276 Days To Go
I have come to the stark realization that I am completely sick of online poker. My live poker experience is limited to small home games that I no longer partake in, but even with that small sample size, I can’t help but feel like live poker is, well, better.
I think it’s the fact that to play online poker, you simply hit the Full Tilt or Poker Stars icon and start plugging away. Maybe you listen to a little music, maybe you check emails, maybe you check the latest headlines, all the while trying to concentrate on what’s going to at the table. It doesn’t really feel like poker. It feels like any other internet activity. What position is seat 2 most likely to raise out of? What hands has he been raising with? How has he been playing his flush draws? It just seems so much easier to focus on these questions when seat 2 is sitting directly across from you instead of simply being represented by the hockey player avatar on FTP.
That is why I’m counting down the days. 276 days until I turn 21. There are a number of indian casinos scattered throughout Oregon, all with sprawling poker rooms. I am always jealous when I read some of your posts regarding live poker exploits. I want to feel the cards and chips in my hands, be able to look across the table and know immediately if my opponent likes his hand. All of that is 276 days away.
What are your thoughts on this? For those who play both live and online, which do you prefer? Is my assumption that live poker is some kind of utopia sorely misplaced? Any input would be great!
In other news, my quest for $1/2$ NLHE status is progressing slowly. I subscribe to Chris Ferguson’s theory that you should never buy in for more than 5% of your roll, meaning I need about a $4000 roll to be able to buy-in to a 1/2 game. Let’s just my status as a .05/.10 grinder seems locked in for the foreseeable future. Also, it looks as if I might actually start playing on Poker Stars now! I have an account but I have literally never played a hand. However, I received an email the other day from PS informing me that they had deposited $5 into my empty account. They gave no explanation for why. Thank you Lee Jones (or whoever is steering the Stars ship now)!
RipCity
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Comments
I think you can make much much more money playing online, especially multitabling.
One of my big issues with playing online is the difficulty in getting money in and out of the sites. It’s nice when I play live that I get to use the money to buy things minutes after I cash out. For me, my highs are much higher and lows much lower playing live, which I enjoy.
You’ll probably enjoy whichever medium you are better at, ultimately.
For me, online is frustrating and boring. I browse other sites and watch TV while I play because it’s hard for me to concentrate on people I can not see. I would take a live game over online any day. I actually don’t get all that bored in live games. I enjoy people watching, therefore, reading my opponents becomes a game for me. I really like to watch them and breakdown their tells. I also like to manipulate how they perceive me by what I say to them or how I look or dress for a particular session/tournament… things like that. It’s a game beyond the cards and a lot of players at the low limits don’t play it. As far as the 1/2 NLHE games. In FL the games have a max buy-in of $100. The last time I played in LA, at the Bike, the max was only $40. Of course, when you get below that amount you can buy back in for another 100 or 40..
I’m excited for you.. the first time I played poker in a casino it was so exciting. I’ve been hooked ever since.
Live poker is a million times better than on-line poker. Mainly for all the reasons said in the above comments but also because people can’t hide behind their screens and talk all that trash to you. Sure they can do this live but it is much rarer to see.
Playing online and live have many many many differences, including card strengths and tells, etc. I can just say that playing live right now is more profitable (playing 20/40, 1BB/hr type), while online is more accessible (just sit down and click an icon as you say), but online is more of a grind.
Just a few suggestions. After you have played a lot of online and have been 4tabling, you will be extremely bored in the casino. Go there with a different mindset. Know how to strike up a conversation while paying attention to cards and people and the flow of the game. Otherwise you’ll start playing JTo UTG, just cause it’s been 20 minutes since you have seen a flop…