Online and offline (in-house) poker are the same basic game but they do differ in many ways. One of the first things for a new online player to get used to is the trust factor. Offline games use real dealers with real cards and there is no trust issue as everything is done in front of the players in the open. Online games use computer programs and a random number generator to shuffle and deal the cards. This can lead to suspicion from new players.
To alleviate this the online poker operators put huge focus on ensuring that they use well known, established software companies (such as MicroGaming or Cryptologic), or they have their software regulated by a suitable body. They do all they can to remove this suspicion and at the end of the day it is down to you, the player, to do your homework and decide whether you are happy with the poker room. It is almost impossible for online poker rooms to be ‘rigged’, it just isn’t worth the operator doing so (they make a fortune without having to!), and there is really no need as they don’t care who wins and who loses. They make their money from something called ‘rake’ which is not concerned with who wins.
Don’t be fooled by the bad beats you get into thinking that the online game is fixed. There is a simple reason for this – in general more people online see the flop. This means that more people have a chance of catching their cards so it appears that you get more bad beats. This is much more true on the lower limit tables.
Why do more people see the flop I hear you ask?
Well for a start there are now a heck of a lot of people playing online poker and the standard is varied to put it mildly. A new online player will invariably (unless you’re very rich) start on the low limit tables. This means that the players around you aren’t actually risking that much and will almost always call. This makes it more of a game of chance and liable to more bad beats. If your opponent were risking £100 instead of £1 they might think again about calling you with 8 3. But for the sake of a quid the thought usually goes “it’s only a quid and if 8 8 3 comes on the flop I’m laughing”. This type of player will lose in the long run but if you have five people playing this way at your table, one of them will invariably catch something.
Another reason for you perhaps seeing more bad beats is the sheer speed of hands online. A computerised dealer is much quicker than a human and the ‘auto-action’ buttons enable you to bet up front. This all speeds the game up meaning you tend to see something like 60 to 80 hands per hour online, whereas it’s more like 30 hands per hour offline.
There are other differences between online and offline poker and some are explained in subsequent articles. Multi table play allows you to play more than one table at once (up to 8 at certain poker rooms). This is obviously pretty much impossible offline. Hand history is now a standard feature of online poker, allowing you to track and view every action made by players on your table. And finally, the biggest difference for online poker is that you can play any time of day, for as long as you like, and you are almost guaranteed to have people to play against. Plus you can play in your underwear if you so wish – nobody can see you!