A familiar problem?

[TightEnd]

I play a lot. Live four times a week or so and online most days

I think I have a familiar problem.

When my live game is working, my online game is either "so so" or bad and vice versa

I leave considerable breaks between playing live and online (If I am playing live that evening, I stop at 4pm in the afternoon online for example) and for that matter between tournaments and cash (I have written about this in a blog article, becuase I feel the disciplines/skills are distinct and it is best to mentally focussed on one or the other). I never move straight from online to live.

I hear "I can never get live and online to work at the same time" from a lot of people

Is there any reason why this should be so? Or is it just one of those things? Or do people merely say it as an excuse for their own failings?

[ifm]

Personally i feel the decision time online has a bigger effect than people realise, i find quite often i have already decided what i'm doing on the flop etc. online before i've even entered the hand!!
I know this can be true live also but i am still able to change my mind because i have more time to weigh up the situation.
Fools rush in and all that.
Also patience is a huge factor online whereas live not so because you are more distracted by chatting to others, oggling waitresses etc.

[matt674]

I gave up online poker on Monday for the 5 weeks leading upto the WSOP main event as i dont want to have my "online" head on when i go over to Vegas.

The mindsets required for each discipline are different even though the games are the same. I know that people are more likely to attempt to bluff at me online or call me down with what can be described as "marginal" hands at best because the anonymity of online poker coupled with the thoughts of "oh well there's another tourney starting on a different site in ten minutes" means that other players mindsets are different online than they are in live poker.

Lots of people in the WSOP main event will probably play tighter than they do when they normally play online. They are there playing the biggest live poker tournament there is for probably just a handful of dollars so they will want to try and make the memory last as long as possible.

[turny]

funnily enough im rubbish on or offline

[boldie]

Personally i feel the decision time online has a bigger effect than people realise, i find quite often i have already decided what i'm doing on the flop etc. online before i've even entered the hand!!

excellent point...this is exactly what I found....especially when playing last night (cash game online) I found myself getting Q 5 suited and immediatly calling..(under the gun)...I would chuck that rubbish out in any life game.

[RED-DOG]

I put a lot of thought into this problem, and I think it's ajusting to the percieved length of the levels that most people struggle with. If you don't play a hand online for 30 minutes, its no big deal, do that in a live game and most players are tearing their hair out, although they are probably seeing and passing more hands per level online than they are live.

Does that make sense?

[matt674]

Yes, as 15 minute levels online would be the equivalent of 75-90 minutes in a live tourney therefore you can afford to be more patient. I've played in live tourneys with a 20 minute clock where you are lucky if you play 2 full rounds before the blinds go up to the next level meaning you have to start getting more involved in the action before you are blinded away. Online you dont have to take those risks as you will probably see 5 times more hands in the same period of time.

5 times more hands means you are more likely to see premium hands more often, why lose all your chips playing the marginal hands if you can afford to wait..........

[Card_Shark]

Red and myself have talked about this a few times over the last couple of years. i have been winning consistantly online for the last 4 years and also became a winning live player about 3 years ago, that was until i started playing the uk festival events........ LOL.

The differences between the two games are massive and being able to adapt between the two is a crucial factor in becoming sucessful at both.

Personally i multi task when playing online so boredom isnt a problem for me, and most of my best results live have been when i've played very weak tight early on and lots of selective aggresion later when the blinds increase.

For me its all about becoming more patient at live events and more of the same online.

good luck.