Online poker you may play anytime you want — 24/7 365. You can play it as a whole comfort, right through your own home, wearing what ever you like (or nothing at all), sitting, reclining, or jogging on a treadmill (although we do not recommend it). You may set the lighting, temperature, and ambience to be just when you like it. In many ways, with online poker you simply have more control.
You’ve got no others to contend with (at least not in person) — nobody hovering over you, talking at you, pushing you, crowding around you, giving you unsought advice, or shooting you nasty looks. You do not have to smell smoke if you don’t want to. You’ve got no sexy waitresses tempting you with mind-altering drinks and otherwise distracting your attention away from the game at hand (pun completely intended). You should not have to drive anywhere (and with gas prices what they are, that alone preserves your bankroll tremendously), nor do have to get dressed up or tip your dealer — all of which save you time and money.
Another benefit of online poker is the fact that you may play against people from world wide. Think about it next time you sit down at an online poker table — not everybody there even speaks the exact same language. And globetrotting over the internet gives you access to more casinos and poker rooms than you may ever find in one single place, even when that one place happens to be Vegas!
Online poker players get available an inordinate variety of cardrooms, game types, and table stakes. Moments ago, we mentioned the ambience of the environment where you definitely will be sitting down with your computer to play online poker (most likely your house), but online poker provides you with almost just as much control in determining the ambience of the cardroom itself.
Whether you enjoy an Old West setting, a Hollywood setting, an Egyptian setting, a jungle setting, a resort setting, as well as on and on…you can in all probability find an online poker room designed around whatever theme suits your tastes. Likewise, you can find rooms more more likely to have more (or less) experienced players, faster (or slower) action, higher (or lower) stakes, etc.
By the same token, on the flip side, learn gambling when playing online poker it also helps to be aware of its perceived disadvantages as compared with playing traditional “offline” poker. A simple awareness of the main difference alone can make you a better player.
For one, you don’t get that intimate, face to face contact with other human beings. But don’t rule online poker out as a social outlet altogether. More and more online poker rooms are fostering a real experience of community amongst their players with attractive and appealing member’s clubs, player forums, and sponsored land-based events.
For some poker players, the game just isn’t the same without the feel of the cards in your hands and the weight of the chips as you place them in the center of the table (or perhaps the sound of them clinking while you pull the pile towards you after a big win). And you can not substitute a number, however large or small, for the visual impact of the chip stacks — red, blue, and white — increasing or receding in front of you and expect the same effect.
But probably the largest deal that makes some offline poker players leery of playing online poker will be the inability to read another players. Most expert poker players rely on inadvertent visual cues given by their opponents — tells — as to the specific strength or weakness of their hands. There is one area to be said for the amount of information you may glean by just looking your opponent in the eyes (thus the prevalence of sunglasses at the poker table) and watching their hands, their posture, their facial expressions, etc. Fortunately, conversely, there are numerous of tells you may look for in online poker also, you just need to know where (and how) to look. But that is a subject for another article.
As for this article, we leave you with the analogy. If you like going to the theatre for your shows, the arena for your concerts, and the stadium for your games, get thee to a brick-and-mortar casino for your poker playing enjoyment. If you like Tivo though (or if perhaps you just ain’t got the dough for the theatre, arena, and stadium tickets), then online poker is your ticket.
