Differences between live poker and online poker

mariuspoker1

mariuspoker1

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Hy all,

If there are any live poker players in here i would like to know what are the main differences between live poker and online poker; I'm asking because I'm only an online poker player and I'm thinking if deserve in the future to try also live poker.

Thanks in advance to all.
 
BilNicholson

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I don't play much live but as you might guess, online you play a lot more hands per hour, so when playing live you have to be a lot more patient.
 
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Grindzhard

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i play live much more than online. It seems to me that the anonymity of online poker allows people to make much looser calls. When you are live you would have a very tough time looking at your "peers" in the face after making some of these ridiculous calls you see online. You also see a lot less shoving, although it happens, you see far less. Many more people prefer to play post flop. If you see someone folding or shoving... chances are they are just afraid of being out-played post flop. IMO
 
NinjaHands

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I only played live for the first 10 years, then started online because of time restrictions. They are VERY different. Not in terms of strategy, but in terms of psychology. Mind games are more important, as is reading opponents and masking yourself from your opponents. There is more depth in live poker.
 
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Kiritoe

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in my opinion, Live poker offers a lot more tells as compared to online poker. Body movement, language etc. However, the games are slower as such. you can play alot of tables online at one time but only one table live.
 
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emirlidan

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Live poker is a lot more fun and social usually there is some good conversation some distractions and the play is a lot slower

I prefer live but my bankroll says play online lol
 
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Grindzhard

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in my opinion, Live poker offers a lot more tells as compared to online poker. Body movement, language etc. However, the games are slower as such. you can play alot of tables online at one time but only one table live.
very true but sometimes playing multi tables is not a good thing ;). I was playing a 4 tourneys and went to make a call in a $7.50 $1200 gtd KO and new screen popped up in a $110 $20k gtd and made an accidental call for 80% of my 3rd place stack 3 places before the money (which i bubbled)
 
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guitaRisGood

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Veeeery different live than online. best way to learn is go and play. there are free "just for fun" tournaments around (if you don't want to drop $$ right away) they'll give you a good sense of what it's like to actually see the other players across the table.
 
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konemota

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Online poker is like sex with a condom. If you like the game I can really suggest you to go to try the real deal. You need to feel the adrenaline rush when you are in the big hand, when you are bluffing and need to be calm, knowing that other players are watching you or when you have nuts and others are pumping the pot. To feel the heat, which will overcome you, when your opponent hit the lucky river.

Compering with online game, you will see that you always need the high level of concentration for playing live, not to make mistakes. Like mucking your hand while player next to dealer still have his cards, or putting wrong chips in to the pot.

Also, one of the biggest difference is that in a live game you can not use help from tracking software, which pros are using online. All of decisions you need to bring by your own.
 
TerryBLE

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Hy all,

If there are any live poker players in here i would like to know what are the main differences between live poker and online poker; I'm asking because I'm only an online poker player and I'm thinking if deserve in the future to try also live poker.

Thanks in advance to all.


I will list two points I read in an article in the past and have helped me decide

1 - Bet Sizing

In live cash games you'll often encounter different bet sizing than happens online, primarily when it comes to opening preflop raises. While an online cash game might feature players opening for 2x, 2.5x, or 3x the big blind, in live games it isn't unusual to encounter players opening for 5x or 6x or even more, particularly in the lower-stakes live games (e.g., $1/$2 NL)

2 - The Pace of the Game
One of the more obvious surface-level differences between live and online poker is the pace of play. Online poker plays considerably faster than live poker, and some who prefer playing online find the live game too tedious to tolerate. Whereas you might be dealt around 30 hands per hour in a no-limit hold'em cash game, online you'll see 60 hands per hour (or more) at a given table and even more in short-handed games. The ability to multi-table online also means playing a lot more hands per hour than is possible live.

For this reason, the impression of getting more bad beats online can be exaggerated. The fact is, you can seem to experience more of everything online because you're playing many more hands.
 
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Dzob

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With poker is like sex, live is more enjoyable :D. You see the opponent, his gestures, physically touching the chips, and you feel greater satisfaction after taking the chips by taking away the chips.
 
Andrei Korolev

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I would like to help, but he did not play except online...
 
MemphisGrind

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Hy all,

If there are any live poker players in here i would like to know what are the main differences between live poker and online poker; I'm asking because I'm only an online poker player and I'm thinking if deserve in the future to try also live poker.

Thanks in advance to all.


Yes, I play live 80% online 20% Live is softer than online. Mainly because of all the tools available to online players. If you are used to online you might let off some tells that live players can pick up on, so that will be something to watch out for. Playing live is overall a more fun experience. Unless of course you get a bad table with a person that won't shut up about horrible topics. For the most part though the conversation is light and fun. Also, you will get around 25-30 hands per hour compared to online getting 100+ hands per hour.
 
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lewis99

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gday all...live poker vs online..very different..be more observant,slower game,way more social,much more satisfying..in my case live is even broken down to home area or road trip...ex. home would be local bar league where players know others....road trip would be going to casino or poker room...thanks darrell
 
uriell

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Online and offline poker are significantly different.
 
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wrapper

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I play about 95% online and 5% live. It used to be 100% live, back in my younger days. I enjoy playing live more, but overall I have more success online.

To me there are a few significant differences between the games, in addition to pace of play, bet sizing and potential distractions as already mentioned:

(1) Tells. About the only types of tells you can get online are bet sizing and timing. Live, you can see the other person's face (are they looking at their chips? Are they looking at the board? Are they looking squarely at you, trying to get a read?), hands (did they stop playing with their chips when the board hit? Did they bet more deliberately, counting chips carefully, or just shove chips in?), overall posture (do they look defeated? Confident? Are they overacting?), etc. It's much easier to pick up on tells in a live game. Inversely, of course, you're much more likely to give away such information in a live game than you are online.

(2) Rake/toke. If you play SNGs or MTTs online you're used to about a 10% tournament rake regardless of stake (smaller for turbos or special tourneys). A lot of live daily/weekly/monthly tournaments not only have a higher rake, but if you win you're expected to tip the dealer as well. Same for cash games; rake can be higher, especially if there is a bad beat jackpot or high hand jackpot, plus, again, you're expected to tip the dealer.

(3) Etiquette/card handling. Accidental things like betting out of turn, revealing your hand, folding prematurely, etc., can happen live (and, depending on the circumstances, can mean a penalty, like having to sit out for fifteen minutes or one round of blinds). Once, I accidentally mucked the winning hand at showdown. That can't happen online. On the other hand, I have, on occasion, been flashed a card or two by someone sitting next to me (I don't look on purpose, of course, but if they're holding their hand so far away from their body that I can see it, it's not my fault), and while it's good form to inform someone when they are doing that, you can use whatever information you can get to determine your action.

(4) Convenience. The nearest casino is an hour away. My computer is between the kitchen and the living room. And, I get my own parking space.

(5) Chips. Online, it's just pixels on your screen. Live, you get to play with your chips. I know, this sounds silly, but to me there's nothing like feeling and hearing the clattering of chips as I stack them or shuffle them. Or try to launch them tiddly-winks style across the table into my brother's beer (it was a one-in-a-million shot!).
 
Lena M

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Hello.
I play poker for only 6 months.
In my opinion, playing live is much more difficult than online.
Sometimes it is hard for me to control my emotions playing poker on the internet.
 
virus94

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you play omly one table, that's a problem
 
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rigor mortis

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If I had the choice to play live or online, I'd take live any time.There's a totally different
atmosphere live, you are interacting with humans and not a screen. The play is slower and more relaxed, with a bit of banter amongst the players. There is nothing like having a shed load of chips pushed towards you and piling them up in stacks
 
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HeyMan

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I play live 95% online and 5% . The Live is seems softer than online these days. My problem with online is the software online players use to give them a edge
 
voli106

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live poker is also good in it you can see the main players bots there is no real dealer it pleases
 
voli106

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this my opinion????? its choice where to play
 
voli106

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fish is looking for where it is deeper and where the best man.:D
 
najjah166

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i never play on live i prefer playing online,
 
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Chief talking bull

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I grew up playing live poker and I was right there when online poker started. The pace of live poker is much slower and of coarse you can only play one table at a time. There's not much in the way of freerolls in live poker.
In live poker it's easier to get a read on a player. You also must be more careful about your own tells. You need to learn to protect your cards so no one else see them or they don't get mucked on you by accident. It's fun if you have enough guys for a home game so long as no one gets beat too bad. Online poke just doesn't have the same social aspect to it. I like a real deck of cards because you know the next card off the deck is going to be the same no matter how long it takes to turn it. I'm not so sure the same can be said for random number generators.
 
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