Online Poker Is Dead

[Pyso]

Online Poker Is Dead (for me)

I don’t know how many of you have had similar experiences and feelings regarding online poker, but I bet it’s a few of you.

I have decided to stop playing online and have gone as far as deleting everything poker related from my PC, including Poker Tracker and all the useful data it contains (ok, I admit I printed off my stats first).

So why have I gone off online poker so markedly?

Well, here goes, and feel free to nod in agreement, or shake your head while muttering “…he’ll change his mind soon enough…”

1)   I have now realised that poker was always a game of people and a game of real cards, real chips, real eye contact and real banter, often with people you knew and sometimes even cared about. It is human war but without the pain and bloodshed. Poker was never a computer game.

2)   If I had wanted to stare at a screen for hours on end I could go back to my old office job or go into commodities trading. I am an outdoor person and being stuck inside with no human contact is just, well, dull.

3)   Online poker is crooked. Of course it is, but to what extent it is impossible to say. People cheat and collude in online poker, that is an indisputable fact. Whether it’s five people doing it or 50,000 who knows, but how sure can you be? I’m sorry, but in this day and age it’s just too easy to ‘talk hole cards’ with your mates on Skype, messenger, and even the old electric telephone. And even I’m not naiive enough to think there isn’t software out there somewhere, however rare, that allows someone to see their opponents’ cards.

4)   Online poker is too fast. Sorry to be old school but I like a little longer than fifteen seconds on which to base my decision, not every time, but occasionally when I feel it is warranted. I like the extra information that live play gives you and I generally dislike the almost totally maths based game that multi-tabling online poker has become. It seems to me that the intuition and psychology of the game is less important online, and that is a shame as surely the game is largely about understanding people and their motivations and actions?

5)   I hate the fact that I can’t see my opponent online. For all I know he or she is doing their rent and is about to jump off a bridge if I beat them. Ok, I exaggerate but it still doesn’t sit well with me. When I play live if I come up against a drunk, an unpleasant or abusive player or someone I know shouldn’t be playing, then I can always move table. You may think everyone is fair game, but I can honestly say that I have before now moved to another table to avoid playing someone who may fit such a description. I don’t always do it, but I have done in the past and hopefully will do in the future if I feel the situation warrants it. Don’t get me wrong, I will play anyone who has made no effort to learn the game and can afford it, but I draw the line at severe drunks and drug heads, and let's face it we've all seen them. Online poker doesn’t offer me the opportunity to make a choice. Live poker, to a much larger extent, does. I’m not saying I will always take that choice but at least it is there.

6)   The abuse in the ‘chat box’. I see things that would never ever be said in a live environment, stuff that sometime disturbs me, especially as I have even on occasion found it coming from me. Where does this stream of vitriol come from? I don’t play the great game of poker to be in the middle of insulting crossfire. If I wanted to immerse myself in that life I would watch East Enders or go into town on a Friday night.

7)   Misclicks and disconnections. There is something inherently silly and ridiculous about being cut off just as you are about to call off the rest of your stack with the nuts on a table that doesn’t have ‘disconnection protection’. Sod that for a game of soldiers. It would never happen live.

Eight)   The edge has gone. It still exists live, but the internet is now full of spotty maths geeks playing 16 tables and doing Poker Stove calculations in their head. We have reached saturation point I believe. You may disagree. The game of Hold’em is so much harder to beat, that were I to continue online, it would probably be in Pot Limit Omaha or Stud.


…and before you ask, yes, I have been losing online. A very small amount admittedly, and like many others if there was no rake, I would be winning, but the fact is I have spent hours playing online poker for no actual real tangible profit and where is the sense in that?

…Yet I win handsomely live and the difference between the two forms of poker is so ridiculously marked that I can only come to the conclusion that one form of poker can continue for me and one must stop.

So I hereby retire from online poker. Poker is meant to be fun. Live poker is fun. And I win at live poker, therefore I will carry on.

There, rant over.

   

[kinboshi]

You won't be applying to join the SAS scheme then?

[cia260895]

Online Poker Is Dead (for me)

I don’t know how many of you have had similar experiences and feelings regarding online poker, but I bet it’s a few of you.

I have decided to stop playing online and have gone as far as deleting everything poker related from my PC, including Poker Tracker and all the useful data it contains (ok, I admit I printed off my stats first).

So why have I gone off online poker so markedly?

Well, here goes, and feel free to nod in agreement, or shake your head while muttering “…he’ll change his mind soon enough…”

1)   I have now realised that poker was always a game of people and a game of real cards, real chips, real eye contact and real banter, often with people you knew and sometimes even cared about. It is human war but without the pain and bloodshed. Poker was never a computer game.

2)   If I had wanted to stare at a screen for hours on end I could go back to my old office job or go into commodities trading. I am an outdoor person and being stuck inside with no human contact is just, well, dull.

3)   Online poker is crooked. Of course it is, but to what extent it is impossible to say. People cheat and collude in online poker, that is an indisputable fact. Whether it’s five people doing it or 50,000 who knows, but how sure can you be? I’m sorry, but in this day and age it’s just too easy to ‘talk hole cards’ with your mates on Skype, messenger, and even the old electric telephone. And even I’m not naiive enough to think there isn’t software out there somewhere, however rare, that allows someone to see their opponents’ cards.

4)   Online poker is too fast. Sorry to be old school but I like a little longer than fifteen seconds on which to base my decision, not every time, but occasionally when I feel it is warranted. I like the extra information that live play gives you and I generally dislike the almost totally maths based game that multi-tabling online poker has become. It seems to me that the intuition and psychology of the game is less important online, and that is a shame as surely the game is largely about understanding people and their motivations and actions?

5)   I hate the fact that I can’t see my opponent online. For all I know he or she is doing their rent and is about to jump off a bridge if I beat them. Ok, I exaggerate but it still doesn’t sit well with me. When I play live if I come up against a drunk, an unpleasant or abusive player or someone I know shouldn’t be playing, then I can always move table. You may think everyone is fair game, but I can honestly say that I have before now moved to another table to avoid playing someone who may fit such a description. I don’t always do it, but I have done in the past and hopefully will do in the future if I feel the situation warrants it. Don’t get me wrong, I will play anyone who has made no effort to learn the game and can afford it, but I draw the line at severe drunks and drug heads, and let's face it we've all seen them. Online poker doesn’t offer me the opportunity to make a choice. Live poker, to a much larger extent, does. I’m not saying I will always take that choice but at least it is there.

6)   The abuse in the ‘chat box’. I see things that would never ever be said in a live environment, stuff that sometime disturbs me, especially as I have even on occasion found it coming from me. Where does this stream of vitriol come from? I don’t play the great game of poker to be in the middle of insulting crossfire. If I wanted to immerse myself in that life I would watch East Enders or go into town on a Friday night.

7)   Misclicks and disconnections. There is something inherently silly and ridiculous about being cut off just as you are about to call off the rest of your stack with the nuts on a table that doesn’t have ‘disconnection protection’. Sod that for a game of soldiers. It would never happen live.

Eight)   The edge has gone. It still exists live, but the internet is now full of spotty maths geeks playing 16 tables and doing Poker Stove calculations in their head. We have reached saturation point I believe. You may disagree. The game of Hold’em is so much harder to beat, that were I to continue online, it would probably be in Pot Limit Omaha or Stud.


…and before you ask, yes, I have been losing online. A very small amount admittedly, and like many others if there was no rake, I would be winning, but the fact is I have spent hours playing online poker for no actual real tangible profit and where is the sense in that?

…Yet I win handsomely live and the difference between the two forms of poker is so ridiculously marked that I can only come to the conclusion that one form of poker can continue for me and one must stop.

So I hereby retire from online poker. Poker is meant to be fun. Live poker is fun. And I win at live poker, therefore I will carry on.

There, rant over.

   

get a dongle problem over

[ x ] yr be back.......

[Pyso]

You won't be applying to join the SAS scheme then?

If it stands for "Save Our Stud" I might do.

Oh, that's SOS.

....and what the hell is a dongle and why do I need one?

[KarmaDope]

You won't be applying to join the SAS scheme then?

If it stands for "Save Our Stud" I might do.

Oh, that's SOS.

....and what the hell is a dongle and why do I need one?

Dongle is a way of connecting to the internet "on the move".

Mainly used by poker players who have lappy's and play online down the pub whilst having a pint or 6.

[thetank]

1, 4-8

Fair enough, it's not for everyone. Can't argue that it's a different game, one where avoiding misclicks is all part of the skill.

2

Totally agree, huge drawback to the online game.

3

Can't really sympathize with this much, bit of a fallacy imo.
There are those that cheat at live poker too, soft play is rife. At least online cardrooms have access to holecard information and colluders stand a greater chance of getting caught.
They do get caught in fact, every day, and the money in their accounts is distributed to players in the tournaments they cheated in. When was the last time this happened live?

The idiots who think it's as easy as msn-ing your mates your holecards get caught surprisingly quickly.

[Grier78]

I play online as they don't let me in casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just my pants.

[thetank]

I play online as they don't let me in casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just my pants.

I play online because in Glasgow they do let people into casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just their pants.

[brummieboy]

I play online as they don't let me in casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just my pants.

I play online because in Glasgow they do let people into casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just their pants.

Best laugh i've had this week.

[byronkincaid]

many if not most regs that I play now are break even and living off RB. Greg Raymer saying he can't beat 5/10 these days was a big eye opener for me.

[action man]

heard this so many times over the years.

Its usually from losing players who want to lose a little less by playing less hands live.

[nirvana]

Byron, can I ask a question please

If you played the 6000 hands in the SAS thing  - say at $1/$2 NL full ring - what return would you expect to make  -winnings & rakeback ?

[byronkincaid]

Byron, can I ask a question please

If you played the 6000 hands in the SAS thing  - say at $1/$2 NL full ring - what return would you expect to make  -winnings & rakeback ?

haven't played FR for ages and didn't have HEM when I did. I think you pay about $100 rake every 1000 hands. Games infected with shortstackers now, if I had to go back I would prob do my sums at 1ptbb/100 and treat it as a bonus if i won more.

[maccol]

I play online as they don't let me in casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just my pants.

I play online because in Glasgow they do let people into casinos on a Sunday morning wearing just their pants.

Best laugh i've had this week.

I LOLed

[RED-DOG]

heard this so many times over the years.

Its usually from losing players who want to lose a little less by playing less hands live.

Haha! It would look great next to your "I'm never playing live again" post.