[gabyyyyy]

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I was reading your post and nodding my head about alot of things you said. Does it seem like online poker is rigged sometimes? It does to me sometimes too. Of course that defies what all the experts and experienced posters here say and given their success who am I to argue?

I am not one of the young pups here who find making unkind remarks and insults to anyone's benefit and I feel badly when someone asks for sincere input from his comrades and just gets smart ass remarks.

Like you, I've been playing poker for many years(since the late 80s) then I started playing on the internet back around 8yrs ago when Casino Coco opened up (Planet Poker). Not only have I noticed that poker has changed over the years but internet poker has changed too. I think people watching final tables on TV has alot to do with it. There are so many dummies playing now which I know is supposed to be a good thing. In a live game it seems so much easier to get the chips than online. The reasons are easy to see... If you are not "technically" equipped with your PT, your PA, your PTA, you're flying blind most of the time and playing holdem might as well be a crap shoot when noone respects your raise and you find yourself sitting with AA against 5 other people that called. I've found that say on Party Poker it doesn't matter how much money is in the game, it means nothing to so many people. You might be moving up to play 10-20 and that's a big game. But it might be pennies to the other players. Sometimes I go watch the really high limit players. They play just as bad. Obviously they can afford it, good for them. Some 16 years ago, when I decided I really wanted to learn I ordered every Sklansky book I could from the Gamblers Book Store (and ok I admit it, I got Capeletti's book too but that's another story) and I still remember his "beware of AQ".... These days, any ace is in with any other card, it's raised, it's called, it's just not the same poker world any more. The odds are the odds are the odds, this I know. The problem for me with online holdem is the rate at which the odds are defied but it can be understood when realizing 1) the players see no buggars & 2) so many hands are being generated that we notice it more readily . Other disadvantages: 1) no audio-visual tells & 2) whether we are in fact playing the same person we see on screen as opposed to his wife, girlfriend, kid or cat for one or more hand which then messes with our thinking of his play.

Does this mean the game is not beatable? Of course not as observed from this forum. But for me it has meant changing my play and my games. Whereas I am very comfortable in a medium to high limit live holdem game, I struggle with any "limit" holdem game online so I play PL. I also play alot of omaha hi-lo. I've had to adjust my thinking too. I don't assume the raise means something specific, something I'd recognize in live play, it could mean something or nothing and I may not get a chance to get a good read on anyone so I must rely on the odds. My problems come into play when I play at something I am not comfortable with, so by trial and error I have found a comfort zone.

And maybe that's all it is with you too, finding the place in online poker where you fit in, where you feel comfortable playing whether it's a different limit, a different game, a different site.

Best wishes whatever you decide but don't let the 2 second bratty responses make you think you're a bad player if you've been a winning live game player.

And that folks is this slow & steady grinder woman's 2 cents!

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Thanks for the response.