Do you ever prefer live over online because of the social aspect

I've always found playing online to be alot more convenient for myself because I can play more hands and from the comfort of my home. I talk to friends on instant messenger and watch tv while playing so it's very convenient. We have home games every other day though which I start to look forward to just so I can have fun playing wtih friends in person and be social.

I couldn't imagine myself or anyone else for that matter playing solely on the internet because its just so anti social of an activity... so i'm wondering if thats one of the reasons why alot of pros play live just to get out of the house and be around other people. When comparing just the benefits of live and online... I think online has it won in every category except for the aspect of socializing. I think that would be the main reason people play live, am I wrong? Other than that, playing online is cheaper and more convenient, and even more profitable because you can see so many more hands. Just wondering other peoples thoughts, and yes I will be expecting flames as usual because thats just the nature of 2+2, but still believe theres some people out there who give responses.

[Zygote]

i play exclusively online. The social aspect is very lacking, but hopefully i can make enough $$$$ to retire and then can be a social as i want 24/7!

[ QUOTE ]
and yes I will be expecting flames as usual because thats just the nature of 2+2,

[/ QUOTE ]


thats the nature of a LOT of people here (maybe arrogance and sarcasm come free after 1000 posts??)

still more good eggs than bad tho.

back to the question.....online is certainly where the major $$$ are to be made. more tables=more money, but the social aspect would also be very important to me.

personally, id hate to spend 30/40 hours a week grinding out a living in my own house with my only conversation consisting of shouting at the idiot who called my all in with 63o and proceeds to bust me with a straight on the river.

i enjoy going to two home games a week and getting in some real human interaction while playing and perhaps even the idiot above answering me when he hits his damn 5 on the river.

[Simplistic]

I've played live, but I play poker mainly for profit so I stick to multitabling online. I play the occaisional home game and that's fun because i enjoy playing with friends but it's not a serious game.

[CountDuckula]

I'm mostly a recreational player at this point, so I play for competition and social reasons. I prefer live, but online is a lot more convenient than driving ~2 hours to Foxwoods.

-Mike

[IggyWH]

Am I the only one that doesn't socialize when playing live? My live game is weak so I'm usually too busy trying to observe to get into BSing with someone.

[aucu]

99% of my play is online
And yes I miss live play a lot but it's not available any where near by.

You got to play live to really be a player but lets face it online is the best thing that ever happened to the game.

[radek2166]

Nope I like it for the fact that they are much looser. 6-7 to the flop In a 10/20 game. nice!!!!!

I reall dislike playing with rude people that smoke, cough on you, stink, put chip in their mouth etc. The games are loose and passive that really help put up with the [censored] of playing live.

O yeah and cant forget the Idiots talking about pot odds. etc trying to show everyone how smart they are. Cant forget that. Typing takes longer and Iggy is great.

[spamuell]

People at cardrooms don't tend to be people I want to be socialising with.

[MicroBob]

those are pretty much the reasons that playing live generally annoys me.
the people to socialize with that are there are generally not people that I am interested in socializing with.


There are MANY live game pros who like the general looseness of the games to online....and also like the ability to get 'reads' on their opponents (that don't just amount to a bunch of numbers on a screen).

Mason is one player who seems to prefer live for example (he frequently mentions such-and-such hand in his live 80/160 game...and I've never seen him post on an online-hand).


Many of the major tourney players thrive on their ability to read people...so playing live is a huge advantage for them over playing on the internet even though they could play so many more hands in some fairly decent-sized tourneys.


For me, sometimes I feel like playing live.
but this is just not my income-source.
I view my live-play as mostly 'recreational' (in which a profit is nice....but I just don't play enough to get to the 'long-run') whereas my online-play is my bread-and-butter and my main source of income.


When I was in vegas for 2+ weeks during the WSOP I decided to play all 'live' for that stretch.
I did really well at the tables and made a nice profit. But I was burnt-out on live play by the end of my 2 weeks there (actually...before the end).

I'm a VERY social person by nature...and was generally enjoying myself much of the time I was there.
but it's not like I was that 'tight' with the other people I was socializing with.

I can imagine a scenario where I could pull off playing full-time 'live' for income if internet-poker fell apart and I thought live-games were better EV....but otherwise the idea of sitting there REALLY compacted with a bunch of morons yapping away non-stop about 'show one, show all' and 'pot-odds' and 'the hand T5 can make ALL the straights' etc etc is just aggrevating.


I guess I just prefer my social-time to be of the non-poker variety.
Because most socializing that involves poker usually is just an exercise in tolerating total idiocy.

[wildzer0]

I have so little patience for dealing with strangers that playing live tends to put me on tilt much easier. For example, a bad beat online doesn't really affect me, but live when I can actually see the person react it's insta-tilt. I'm working on it though, in some ways I think live play is more interesting.I'm not a very social person though so the social aspect of live play doesn't really sway me towards it.

[SinCityGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
the people to socialize with that are there are generally not people that I am interested in socializing with.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I combine that with the higher earn online, it's a no-brainer for me.

[otter]

I'm not sure that I like it because of the social aspect as much as I like it because you can read people. Sometimes you've just got to get out of the house so that's when I play live...when I need to get out or need a change of pace

[Python49]

Yeah when I made this post I was moreso thinking along the play in "live" games as playing with friends in home games. It is so much more fun, but I can see how playing live in a casino with a buncha guys you don't know can be more of an annoyance than enjoyment. All my experience from live play has came from playing with friends, this was how I first got into it. I met some guys at college and got into playing poker with them nightly and it just became a fun activity that all of us got together to do while having a beer and watching a football game. That's what I was thinking of... so I can see how a disguisting casino with a bunch of degenerates and smokers can be a bit uncomftorable.

[M0n3y0nf1r3]

I really dont like live play unless I'm with my friends... all that happens at live games is people talk and thats annoying. I'm also carded 24/7 because i look 12.
-Andrew