This is somewhat a continuation of the mad skillz post made just before this one. Poker is a great practical example of some of the ideas I touched upon there. I would definitely recommend reading the mad skillz post before this one.

In any case, a great example of people overestimating their abilities (mad skillz) can easily be seen in almost every card room. As an additional bonus, poker is a game that has numerous links back to trading and vice versa. Both require mastery of principles in logic, bankroll management, game theory, probability and statistics along with a sharp mental discipline. It is amazing to watch poor players get lucky in the most fantastic of ways and think that it’s their skills that have earned them their profits. I’ve witnessed numerous times where sub-amateur players with less than a year of experience pop off on ideas that are completely erroneous. Bad habits can be cultivated so easily because you can sometimes get rewarded for making the incorrect play, so why stop? And good habits can die because you keep getting bad beat, so why continue to do it? It’s only experience, a true understanding of odds, and a constant desire to improve one’s game that can mould one into a shark. And trust me, if you’re reading this thinking you’re some kind of pro just because you can count your outs, figure out pot odds, remain cognizant of the advantage of position, understand the concept of fold equity, and that’s basically all you really know, well, you better not quit your day job. Seriously, there is so much more to the game due to the fact that it isn’t static and it’s rather quite dynamic. In other words, if you like to start sentences with, “You should always…” or “You should never…”, then this game is not for you.

In today’s modern world, the game has evolved onto two platforms, live (like in a casino) and online. Although I hate admitting my own weakness and love only to point out the flaws in others, I’m still going to go ahead a state that I suck at the online version. I want to give excuses like, I enjoy the social aspect of the game, I’m in front of the computer for too long anyway and I don’t need another thing like poker to keep me in front of it or that I just like getting out of that house but that’s all baloney. If I could dominate the online world that would be the best and purest way to mint money. And as technologically savvy as I am, I’ve been too lazy to figure out and set-up the software programs that automatically track opponents play that give you instant stats on them. I would assume that that is pretty much a requirement for the fierce online battle, especially if you are playing multiple tables. However, I never really properly evaluated what is the better platform for a player, knowing that each platform has it’s advantages and disadvantages (minus all the weak BS arguments and only the ones that directly apply to increasing your the thickness of your wallet) which I’ve listed below.

• Reading players: Live definitely has the upper hand. Sure online you can go off of how long it takes a player to react (amongst other things) but nothing compares with being able to directly look at your opponent
• Distractions: When playing live, that’s all you do and nothing else. There is no TV/wife/mom/phone/internet/life to distract you. It’s purely about the game.
• Opponent skill level: Although this may be debatable, I’ve found that the skill level as you move up in stakes moves up much quicker online. So a 1-2 NL hold’em game online has better skilled players than a live game. This makes sense because a talented player can play more tables of a lower stakes game online, but I have no definitive proof of this.
• Number of hands: Advantage online. There are much more hands that you’ll see online especially if you multi-table.
• Number of hands: Advantage live. In direct contrast with the bullet point above; allowing an impatient opponent to play more hands only keeps his weakness (of impatience) from shining through. You don’t get to take advantage of that, especially if he is multi-tabling. In live play if an impatient player isn’t getting hands, then too bad, he’s forced to play weaker hands and make mistakes.
• Game selection: A lot more types of games and number of tables to choose from online.
• Cost: Combine the fact that the rake is less and there is no need to tip the dealer and online comes out a clear winner in this category

When it comes right down to it, these points boil down to two important quantifiable items to evaluate live versus online play and which one you should be a part of; statistical edge per hand and number of hands played per unit of time. In the next post I’ll come up with an excel sheet that any player can use to evaluate the comparison for himself. Just note that you’ll need some book keeping history of your online and live play for it to be accurate.

Live versus online poker [part 1]
Live versus online poker [part 2]