The Main Ways That Live Poke Differs From Online Poker

Poker is a game beloved by millions around the world. It’s one of the oldest forms of gambling to be found and has gone through numerous changes over the years, which is why there are so many variations of it to be found.

One of the newest kinds of poker that can be played isn’t a game type specifically, but rather a playing style. Live poker. While online poker has been around for the last decade or two, live poker is a fairly new phenomenon and many seasoned poker players are wondering what the main differences between these poker styles are. After all, isn’t online poker the same thing as live poker?

The main differences between the two are that they attract vastly different poker players to each side. You’ll find pro players who advocate strongly for one or the other, which lends keen eyes and minds to discern that yes, these playing options are in fact vastly different.

Online players in the past have failed to grasp the intricacies of live poker, including how to bluff, while live players find the pace of online poker doesn’t allow them the strategy times, they’re used to which leads to larger losses. For those curious, here are some of the ways in which these differences occur between live poker and online poker.

Virtual vs Real Poker

Many players who advocate strongly for one camp or the other point out the fact that live poker is viewed by many to be ‘real’ poker, while online poker is seen more often as ‘virtual’ poker. This discrepancy has led to many to prefer one type over the other.

One of the main reasons many consider live poker as real poker is that live poker is done at a far slower pace than online poker is. This gives players time to think and make suppositions about what the other players are potentially doing – or not – with the possible hands of cards they have. This allows for greater rapport between players and the chance to utilise skills like bluffing, effectively.

Online poker on the other hand is done at a much faster rate. So much so that many online poker professionals are playing hundreds of games a day. Sound far-fetched? It’s not at all. The decisions for online poker tend to be done lighting fast, so as not to hold up other players. This has helped online poker pros to make smart decisions far faster but has led to less of the social side.

This faster gameplay for online poker has come about since machines do all the shuffling, chip collections, pot winning distributions and card shuffling for players lending speed being the skill of choice to those playing. Conversely, live poker relies on the slower more sedate pace as cards are physically shuffled and swished together, chips are amalgamated and dispersed. All of which leads to slower hands being done over the course of an hour.

Folding And Calling Are Different

When live poker players gather, the playing style is usually less formal and more fluid. This leads to more calling and a looser play style, which results in pots usually becoming multi-way pots. In online poker, however, the pots are usually done as heads-up pots due to the preflop betting outcomes leaning more towards this.

Postflops are also considered to be quite different for each side. Big river bluffing is usually a choice that live poker players take, while online players tend to make big postflop calls when their hands are at best, average to just above average. This trend is not something that live poker players do.

Hourly Profits Differ

Due to the playing speed differences between live and online poker, it’s only natural that the win ratios and hourly profits would differ vastly too. In live poker the slower pace results in less hourly wins than an online poker player sees. However, live poker win rates overall tend to be much higher, since the players tend to put more money into the pot, the longer they play. If you claim a Lucky Creek no deposit bonus code you can observe the pace for yourself, with no risk.

Bet Sizes Change

When it comes to bets being made, the sizes tend to differ vastly. Online bets tend to be smaller than in live poker, since the games are played far faster and for many more hands than live poker players do. Live poker players, however, tend to see larger bet sizes being done over the course of the game, with around 5x larger bets placed in the opening few hands of live poker.