Live vs Online - Making the Adjustments

[Jonny Melon]

4spades: There's good advice in this thread, but there are some additional things to consider, in addition to the fact that the online games simply play differently.

1) You may want to look and see if you are playing differently (i.e. worse) online than in a B&M game. Are you overly aggressive online? Do you get bored easier and make more "loose calls" online? Do you get more distracted online, and start surfing during the down hands? Psychologically, it is much easier to click a button than it is to physically pick up and put those chips in the center. It is much easier to stay focussed on the game at a casino as well.

2) As MoreWine said, your hand reading ability may be much better live than online. When you can put a face on a player, when you can see how they bet when they have a monster, etc..you make better reads. Online it's more a game of player tendencies and mathematics. Again, to play online you must adapt your game to that.

I've gone through the same cycle that you are going through--crushing the B&M games and playing poorly online-- and by reading this forum I've become a modest (and hopefully improving) small-stakes online winner. Stick with it and adjust your play.

Jon

[MoreWineII]

Just a little addition: my typical B&M games tend to be staffed with eight other players who will call with any two, yet won't raise a lot of the time when they do hit their hand.

I mean, really, can you beat that?

[Bigdaddydvo]

Morewine,

Caesars is just like that. The lack of trickiness you seen in many "typical" B/M opponents makes it easier to lay down big hands that you'd be a fool to laydown online. One time after raising an older gentlemen's flop bet with my set of 6s, he bet out on the turn with a 3rd flush card and 4 to a straight on the board. He was such an "I only bet when I have it" conservative player that I could safely throw my set away on the river when it didn't improve. You'd be crazy to lay something like that down online.

7-8 to a flop...loose passive...does it get any better. I need to go to Caesars right now.

[4spades]

Thanks guys, I truly appreciate your comments and advice on this subject. Bigdaddy, Johnny and Morewine, your comments are right on the money in every aspect of play and exactly what I'm experiencing right now. I may just do what Morewine said since lower variance/lower profit is what I like as opposed to the big online swings. Possibly sticking to pure tendecies and mathematics like Jon said will allow for a small profit with online small stakes.

Thanks Again!

[Holm Fries]

My two cents.

I started playing at the B&M a year ago (2-4, then quickly moved to 3-6). About 6 months ago I started playing online, figuring I could jump into a 3-6 game as that is what I was used to. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] After a few months of huge swings, I was about even online. The style of play is just different and overall more aggressive online(as mentioned). In the past few months I have markedly improved results from: 1)kicking it down to 2-4 online and 2) kicking it up to 6-12 live. The influx of bad players that the poker craze has brought into live play extends all the way up to the highest limit in my little B&M. This doesn't happen online. I think there are barriers to the online game that don't exist in live games. You have to ensure yourself that you aren't breaking the law. You have to go through a process to get your money online. You have to have a computer!

I can't agree more that the games where there is a suckout factor and caps with AQ are the norm are in fact the most profitable. This applies online or off. If you aren't comfortable with the increased variance caused by playing more hands/hr online, you may want to stick with the B&M game. Nothing wrong with that.

HF

[MoreWineII]

It's also nice to get away from the computer screen for a few hours. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[4spades]

Agreed, the player interaction, although not for everyone, is an important and enjoyable part of poker for me. It also contributes to my profitability.

And there's nothing like having a 'buddy' who you met an hour ago check his nut flush on the river against your flopped set! Nice guy, bad poker player! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Oponn]

I have a higher B&M win rate than online as well. I think this is primarily because it is so much easier to get to know how B&M players play. The human brain is way better at associating behaviour with a face than some online screen name. You really have to do a lot of homework online to compensate for this.

In addition, in a B&M game, everyone at the table fits into a stereotype based on age, race, and sex. If someone violates the stereotype, it really jumps out at us. For example, an old lady bluff-raising the turn is so shocking that there's no way to miss it.

Contrast this with online play, where we don't have any stereotypes to work with, and just have to assume that everyone is a LAG until proven otherwise.

Here's an example that from a hand I played: In a B&M game, an old lady raises UTG and I know she only raises with AA or KK. I'm in the BB with 99. Everyone folds to me. I throw my nines into the muck. Is it possible to get this good of a read online? I can't imagine mucking 99 for one bet in the BB in an online game.