Five Differences Between On and Offline Poker

A poker game is a poker game irrespective of whether you're playing offline or online.

Introduction

The goal of both poker whether online or offline is to take out chips from your opponent. A flush beats a straight in the live game just like it does online. However, these are just ways in which they are similar to each other. In this article, you're going to learn the differences between playing offline and online poker [3].

Playing Online Is More Convenient

Playing online is more convenient than playing at land-based casinos. This is true, no matter the number of casino rooms that you have close to you. When it comes to playing online, you simply don't need to have a bath, get dressed and drive to the casino. All you have to do is pull out your mobile phone or computer, turn it on, visit your favourite casino site and start playing.

Game Speed

Playing online is normally faster than playing live. This is often one of the deciding factors for players, and most times players find playing live more monotonous and tedious to take part in. This tallies with the higher stakes involved in live games as players have more considerations when making decisions. But virtual poker gives players a specific amount of time for each decision they make. Also, a time limit when they struggle to make a decision. In an offline game, it's common to see a player come to a decision between three and five minutes, especially at the expert level of the game.

Live Tells Versus Online Tell

This is normally what players use to decide on whether to fold, call, or raise. The role the physical tell plays does not exist when you play online, because you can see your opponent. This leaves players in a state where concentration is needed. Meaning that they’ll strive to track both the bets made by their opponent and the pot size during every phase of the round. This will give them the insight that they require to make an informed decision. Other than being a nit or lag (low risk or loose-aggressive) player it can be difficult to profile your online opponent due to lack of physical presence. Inexperienced players can easily be profiled in live games as they can easily give away a lot of information during the gameplay.

Access To The Game

Though this difference has nothing to do with how to play poker, it's still a difference worth mentioning. When playing online you have 24 hours access to different poker varieties [4]. While on the other hand, live games are more difficult for an average player to gain access to play their favourite games. Live games usually require a heavy buy-in.

Inability To Hide A Poor Poker Face In Casino

The biggest mistake of most new players is their inability to hide their emotions, they give off tells [5]. If players are moving into a sloping position after a couple of beats, they can’t hide it from their opponents. Your opponent can easily tell that you’ve been dealt a few unfortunate hands. However, that’s not the same with online poker. When playing online your competitors won’t see your face, and you won’t see theirs. And that’s a great advantage for the novice players.

Conclusion

Playing poker both online and offline is great. One of the reasons people choose playing online over playing in bricks and mortar casinos is because they can easily gauge their opponent’s face. Another key thing to keep in mind is that no matter the number of poker rooms near you, online casinos will always be more convenient.