Live Poker vs. Online Poker.....Is it Possible.....

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bounce 2018

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This is just a curious question I have based off of my experience. Is it possible to be more profitable in live poker and not be profitable in online poker? I have found I am profitable when I play live poker compared to when I play online. I don't think I change how I play between the two versions but maybe subconsciously I do change how I play. I also think I can read people pretty well which would help me in live poker instead of online poker. I am just curious to hear other peoples' opinions on this subject.
 
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mikejm

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there definitely are big differences between the two and its possible you could be changing your game without noticing. i would think that the case would be opposite because its easier to be patient online when you see alot more hands. what could be possible in your case is that you could be more careful with your money when you actually have the chips in front of you as opposed to online when its just a click of a button and your money is gone. just a thought i cant be entirely sure without actually seeing you play.
 
tenbob

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Live players are generally much much worse that what you will find at a similar level online.

Its easier to make money from bad players, so yea, entirely possible to be a winning player live and a loser online.
 
Biggee247

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I definately make more money on live poker. Online poker is just something to do when i cant make it to the casinos. Online poker i dont pay enough attention, my cat might start messing with me, i may get into something on the tv. Too many distractions at the house for me to be a serious online player.
 
BelgoSuisse

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Live players are generally much much worse that what you will find at a similar level online.

This.

Any other factor like paying more or less attention or being more or less drunk while playing are insignificant compared to the huge difference in the playing skills of your opponents live and online.
 
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It does seem to me that you do have worse players live than online. I think one difference for me to is that online I tend to play mtts as where when I play live I usually just play cash. That could be the reason why I seem to do better live as well.
 
Robd3k

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This could have to do with various things, such as the players you are playing live with, the stakes you are playing online vs live, and some people play looser online because they don't see the value of the money they are betting. Either way I don't doubt that its possible but it is definitly something that could be fixed with practice.
 
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This could have to do with various things, such as the players you are playing live with, the stakes you are playing online vs live, and some people play looser online because they don't see the value of the money they are betting. Either way I don't doubt that its possible but it is definitly something that could be fixed with practice.

I do agree with this statement. I actually feel like I play tighter online than I do live. I just really need to pay attention more closely at the difference of my play to see where the big difference is. I play $1/$2 cash live and only play micros online but mostly tournaments.
 
xdeucesx

xdeucesx

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honestly, it feels like the 1/2 game live at a casino has as much skill as .10/.25 game online...the players online are deff better, plus if you want to play online, you have to set up a way to deposit and all that comes with that, but if you want to play live, all you have to do is drive to your local casino/homegame. The preparation and effort in getting online is much more complicated
 
curly

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for some reason, I was more profitable in live games rather than online, but since they were mostly home games played in a basement rather than in an actual casino, the people I was playing with were probably a little less skilled than the people I encounter online. The next time I consider playing a live game, I want it to be in a casino, I think it would be better for my game.
 
Sixes Full

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I find it much easier to read my opponent live by observing their action, the way they handle their chips, if they are at all interested in the game or staring off into the casino while waiting for a big hand. Online you never know who is really paying attention and who is reading emails, posting on poker forums, surfing the net, etc. Also there are a lot of online players who are too young to play live, but are mad skilled...
 
robert_wrath

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The issue is more opinionated upon players skill. Online allows one to multiscreen tables as oppose to isolated toward a single table game. Yes, there are advantages analyzing your opponents body language/reaction to the drop of the card(s).
 
doops

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I tend to do better live (playing limit HE) than I do online. But I don't really have enough hands or sessions in to know that for sure.

At casinos, the other players can be drunk, they can be raising light a lot, they can be playing a "friendly" game, throwing their chips in with some recklessness. Live, you can pretty quickly figure out who is playing seriously and who is just having fun. The danger is how slow it is -- you can easily play more hands than you should.

Last time I was at a casino, nearly everyone was limping into every pot. When I raised on the button, a couple of people near me were upset. "This is a friendly game!" they said. I said (as kindly as I could) "I'm being friendly. I'm warning you I have a good hand." Their faces said that they had kind of forgotten about that possibility. And that's why I tend to do OK live.
 
curly

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being a small town guy like myself, I never played poker at a casino before, when I used to play live poker it was strictly home games, not knowing what casino poker is like, I should of kept that part of the comment out, its just that I picture it being so competitive, I guess I was wrong. :eek:
 
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Definitely possible to be more profitable live than online. I have a friend who plays $1/$2 NL at the local casino, and for the most part comes home way ahead. He tried to branch into playing online, and couldn't manage to win at all. It wasn't a matter of not having the proper bankroll / having a bad run, the losing happened pretty consistently over the course of several months. His take is that online players are simply much better at their game than even the regulars at the casino.

I think, though, even though I live in a fairly large city, the pool of NL players that we have is fairly small. We have a couple of casinos, but only one has NL. I don't really have much of a basis to compare limit play live to limit play online -- all of my limit experience has been online, but in my experience, online low-limit play is fairly soft. Though in my NL experience, I like online play better than live play. I have issues when it comes to giving off tells, so being able to obscure those works nicely for me.

So, I think the answer is really it depends on your personal style and skill set. I could probably play the exact same hands against the same opponents online and live and win more money online than live. For my friend, it would probably be the opposite.

I also wonder if it's easier for online players to transition to live play than it is for live players to transition to online play...any thoughts?
 
Cheese

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You can read players in online poker as well. That's your mistake right there, play the players, not the cards. Find there betting patterns, the timid players, calling stations...etc
 
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pokerfaced

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I don't know but I think I gain more profit whilst playing online.
 
dmorris68

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There isn't really a comparison or argument -- live players are, generally speaking of course, much worse than online players at a given level. This has been discussed and shown time and again. The comparison of 200NL live to 25NL online is just about dead-on in terms of player skill.
 
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