online vs. B&M

[This is a post I made on the B&M and internet boards, and then I saw that it might be relevant here, esp. after reading the "WTF" post made recently...]


First of all, I want to say that this post is _NOT_ one of the endless paranoid attacks on online websites, accusing them of rigging games, installing bots, or manipulating cards. I have read most of the accusations made along these lines, the evidence for and against (mostly against), and the endless "discussions" that follow, and I don't find any real credence in any of the conspiracy theories.


The issue I want to raise is the differing nature between online vs. B&M rooms, and whether certain individuals, because of experience, comfortableness, or most importantly psychological and/or analytic predispositions, might consistently do better in one environment vs. the other. It seems that each environment may suit people with slightly differing characteristics.


Of course, this is not to say that basic skills, basic experience, and good thinking won't form the major factor of success in either. But beyond this, could these factors come into play.


My own experience is this. I began initially, when I knew little or nothing of poker, on low limits online. I didn't do very well. I got some experience, read a little, and eventually played less online and more at a local B&M casino. My game improved a lot, both at the low limits online, and at the cardroom.


Now, I have gone back to online after not playing online for several months, and although I'm doing much better than when first learning, I don't do as well, and my swings are more dramatic. I know that a lot of this may be due to unusually poor players at the live games I've played in, or unusually good players online (paradise, btw).


This wouldn't surprise me. But, I've also noticed that I _PLAY_ differently online, when I really pay attention to my thought processes, psychology, and decisions that I make. In short, I believe I play much more loosely online, playing more hands, and playing farther than I would at B&M (e.g. ridiculous crying calls). I seem to play more impulsively, and that's the best way to put it. It's very ironic, but I actually seem to get _MORE_ impatient online than at a live game. Also, I find it easier to get mentally distracted online. I find it a lot easier to focus on the game sitting at the table. Finally, I go on tilt at what seems like a rate that's 2 or 3 times as often as I do at the table. And when I _do_ go on tilt online, it's worse than at the table. (Meaning, I'm sure there are many times I'm on tilt at the table, when I don't even realize I'm on tilt, but there's no doubt online.)


My point is not to whine and moan about online poker. Again, to be clear, I see these issues as related to individual personal characteristics and skills, and not something "rigged" or "fixed" about online websites. I'm sure many people have psychological and personal characteristics that make online play _ideal_ for them. I'm beginning to think I'm not one of them, is all. To be honest, my best explanation for myself is that my own psychology is simply much more sensitive to impulsivity and being easily distracted in certain environments, and I know many things about myself that would confirm this. Even the simple difference between clicking a button and physically handling chips in one's hands or physically seeing them on a table provides enough of a cushion to stifle the impulsivity and make better decisions.


I was wondering if anyone had thought along these lines, of individual psychology, personality types, and skills, and their relation to the choice of online vs. B&M play.


(BTW, I am posting this on both the B&M and internet boards.)

Your post was excellent. I do not disagree with any of it and yet there is something I would like to add to it. Let us say that a person's goal is to make as much $ per hour as possible. Let us further suppose that our hypothetical person has spent many years finding where he lies withing the pecking order in his local casino. Let us suppose that he makes $6/hour at 2:4,$9/hour at 3:6, $12/hour at 4:8, $15/hour at 10:20, $20/hour at 10:20, and $7/hour at 15:30. He decides that 10:20 is where he should spend most of his time playing. Sure occasionally he will find a 15:30 game thats particullarly good or an exceptional 10:20 game but those are the exceptions. Now let us suppose that 20 people like our hero all decide to take a shot at internet poker to see if they can break that $20 barrier. Whats going to happen?

I believe the internet specialist will be the ones with the greatest overhead! Other things will matter of course. Peoples skills, the ability to to play 300 hands per hour as opposed to 30, tips, session lenth. Lets face it if your attention span is 15 minutes but your a genius your going to do alot better on the internet than you are at brick and mortar. All thing being equal though, the ability to earn that $20 per hour is going to reach an equilibrium for people between the brick and mortar and the internet. What its going to come down to is overhead. Those folks who have a 5 hour drive to the casino are going to specialize on those skills which maximize ones win rate on the internet while those folks who live near casinos are going to specialize on those areas that are most important to live play eventually they will become two distinct species.

"eventually they will become two distinct species."


Interesting conjecture. And that would explain why I can't produce fertile offspring with a gal who plays online.


Tommy

[Chris Villalobos]

In my experience, players who play well in B&M casinos also play well on internet casinos. Players who do not play well in B&M casinos will expect the same on the internet. The losers do tend to make lots of excuses though. Many of them become paranoid.
I will qualify my response in that a person who can beat a B&M 10/20 game may not be able to beat an Internet 10/20 game. The internet games tend to be much tougher at lower levels. Infact if I ever saw a B&M 3/6 game playing like an internet 3/6, I would think I had stepped into the Twilight Zone.