Live Poker vs Online Poker

[aislephive]

To me, especially in tournaments, Live Poker outdoes online poker by a mile. Here's why.

People are smarter, for one. There's nothing more I hate than when I go all in with AK and some ass calls with 6To and flops a straight. Stealing the blinds is nearly impossible online, since you need to make an oversized bet to do so. People are more careful with their chips live, and sometimes a bet of 3-4 times the big blind will drive out the competition. Not online, you need a bet of up to 10X BB to chase the other hands away. And when they have a hand, you're toast.

Position is also a much bigger factor live, since most players factor position into their bets, raises, calls, and folds. There are a lot less limpers live than online, which means there are usually only 2-3 players to the flop with a table of more than eight.

What else did I miss?

[BobbySalami]

In the first hour of an online tournament this may be true....but once the schmuks are out 3-4xBB steals work many times.......plus wouldnt you rather play against idiots that dont protect their chips?...I know I would.

[spino1i]

I think you're giving live players too much credit. They arent that good at least at the lower-end tourneys. And almost no one I know knows much at all about position or how to use it to their advantage.

[aislephive]

In the first hour of an online tournament this may be true....but once the schmuks are out 3-4xBB steals work many times.......plus wouldnt you rather play against idiots that dont protect their chips?...I know I would.

Usually I'm all for playing with morons, but lucky cards seem to save them more often than not. They're very unpredictable, which good players are, but they often chase hands down to the river. And when they get lucky you're stack is in jeopardy.

Spinosi, you're probably right. I do give them more credit than they deserve. But people who have time to come out for live tournaments usually have a firm grasp of the game, where as online poker is accessible to anybody. I find myself playing poorly against bad players. I seem to suffer a lot of bad beats when playing with bad players. Good players rarely put themselves in a position where they need a lucky card to win.

[a500lbgorilla]

Usually I'm all for playing with morons, but lucky cards save them more often than not.

This can't possibly be true. Do you see why?

-'rilla

[BobbySalami]

Usually I'm all for playing with morons, but lucky cards save them more often than not.

This can't possibly be true. Do you see why?

-'rilla

Exactly, they are called lucky cards for a reason........Give me a tournament filled with morons any day of the week, you just have to adjust your play accordingly, learn to switch gears.

[Darby]

There's nothing more I hate than when I go all in with AK and some ass calls with 6To

Thats funny, I would like to push with AK and know someone would call with 6To

[aislephive]

Usually I'm all for playing with morons, but lucky cards save them more often than not.

This can't possibly be true. Do you see why?

-'rilla

Exactly, they are called lucky cards for a reason........Give me a tournament filled with morons any day of the week, you just have to adjust your play accordingly, learn to switch gears.

Trust me, I know how to switch gears. Bad beats are a whole other alley. Everybody gets them, but online it happens a lot more. And many hands are played that shouldn't, and there are often so many limpers online that any hand turns into a well concealed monster. In the long run, I'll be making money because luck won't always go their way. But recently, it hasn't. And every single time I lose it's to somebody who had no business calling my raise or even calling the big blind. This happens a lot less in live poker, and I was just comparing the two.

[aislephive]

There's nothing more I hate than when I go all in with AK and some ass calls with 6To

Thats funny, I would like to push with AK and know someone would call with 6To

What if you knew the flop was going to come 7,8,9? Would you push then?

[Irisheyes]

Usually I'm all for playing with morons, but lucky cards save them more often than not.

This can't possibly be true. Do you see why?

-'rilla

If lucky cards saved me more often then not, I'd get a few thousand dollars, go to $2000 NL and go all-in every hand. Insta-millionaire! (Nearly)

[BobbySalami]

And every single time I lose it's to somebody who had no business calling my raise or even calling the big blind. This happens a lot less in live poker, and I was just comparing the two.

Both live and online poker have retards that are willing to play any 2 cards for any reason......

Bad beats happen in the same proportion in live as they do online your just playing more hands per hour and therefore see more bad beats....

Retards that call with stuff that has a %12 chance of winning etc etc are your bread and butter....bad beats suck, but dont complain about playing dumb players because that is what we all dream of, a table full of idiots with deep pockets......

[lamaros]

You'd rather play good players than bad players? Please.

This is nothing but a "aww I got some bad beats" whinge post, don't pass it off as some kind of insight.

I prefer live poker because it's more fun; because you can see and chat with the other players, because you can feel the chips, because you can get some good reads, etc.. but if you give me the choice I'd much rather play live versus bad players than good ones, i'll make much more money. True, I might be more likely to get a bad beat every now and then, but when I do win I'll win a whole heap more.

[no1hustler]

You don't make money playing players that are better than you or close to the same skill level. You make the money against players that are far worse than you. Read the 'bible'.

[zenbitz]

The problem comes in when you don't know (yet) if the player is good or bad!

If you assume a bad player is good, you will get surprised when you put a move on them.
If you assume a good player is bad, you will get surprised when they put a move on you.

[Aces]

There's nothing more I hate than when I go all in with AK and some ass calls with 6To

Thats funny, I would like to push with AK and know someone would call with 6To

What if you knew the flop was going to come 7,8,9? Would you push then?

[journey075]

There's nothing more I hate than when I go all in with AK and some ass calls with 6To

Thats funny, I would like to push with AK and know someone would call with 6To

What if you knew the flop was going to come 7,8,9? Would you push then?

lol i was surprised nobody else quoted that.

[Theeggman]

I've only played one live tourney (in vegas) and on the VERY FIRST HAND I get AKo. I raise 4xbb and get re-raised all-in by AQ0. I called and he rivered his Q and all my chip were belong to him. Yesterday I got dealt AKs in the BB on the VERY FIRST HAND in a $10 R&A online. Dude two to my right went AI w/AJo. I called and MHIG so all his chip were belong to me. I'm sure there are innumerable examples to support both sides but I'm almost certain that the difference isn't very big. If I had to choose though, I'd choose online because it's easy to make a "loose call" only to find that your opp was on tilt or just didn't care about his stack and pushed w/K9s. It's harder to find ops who do that when they've made the effort to drive to the casino at a particular start time and plunk down cash money for their stack of chips.

Side note: I played in a live NL ring game this weekend and I was one of those players you're complaining about. Two smaller stacks push preflop with me on the button and I call w/78s. Hit the str8 and took all their chips. Damn fish.

[DoGGz]

The original poster needs some mental exercises.

Online players do respect the raise
It is just as easy to blind steal online as live
Buying down pots online is just as easy/important as it is live.
Please call me all in with t6o every hand.

[aislephive]

The original poster needs some mental exercises.

Online players do respect the raise
It is just as easy to blind steal online as live
Buying down pots online is just as easy/important as it is live.
Please call me all in with t6o every hand.

No they don't.
No they don't.
No it isn't as easy, yes it as important.
Please get a clue, of course I love playing against fish, mostly in ring games. But in a tournament, it's a different story. I rarely put my stack in jeopardy unless I know I have the best hand or I'm getting blinded away.

I'll take AK vs. AQ any day in any tournament, even on the bubble (unless first place prize sucks)

[BobbySalami]

I'll take AK vs. AQ any day in any tournament, even on the bubble (unless first place prize sucks)

He didnt say he didnt want that match up....he was stating that there are many live players just as retarded as online ones.....one is not better than the other.....

[MRoper18]

My profits on and offline:

Online: -200
Offline: +1450

[DoGGz]

The original poster needs some mental exercises.

Online players do respect the raise
It is just as easy to blind steal online as live
Buying down pots online is just as easy/important as it is live.
Please call me all in with t6o every hand.

No they don't.
No they don't.
No it isn't as easy, yes it as important.
Please get a clue, of course I love playing against fish, mostly in ring games. But in a tournament, it's a different story. I rarely put my stack in jeopardy unless I know I have the best hand or I'm getting blinded away.

Yes, they do. This is why you aren't winning.

I blind stole many times and stole MANY pots in my last MTT and won 800$.

[Irisheyes]

Surely the consistent positive results of many FTR'ers in online MTTs proves that the problem is not the tournaments themselves but the way you are approaching them.

[BobbySalami]

Surely the consistent positive results of many FTR'ers in online MTTs proves that the problem is not the tournaments themselves but the way you are approaching them.

quoted for truth

[RHCNNN]

all his chip were belong to me

HAHAHAHAHA... did anyone else spot this reference?
good stuff...[/quote]

[underminedsk]

all his chip were belong to me

HAHAHAHAHA... did anyone else spot this reference?
good stuff...

yes...(sigh)

[m3laNcholy]

Bad beats are a whole other alley. Everybody gets them, but online it happens a lot more.

Hmm no. They happen the exact same amount of time.

[dev]

I think the main difference is reads.

I play 3 or 4 rl games a week.

Last night, we were playing a $1/$2 nl side game. I'm in a pot just after the flop with a guy I know pretty well. I have Qc Tc and the flop is Ac 4c 2d. The guy raised $5 preflop, and checked the flop. I bet $15, which was about 3/4 of the pot. He went all in for just over $100. Online, this is a fold almost every time. Against him, I was 80% sure he had low suited connectors, and was looking for a flush draw and possibly a gut shot straight. I called, he showed 5c 7c. You just can't get a read like that online.

I took my buddy out of the tourney on a similar read, there was a straight on board, but he didn't make it yet. I called him AI with trips and took it down. That pot didn't take him out, but it made me the chip leader and I ended up winning the tourney.

Table image is another huge advantage of live play. The first hour of that tourney, I played maybe 4 pots. Everyone still thought I was a lagg player because that's my reputation. I talked a lot on the table, and that kept me in everyone's heads. I got called with garbage from good players who simply didn't realize I was playing super tight... you can't get a play like that to work online.

I don't think quality of play is much different. At least half of the people at these tourneys play online or have played online. I get far better results live than I do online, but that's mostly because when I'm online, I don't have the image until the table has stayed the same for a while and sometimes I forget that.

I'm sure there are other reasons for my inconsistent play online, but that's why I'm here. I know you can't blame it on your opponents. If they play a certain way, you just have to adjust to it.

[jukejointroach]

when i when a pot online, i don't get to rake all those chips in and stack them up all nice and neat. live>online

[outphase]

Bad beats are a whole other alley. Everybody gets them, but online it happens a lot more.

Hmm no. They happen the exact same amount of time.

It depends on how you look at it, but you're right if given the same amount of hands it'll even out. It happens more online because you're seeing a ton of more hands than a live game.

I crush online FREEROLL tournaments. That's the worst bunch of players ever. They don't even care if they finish last because it's free. The worst loosest and dumbest players come to freerolls. I still crush them. Bad beats a plenty... BUT I DON'T CARE. Field of 2000? Sure, but half of those will be out in the first few minutes.

If I put in a dollar every time I played a freeroll and played against the same HORRIBLE people who played horribly still, I'd be up a couple of thousand dollars now.

YOU WANT bad players, even in tourneys. Just don't cry about bad beats.