Online poker you can play anytime you want — 24/7 365. You can play it as a whole comfort, right from your own home, wearing what ever you like (or nothing at all), sitting, reclining, or jogging on a treadmill (however we do not recommend it). You may set the lighting, temperature, and ambience to be just as you like it. In many ways, with online poker you simply have more control.
You have no other people 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 in the event that you don’t want to. You have no sexy waitresses tempting you with mind-altering drinks and otherwise distracting your attention away from the game at hand (pun completely intended). You do not have to drive anywhere (and with fuel 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 across the globe. Think about it next time you sit down at an online poker table — not everybody there even speaks the same language. And globetrotting on the web provides you with 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 selection 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, and also on and also on…you may almost certainly find an online poker room designed around whatever theme suits your tastes. Likewise, you may find rooms more very likely to have more (or less) experienced players, faster (or slower) action, higher (or lower) stakes, etc.
By the same token, conversely, when playing online poker additionally, it helps to be aware of its perceived disadvantages as in comparison with playing traditional “offline” poker. A simple awareness of the main difference alone might make you a better player.
For one, you do not get that intimate, face-to-face contact with other human beings. But do not rule online poker out as a social outlet altogether. An increasing number of online poker rooms are fostering a real feeling 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 is not the exact same without the feel of the cards within your hands as well as the weight of the chips while you place them in the center of the table (or even the sound of them clinking when you pull the pile towards you after a big win). And you cannot 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 exact same effect.
But probably the biggest deal that makes some offline poker players leery of playing online poker is the inability to read the other players. Most expert poker players rely on inadvertent visual cues given by their opponents — tells — as to the particular strength or weakness of their hands. There is one area to be said for the total 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, however, there are numerous of tells you can look for in online poker also, you simply need to know where (and just how) to look. But that’s a subject for another article.
As because of this article, we leave you through an 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 quality casino (click through the next article) for your poker playing enjoyment. If you like Tivo although (or if you just ain’t got the dough for the theatre, arena, and stadium tickets), then online poker is your ticket.