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View Full Version : Has the fish to skilled player ratio online spoiled us?


Bubbagump
05-24-2004, 04:56 PM
I've seen a few different posts on various threads in the past few days that all seem to echo the sentiment:

Paraphrasing "the money online is destined to dry up, there simply aren't enough bad players to support the number of good players on a long term basis without the increased marketing and continued help of televised tournaments... yada yada yada"

I don't agree with this. Until this year, I was strictly a B&M player. I don't know how many players currently playing profitably on-line, come from a similar B&M background as me, but I'm assuming there are a lot. The golden rule for me, as a B&M player, for making money was always game and table selection. Unless you live in Vegas or AC where there is an unlimited supply of new money coming into the room every weekend, this was the only way to survive. It seems, from the posts I've read lately that we have forgotten this.

Sure, it is a fair assumption that at some point in the future, the allure of on-line poker may loose a little of it's luster, but I don't think that on-line poker will ever get to the point that it would not be profitable. At worst I think that the profit margin of on online player will reduce to be more in line with that of the B&M player. It just means we will all have to work a little harder to find the profit by using the skills, many of us have taken for granted since we left the B&M's. 1)table selection, there are always going to be tables with players worse than we are, but it may someday take more work than it does now to find them. 2)Game selection anybody who limits themselves to playing one game is also limiting their ability to make money.

I think poker, be it online or in a casino, will always be profitable. But the poker explosion and the 'easy money' currently available seems to have spoiled many of us.

Does anybody else agree or am I way off base here?

Thanks for reading my little rant.
Bubbagump

Warik
05-24-2004, 05:17 PM
A lot of people fail to realize that a lot of players simply won't do what is necessary to learn how play better.

Just fly down to Miami and visit the Miccosukee Indian Resort poker room. There are plenty of older folks there who have been playing poker for years and still suck. There are younger guys there with a wealth of knowledge available to them that suck.

To everyone in the world except people like us, poker is gambling and luck plays a big part. We all know that's BS. They don't and many of them won't - ever.

LikesToLose
05-25-2004, 08:38 AM
I will start to worry about online Poker drying up as soon as the slot machines at B&M casinos are empty.

Plus, every time I go to a casino, the poker tables are way, way looser than anything I see online. There is a difference in the game between sitting in front of a computer screen and being at a casino. The casino has a lot more allure than online and the hands are slower, leading to longer playing time for the same negative dollars. It seems that the enjoyment of the game is higher and worth the -EV to more people so B&M poker does have more stick.

No conclusions as to what all this means, just thinking as I type. How could online be more social? If a site can figure this out, they will own the market.