Online Versus Live

[Whatever 1]

I guess.My brother has been playing online poker for at least 5 years. He's treated it very seriously, read the books, uses the HUD, reads the 2+2 forums and has even watched the training videos. He's had several cashes online for over $1,000 yet always ALWAYS played out of his bankroll so it was ultimately a drain on his finances instead of a well paying hobby like it should have been. Since we live several hundred miles from the nearest casino he had only played for $ live once at a charity tournament that was a $100 rebuy. He beat out a hundred players without rebuying and took home a first place prize of $1000 (again it was charity so it should've been around $3k or so).Anyway yesterday he went to Lousiana and the first day he played 1/2 and cashed for over $300. He then played a $175 50 person tourney that night and took it down for close to $3k. So basically even though he has a negative online ROI in tourneys and is even worse in cash games he's 2 for 2 in live tourneys for over $4k. And btw I find the $25 NL games online tougher to beat than the $200 1/2 live games.

[UCFrizzo 0]

I understand that your brother may be a successful online player, but I don't see the correlation. Because he had ONE winning session at a live casino for a few hundo in LA automatically means live players are worse than online. Maybe try some more live games to even be a fraction of the 5 years of online play. Congrats on the win tho-Rizzo

[GWCGWC 83]

I understand that your brother may be a successful online player, but I don't see the correlation. Because he had ONE winning session at a live casino for a few hundo in LA automatically means live players are worse than online. Maybe try some more live games to even be a fraction of the 5 years of online play. Congrats on the win tho-Rizzo

You're right about this sample size being way to small to make a definitive statement about online vs live. However, it's a fact that live is easier than online ainec.

[Merby 3]

The simple fact is that at *comparable* stakes, online is vastly more difficult than live.Microstakes online starts at 1c/2c, whereas "microstakes" live starts at $1/$2.If you look at the progression of blind levels:Online ....... Live1c/2c ........... n/a2c/5c ........... n/a5c/10c ......... n/a10c/25c ....... n/a25c/50c ....... n/a50c/$1 ......... n/a1/2 .............. 1/22/5 .............. 2/4etc.There are 6 online levels before the first live level. Does this mean that microstakes online players don't play live until they are playing 1/2 online? NO! They will play 1c/2c or 10c/25c online (for example), but go to the casinos and play $1/$2. Essentially, the "microstakes" online levels are match the 1/2 and 2/5 live games for comparable skill level. I am sure that eventually, the skill levels at comparable stakes even out, but I have not reached that level yet.

[RiscaRod 0]

Live poker is certainly a lot easier to beat than online, as a boatload of players are there purely for the entertianment value (moreso than online). However, as the other guy mentioned, this sample size is too small to be sure that your friend is a consistent winner in live play, although he may well be.

[Whatever 1]

Oh I agree. Tiny sample size. I just think it's notable that he's won 2 tourneys live in 2 attempts (one 50 people and one around 100).

[FatBurger 0]

Live poker is certainly a lot easier to beat than online, as a boatload of players are there purely for the entertianment value (moreso than online).

I think this is the key fact. There's also the social aspect - "Hey Bob, we're going to the casino after work, wanna come?" that leads a lot of people to play live who wouldn't normally play live or online. Then add in the fact that most of the entertainment/social people go with the expectation of losing their money...If the fine citizens of my state hadn't cockblocked the casino that was going to be built two blocks from my house, I'd have stopped playing online.(Though with the uncertainties of what a casino would do the property values and such, I'm not exactly horribly broken up about it either.)