To all of you ONLINE haters...

[LONEWOLF 0]

I always find it amusing, when people say 'I can't play online you can't get any reads' or 'online poker isn't real poker' or even better yet 'good live poker players could never make it playing poker online'. Well this quote was taken directly from cardplayer.com and it is in reference to Juan Carlos Mortensen. You see, Mortensen is a damn good 'live' tournament poker player, and this quote refers to his placing in 2 recent 'online' tournaments on Stars. Here is the quote:"How successful is he?A few weeks ago, he played in a PokerStars $200 buy-in event and won it, pocketing $91,000. The very next week, he played in a PokerStars $500 buy-in event and won that one, as well, for $142,000. The following week was a bad one for him. He came in only 17th, for $3,500. The guy is unstoppable.You must be wondering, what’s the guy’s online name? Sorry, no can do. You’ll just have to watch and see who keeps winning."So you see, you can be very successful at both, and yes both have their own 'tells and reads'. L*

[Tritz 0]

more power to him.

[LONEWOLF 0]

Totally agree. Damn, I have playing in that 200$ event. There are on average 2,000 participants. To have 3 weeks of a 1st, 1st, 17th in that tournament is absolutely insane!L*

[Ramocita 0]

I am happy for Mortensen who can beat the online poker games. I would love to know his secret. Now... honestly.. I play online very low stakes... $1/$2 and I STRUGGLE to stay alive. I do NOT play foolishly... and I get beat on Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings, Pocket Jacks, A/K suited.... etc..... all of the time. More statistically than I should. I cannot tell you how many times that I have gotten beat on the river.. when someone calls all the way down to the end with a 7/3 offsuit and he hits a suit on the end to hit the flush.. with a THREE of clubs or whatever...... when clearly that there are plenty of overcards.I still believe the cards fall differently, and true... there may be more hands played in an hour... but I am telling you.... (and I am not whining or complaining).... that it is DIFFERENT. The players that play online will call anything down to the end with hands they should have never played in the first place and pull the miracle river card .... it is very disheartening.... PLEASE... I would love to have some advice as to how to play the "PLAYERS" who are playing the WORST cards and WIN. :?

[elkang 0]

There has to be a lot of luck involved with any tourney involving 2000+ players. Carlos is a WSOP winner though and a fantastic player.I often hear about people who can't win online, due to bad beats and horrible players, but frankly, I can only see how that can not be a net positive. I could go into it more, but offhand let me suggest you spend more chips to protect your hands and try to put your opponents on their cards more. That's my guess for now.Also, Annie Duke has a good seminar on online play somewhere. You can purchase it somewhere on Ultimatebet.com

[LONEWOLF 0]

At the $1/$2 level, you have to be able to assess your table accurately. Depending on what type of day you want, you would pick your table accordingly. Most players jump right into the games that are showing a 50% or higher flop seen rate. Their logic is that these must be the most profitable game. However, this logic can be completely off. This high rate doesn't necessarily mean that these people are call stations. This is the flop seen rate, which all that means is that they are passive players and would like to see a flop for the minimum bet. Problem with a table full of passive players is that they are usually so passive, they don't even raise their monster hands. Thus you are never able to accurately put them on hands. I sit down at a table, and once I see it is full of passive players, I leave, as these are the most unprofitable players to go up against. They just won't pay you off.What you need to look for is a table with 1 or 2 loose/aggressive players. These are the guys that will cap it pre-flop with TT in the hole. I cannot tell you how much money I have made off of the players in the 1/2 limit games. If you find a table that is full of loose agressive players (i.e. the ones where u get drawn out at the river frequently) well, then you have to change, in fact do a complete 180, the way you play. This type of game is no longer a Top Pair wins pot game, nope, this game I would rather have 89 suited than AA. Fact is, with 8 or 9 ppl seeing a flop, AA will lose around 70% of the time. However, with this many ppl seeing the flop, suited connectors (up to 3 gappers) are constantly getting the correct odds to play, regardless of your position. The other thing that you may want to try is a lot more check-raising. If you in the SB and the flop comes and you've hit bottom pair, if there is a late position bettor only, check raise him. Chances are you may have the best hand, and if not, you can almost always get the others out so that you are heads up with the guy. Anyways, there is much more about this subject that I could go into, but I am sure no one else wants to hear about it. Hope this helps.L*

[Smasharoo 0]

I still believe the cards fall differently, and true... there may be more hands played in an hour... but I am telling you.... (and I am not whining or complaining).... that it is DIFFERENT. It's the same.If you're not winning online either you're not winning live or you have some sort of playing flaw that is more exposed online because of the increased number of hands per hour, like tilting.

[LeeDanger 0]

I think online play and live play is way different. I play both consistently, but have come to a realization that I have to change my playing style quite a bit when I play online and when I play live. One of the key differences is reads; In live play, there are so many tells that one can pick up on. However, online the only reads that someone can get is through betting patterns. However, the note taking feature certainly helps in that regard as most players play the same situation the exact same way every time.

[Tritz 0]

smash is right and wrong.. the play is incredibly different but the difference in hands because of it being online or not is rediculous....even though we would all like to believe that bad beats happen on more rivers than normal for the drama factor.

[Ace_Deuce_Kid 0]

Live poker is 10 times better than online poker... So you see, you can be very successful at both, and yes both have their own 'tells ^^ The only real tell you can get playing online is betting patterns... Live poker you have betting patterns, physical tells, verbal tells ETC.AND you can say anything but.. .low stakes online is not takin as seriously as it is in a casino... PLUS... i rather be in a casino.... in an environment with people you can see and talk to... then sitting by a computer screen for hours and hours at a time. Do i think online poker is rigged? No.... i just prefer live poker