Differences and Similarities Between Online and Offline Poker

Filed Under Poker |

It’s not a secret that some of the best live poker players in the world have trouble beating online games. While there is a distinct possibility that these guys who have grown to rely heavily on their player reading skills, suddenly find themselves without one of their main weapons, and thus are unable to deal with the situation on their own terms, but there are other
factors at play here too.

If you sign up to an online poker forum, you’re sure to come by comments
made by online poker players who claim the game is rigged, because there
seem to be far more bad beats in it than in live poker. While the claim
about the bad beats is true, it doesn’t represent any sort of proof. Bad
beats can be explained with some pretty straightforward reasoning, (believe
me, I’ve suffered many bad beats in online poker too), as well as the reason
why there are more of them online than offline.

For one thing, online poker is about playing far more hands per hour than
live poker. That alone is something that brings about more bad beats. The
hourly rate for winning players grows as well, but with it, so does the
incidence of bad beats.

The increased hourly rate brings about a ripple-effect affecting many other
aspects of online game-play too. Because the hourly rate is bigger, in
theory, players can afford to act on more marginal EV+ hands. As there is a
direct proportionality between the average EV on a bet and the hourly
earning rate, it is safe to say that these two variables influence
each-other. If the hourly rate goes up, and the EV per hand goes down,
winning will still be possible. People acting on more marginal EV hands,
means the game will loosen up. A loose game means there will be more people
seeing the flop, the turn and probably the river too. This will lead to
increased schooling, which in turn is the best prerequisite to some of the
most insane bad beats.

The EV players feel justified to act on is further reduced by the presence of Sign-up bonuses and rakeback deals.

These are the differences between online and offline poker. There are a few
things though, which remain the same. The mathematical probabilities on
hands, the basic principles of “healthy poker”, they all remain. That means
the mistakes that players usually make also prevail. Let’s take a look at
one of the most common mistakes people make: overestimating their small
pairs. Because there are far more rookies and generally bad players online
this incorrect strategic approach will haunt tables all the time.

Let’s suppose we have a guy under the gun with a small pair in his pocket.
He raises to see where he stands, but gets called by one guy and re-raised
by the cut-off. As the action swings back to him, our small pair will most
likely not only call, but shove it all-in if needed. By that stage however,
he’s probably beat already.

Pairs pretty much exclude straights and flushes, and because it’s a two
outer call, the chances of landing a set are not that good either.
Certainly, in short handed poker it is recommended that you try to see as
many flops on your small pairs as possible, because it is assumed that the
money you spend on seeing all those flops will be more than made up for when
you do land your trips (trips obtained on a pocket pair are impossible reads
for the opposition). Those implied odds however only justify seeing the
cheaper flops. Going all-in is an altogether different story, which brings
along some entirely different implied odds that are not at all favorable for
the player.

Bottom line is, the fundamental theorem of poker, put forth by Sklansky
according to which the goal of every player should be to play every hand as
if he were able to see his opponent’s cards, remains standing.