Fundamentally, live and online poker is the same game. They contain the same rules, the same cards, the same hands, and often the same winning format. Many of the skills that a player develops playing one type can easily be transitioned to the other.
At the same time, there are just as many players that feel that the two couldn’t be more different, with some likening live poker to a sport, and online poker to a video game. Whatever the case may be, there are some distinct differences between the two that all new players should keep in mind before entering the exciting world of card games online.
Bet Sizing
Live poker will often involve different bet sizes that what is generally found online, which is especially prevalent when it comes to the opening preflop raises. While many online games may have the features opening for 2x, 2.5x, or 3x the big blind, live games differ in that it isn’t unusual to come across players opening for much higher amounts, such as 5x, 6x, or sometimes more. This is much more common when the live games are low stake. This is also fairly common when it comes to tournaments: live tournaments will often see players overbetting, especially those that are inexperienced and struggle to keep track of the pot sizes while in play.
Folding vs. Calling
Live players tend to be a lot looser when their online counterparts when it comes to preflop calls, although postflop tends to be different. Online players are much more likely to make bigger postflop calls with weak or medium hands than what tends to happen during a life game. This also means that bluffs tend to go through more in a live game, although this can also depend entirely on the game itself as well as how the player participates.
Part of the reason for this difference is that online players simply need to hit the “call” button once they’ve decided on their hand; there’s a lot less pressure than when playing live, and it’s much easier to avoid the embarrassment of guessing incorrectly when not facing other players directly.
Pace of The Game
Online poker games tend to much faster than live games, with calling and folding often being finished within a few minutes of starting similar to online pokies Australia, but still dependent on the game. Live poker couldn’t be more different, where players may be dealt 30 hands per hour for a no-limit Hold’em game, whereas online could see 60 hands per hour at any given table, and even more for short-handed games. This, along with the ability to multi-table online variants means more hands per hour than is physically possible with the live version. The pace of the game is very much tied to what the player is looking for: if they don’t have the time to spend hours on a life poker game, then switching over to the online scene might be that much more convenient in the long-run.
