Is Online Poker preparation for Live Poker?

This is a question I've been thinking about for quite some time. I'm not sure how do exactly explain it, so feel free to ask, if you don't understand.

When I first started playing poker (I write a little about it here), it was live poker that got me hooked. Not because I played it myself, but because I watched the WPT's on TV.

I soon found out about online poker, but still it was live poker that I considered the real thing and what I really wanted to play. However, when I started playing online poker was of course the easy way to play poker, but I wanted it to be the preparation for when I started playing live poker. I hoped to make some money on online poker, but only so I could use them on buying into different live tourneys or qualifying for them.

Also in the start I didn't have the time to play live poker due to school, so that's where the above came in.

This is written a bit confusing and I apologize for that, but do you feel the same way? Is any of you enjoying online poker for than live poker, and if live poker was as easy and accessible as online poker, would you still play online?

I am quite interested in playing more live, but have done very little of it so far, so I cant answer your question. But I have read quite a bit of stuff that states they are totally different.

I play maybe 2000 hands a day at the moment in cash games, and that would be obv. impossible live.

Target is 3-4x that volume by Fall.

I feel online is practice for live, especially for me in "knowing" what kind of cards I want to bet and learning to play "head" poker instead of "heart" poker. I don't get to play live often, so tended to play too loose when I got an opportunity to play.

Its impossible to play multiple tournaments/tables at once live, so yes i would still play online, live is fun tho

I would say that online poker isn't preparation for live poker because live poker has a different feel. You aren't looking at your computer screen anymore... there are actually people you play against that stare you down and whatnot. If you take online poker seriously, it can get you better at BRM, which can be applied to real life.

Live poker is so much more fun but online poker is more profitable (if your good) because you can multi-table to reduce variance. Online poker is more mechanical because its a game of small profits across many tables its almost just a math game. Live poker involves real people that have real faces and voices and nervous ticks and tempers so its more interactive. I really think that they are two differant games..same rules and pot odds and such but add in the live human factor and the game comes alive..with online poker in a lull to say the least I have been playing more live and poker is fun again. I think because online poker could reduce variance that short term luck is more of a factor in live poker so beware. Bottom line is I love to play so I'll play in both venues but live is more fun for me...Good luck.

If you can play breakeven at almost any level online above 2NL you can beat low-stakes live games.

Of course online is preparation for live. They are very similar, you just get less info online and can play more hands. Online is a great way to learn to play solid, winning poker. Once that foundation is in place, you can play live and clean up.

baudib1 said:

If you can play breakeven at almost any level online above 2NL you can beat low-stakes live games.

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^^^ This. At a given stakes, online poker is typically much more difficult to play well than live is.

Live and online strategy is often quite different, and people who don't recognize that and make the adjustment seldom do well in both. So it's really hard for me to say that either one is good practice for the other -- both are unique enough that you really have to practice at both if you want to excel in both. I will say that in my experience, a solid online player will do better his first time playing live, than a good live player will do playing online for the first time. The online player might pull his hair out from boredom, mind you, but as long as he can restrain from spewing chips out of boredom, he'll do better.

definitely, knowing the fundamentals and taking solid lines >>>>>> live experience

baudib1 said:

If you can play breakeven at almost any level online above 2NL you can beat low-stakes live games.

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Absolutely.... 1/2 NL live is just laughably easy to beat. Yes you will run into some people who are solid but the vasty majority of people cannot wait to give you their money. I feel like online play does help prepare for you live play to a large degree...it just may be a bit suprising when you realize just bad players are in person for the most part.

Its preparation to play live for sure in the sense of improving you skill, but there are things in live play that need to be introduced to your game, or for example if you like to talk to yourself while you play online, your not gonna wanna do that in a live game. there are differences that you will have to account for when you switch your game from online to live, or vise-verse, live to online.

I started watching poker on tv, and eventually found some friends that liked it as well, so i play live with them from time to time and it is definitely different, i am also the one of the only ones out of that group of players who plays online and am definitely the only one who studies the game, and i know i have a slight advantage when i play against them.

I'd say it's good preparation. You can play smaller stakes to experience the same standard of play you would find much higher live and you can play many more hands.

Only two things you will need to adapt to is not using a HUD and tells. The former takes getting used to. I've designed a HUD within my phone I will likely release onto CC next week.

baudib1 said:

If you can play breakeven at almost any level online above 2NL you can beat low-stakes live games.

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Again, ^^^^ this. This isn't an online elitist thing either, I started out playing live and live is all I've played for about the past year.