1. Online poker has come to stay and has certain advantages to offline poker
What is online poker?
On any given day more than 100,000 people from all over the world sit down in front of their computers to play poker online for real money. Online poker means playing poker in real time, in a virtual environment against real players. All that is needed is a computer and an Internet connection (dial-up works fine, but will be slower). You go to a poker room, sit down at a poker table offering your preferred game, e.g. $5-$10 Limit Texas Holdem. Your opponents sit around the table and you're dealt the cards and make your bets in exactly the same way as in a real casino except there are no misdeals.
The growth of online poker
The popularity of poker has increased at an astounding speed the last few years. The main reasons are the flexibility and speed of playing online as well as being able to join any global game from your computer. Lately, poker as a sport has received huge media coverage as the online poker culture grows and WSOP and WPT are being shown on TV. This further reinforces the massive growth of online poker. Also, there exists a greater availability due to the increase of online poker rooms and the fact that online qualifiers has won the main event at the World Series of Poker two years in a row has contributed great goodwill to the online rooms.
Online poker with real money began in 1998 at Planet Poker and had a moderate growth the first 2-3 years at time when Paradise Poker had a dominant market share. The big upswing came with the entry of aggressive marketers such as Party Poker and WPT televised events in 2002. In 2003 alone the game volume increased more than 400%. The online poker market has grown exponentially in recent years and is expected to top the $1 billion revenue mark during 2004. The online poker business is today very profitable for the established rooms, but more and more competition is heating up with higher and better bonuses, promotions and other perks. Also the brick-and-mortar poker world has benefited tremendously with poker rooms popping up at the casinos with increased frequency. Today many new players start out playing online and then move on to play at home games and casinos around the world. There are, though, many advantages with online poker both for the beginner and the expert player vs offline poker as you will see in the next section.
What makes poker particularly fascinating is the fact that in the short term any decent player can compete and even win over the world's best players. By the same token, poker is also deceptive as many less skilled players are not aware of their long-term outlook to win or let alone break-even. As you are surely aware, poker is a game of skill and the best players will win money over time.
Online vs Offline Poker
Many beginners think that playing poker online will prove to be completely different than playing offline and they are sometimes correct, though usually for the wrong reasons. Common is the notion that it is much harder to "read" your opponents when you do not see them sitting in-person at the table. What most fail to recognize is that the majority of available information when making a decision at the poker table comes from a variety of factors other than "reading" your opponents faces. To spot a "tell" from a player's actions on a hand, and so forth, is often very difficult and not all players display such tells. Most of the required information comes from betting patterns, position at the table and observing the hands your opponents play.
There are many advantages though with online poker both for the beginner and the expert player. The beginners have the chance to play, watch and learn in the comfort of their own home. They can also start playing for real money at stakes that are much lower than what is possible in a real casino. The expert players mainly benefit from the great selection of games, the faster pace (more money), the option to play at multiple tables, and not having to drag their feet to the smoke-filled local poker room every other day.
Probably the greatest advantage with online poker involves speed and accessibility. Online poker is a lot quicker than offline poker. There is no waiting for the deck to be shuffled, the deals are super quick and no misdeals occur, it takes no time for the rake to be taken out, there is no changing of chips back and forth, no counting of the pot, no tipping and no waiting for decisions to be made by floor managers. Another advantage is the option of playing at multiple tables in order to get more action and increasing your overall hourly win rate (if you are a winning player). In addition, when playing online, it is always possible to find a game to your liking and you can play 24hrs a day from anywhere in the world as well as from the comfort of your own home. The availability of poker variations and games is also much greater.
The major advantage with playing poker offline is that it is a social game. Meeting your opponents face-to-face is significantly more enjoyable and stimulating than sitting alone in front of your computer. You are able to talk to, and get to know, more people. It is easier to remain focused and observe your opponents when you can see them. As well, your ability to read your opponents' minds is increased since you can see when they are feeling restless, if they are affected by a "bad beat", if they are in a good/bad mood, etc. In addition, it is easier to remember their actions when you are able to connect them to a physical person. Also, if you are skilled at spotting physical tells in your opponents, you will find more opportunities to do so when playing offline.
All in all, the game will feel more "real" when you have the cards in your hand and the chips are stacked in front of you. Even if you are an experienced online poker player, you may find that you are quite nervous when you play in a live poker room for the first time.
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