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Poker, Online vs. LivePoker, Online vs. Live
What are the advantages of playing online poker? How is online poker better than live games?
* Lower rake and no tips - With virtually no overhead costs, online poker rooms have much lower rakes than real life poker rooms. Online poker room’s rakes are usually capped at 5% of the pot. Las Vegas and Atlantic City poker rooms can charge as high as 10-15%.
* Tips for dealers and waitresses are another expense you have to pay when you play in live poker rooms. Generally you are expected to tip the dealers at least a dollar or two for each large pot you win. The lower cost of playing online definitely adds up in the long run, especially at the lower limit games.
* More Hands per hour – Online poker rooms can deal out twice as many hands per hour as live poker rooms. Therefore, playing one hour of online poker is equivalent to playing two hours in a live game. The increased number of hands can double a good player’s winnings. In a live game, a good player can expect to win one big bet per hour. With twice as much action online, a good player can win twice as much in the same period of time.
* Play Multiple Tables – Not only can online poker rooms deal more hands per hour, they also offer players the option of playing multiple tables. A good player can play profitably on two tables, thus doubling their winnings per hour. While playing two tables can double your winnings, this does not mean playing four tables will quadruple your winnings. There is a limit to how much information your brain can process. Regardless of how good they are, a player’s win rate will decline when they try to play more than four tables.
* Wider selection of games – You can find any type of poker game online around the clock. In addition to popular poker games like Hold’em, Omaha, 7-Card Stud, and Draw poker, you will find other more obscure variations like Caribbean Stud, Panguingue, and Pineapple poker. You can play regular games, tournaments, heads up games, private games, or league games; you can play for free, for micro stakes as low as $.01/.02, or for millions of dollars.
* Calculating pot odds and correct betting – When you play online poker, the poker software will tell you exactly how much money is in the pot, the amount other players are betting, and the maximum and minimum amount of bets you can make. For beginning players this is a relief, as they can learn the game without making embarrassing mistakes at a live table. For more advance players, they can utilize the information to make much more accurate pot odds calculations.
* No dealer mistakes – Live poker dealers are human beings and they make mistakes like everyone else. Once in a while a human dealer will declare a wrong winner or muck the wrong cards. These mistakes never happen online.
* Virtually no waiting time for Tables – The average waiting time for an online poker table is less than two minutes. At live card rooms, you could wait from 15 to 45 minutes for a table to open up.
* Easier competition – Novices are intimidated to play live poker games because they are afraid of looking foolish in front of people. The anonymity of online poker attracts many first timers who are not familiar with even the most basic of poker strategies.
* Bonuses – Due to their low overhead expenses, online poker rooms can afford to give away enticing bonuses for you to try out their websites. For more information, please see our bonuses section.
* Play Money and Micro-limit games – Most online poker rooms offer free money games absolutely free of charge. These free money games use the exact same software interface as the real money games, thus giving beginners a realistic taste of the game. For beginning players, play money games is a great way to learn the basics. After a week of free games, a beginner can advance to micro-limit games, where only pennies are at stake.
* Online poker rooms are a good place for meeting new people. All online poker rooms have chat boxes where you can talk to players from all over the world. Some of the newer rooms personalize the games by allowing players to supplement their avatar with their own images.
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