variance... or easier.

Stix