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Differences between online and conventional poker
There are substantial differences between online poker gaming
and conventional, in-person gaming.
One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across
from each other, removing any ability to observe others'
reactions and body language. Instead, online poker players learn
to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time and
other behavior tells that are not physical in nature. Since
poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online
players learn to master the new frontiers of their surroundings.
Another less obvious difference is the rate of play. In brick
and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards, then
shuffle and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other
delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is
around thirty hands per hour. Online casinos, however, do not
have these delays; the dealing and shuffling are instant, there
are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and
on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons
(where the player selects his action before his turn). It is not
uncommon for an online poker table to average sixty to eighty
hands per hour.
This large difference in rate of play has created another effect
among online poker players. In the brick and mortar casino, the
only real way to increase your earnings is to increase your
limit. In the online world players have another option, play
more tables. Unlike a physical casino where it would be nearly
impossible to play multiple tables at once, most online poker
rooms allow a player to be on up to 4 tables at once. For
example, a player may make around $10 per 100 hands at a lower
limit game. In a casino, this would earn them under $4 an hour,
which minus dealer tips would probably barely break even. In an
online poker room, the same player with the same win rate could
play four tables at once, which at 60 hands per hour each would
result in an earning of $24/hour, which is a modest salary for
somebody playing online poker. Some online players even play
eight or more tables at once, in an effort to increase their
winnings.
Another important change results from the fact that online poker
rooms, in some cases, offer online poker schools that teach the
basics and significantly speed up the learning curve for
novices. Many online poker rooms also provide free money play so
that players may practice these skills in various poker games
and limits without the risk of losing real money. People who
previously had no way to learn and improve because they had no
one to play with now have the ability to learn the game much
more quickly and gain invaluable experience from free money play.
Tracking play
Tracking poker play in a B&M casino is very difficult. You can
easily monitor your winnings, but tracking any detailed
statistics about your game requires a player to take notes after
each hand, which is cumbersome and distracting. Conversely,
tracking poker play online is easy. Most online poker rooms
support "Hand Histories" text files which track every action
both you and your opponents made during each hand. The ability
to specifically track every single played hand has many
advantages. Many third-party software applications process hand
history files and return detailed summaries of poker play. These
not only include exact tallies of rake and winnings, which are
useful for tax purposes, but also offer detailed statistics
about the person's poker play. Serious players use these
statistics to check for weaknesses or "leaks" (mistakes that
leak money from their winnings) in their game. Such detailed
analysis of poker play was never available in the past, but with
the growth of online poker play, it is now commonplace among
nearly all serious and professional online poker players.
For more on Online Poker visit Casino Poker Places Online
Poker website
About the author:
Joe Boggs,a seasoned Poker Player and active contributor to Casino Poker
Places where online poker is covered more in-depth, along
side many other forms of online gambling such as Online
Casinos
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