Live or Online?

Online poker is great! Put the kids to bed, clean up the house, get ready for bed.... and then play poker for 2 or 3 hours. When you have the need to play poker like I do (you do), online poker satisfies. No babysitter needed. No driving and worrying about alcohol consumption. No long wait for the juicy table you want. Must be the best choice to play online...

But wait....

Live poker is great! The drunk guy tells you he is going to call anything you bet even if he has trash, and then he does exactly that. So you wait for "any" hand and take his chips. Loose guy goes all in with Top Pair weak kicker and you can see it in the way he won't look at you and you take advantage every time. Cha Ching! The rock checks to you, you raise and he insta-reraises all in. And you can see the confidence oozing out of him, begging you to call. So you fold. "Good lay down" he says. And you know he means it.

I play online, online, and then online; then I play live and remember how much more I love live poker. Reading players online is possible, but involves much more concentration on betting patterns. After 30 minutes of live poker, you should know what the tendancies of each player is and then exploit any tells.

Last night I played live at a birthday party that ran late. 8 "dads" decided to play a friendly tournament. After rebuys and add-ons. First place paid $100. Thank you online poker for making it possible to read betting patterns without conciously thinking about it. Thank you live poker for so so so many more tells. I took 1st without rebuying or adding on.

Stay patient...