Online poker rooms vs offline card rooms.
Online poker is growing fast, and a lot can be written about the comparison between online poker rooms and playing poker in regular card rooms or casinos. If you have not tried both online poker rooms and offline card rooms, then you must choose which venue to begin with. Here are some general observations and considerations.
You can usually find much lower limit games in the online poker rooms, you can play down on the $0.05 / $0.10 micro betting rooms whereas the offline card rooms the lowest limit you can find is usually $2 / $4, so you can start your poker career a lot cheaper in the online poker rooms than in an offline card house.
Online Poker Rooms has much less overhead than the offline counter parts thus making it a lot easier to be choosy about the games you choose to play. If you go to a card room there are also logistics and travel expenses to worry about. For many people the card room is out of town and would therefore add expenses for taxis, trains over night stay etc. AT the tables, cocktail waitresses will bring you drinks and expect tips in return. Dealers also expect a tip for each hand you win.
All of these expenses in addition to the rake the card room takes should be calculated in to the final result when calculating the profits from a poker game.
So these overheads makes it more difficult to choose which games you choose to join, all poker books and websites put emphasis on choosing the right game for you, and a game that is within your betting limits, this has been made a lot easier with the blooming of online poker rooms.
Another benefit from playing poker in an online poker room is the impossibility to violate the conduct rules in a poker game, there is no way you can act out of turn, place string bets, splash, see other players cards etc. The software strictly enforces the rules of the game making sure everything is running smooth. You know at all times how much money is in the pot, how much money each other player has to his disposal and the number of active players in the poker game.
And when playing in an online poker room in the comfort of your own home, you can have poker charts and odds sheet to help you make the right decisions throughout the game. That way it is very easy knowing the exact pot odds each time.
You will also not be disturbed by loud players or have smoke blown in your face, and if you are a smoker yourself you can smoke without fear of someone else complaining about it.
On the other hand, playing poker in a card room is a social event; players joke and talk all night over a good game. If you get confused people can help you out. You got waitresses serving drinks and bringing snacks. There is a sense of authenticity that an online poker room can not replicate. The feel and weight of the chips, holding the cards in your hand, the smells and sounds. The social environment in the card room also means that you can read your opponents better, gestures and characteristics are tell tales of other players cards and strategies.
My choice is now leaning towards the online poker rooms, mostly because of the convenience, the online poker rooms make it fast and easy to decide on a Saturday night that you want to play poker for a few hours.
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