The opinion on online poker varies from player to player, and while some of them swear that there is nothing like playing against real people and that nothing could replace the atmosphere of a real casino, others point out many benefits of playing online poker. While choosing between traditional live poker games and online poker is a matter of personal preferences, there are some major differences you should take into account when making your pick. To make things easier for you, we’ve listed some of the top pros and cons of picking a virtual casino over a real one, and it’s up to you to make the final decision.
One of the first things that comes into mind when talking about online poker is that it’s way faster than regular one. Just imagine being in the mood for a game of poker. You would have to get dressed, get in the car and drive to the nearest casino, exchange money for chips, possibly even wait in line until there’s a free seat at the table. With online poker,things are way much simpler. Since no opponent can see you, it doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing a tux or you’re stark naked by the computer. All it takes is a couple of minutes to open up an account if you’re a new player, and you’re good to go. On the other hand, it’s the speed of game itself that puts off some of the online poker players. Having a computer do all the dealing, you lose time you would normally have waiting for the dealer, and the clock starts ticking as soon as the cards are dealt. This will force you to think and act faster, and if you’re not good at handling things under pressure, you might end up playing a lot worse than you normally would.
If you’re great at observing other players and telling their intentions from their body language, you might feel a bit baffled and lost when playing online poker. This way you can’t see the opponent, which makes you lose an important aspect of play. There are dozens of little signs and gestures that can show the person is lying, making it easy for more experienced players to tell when they’re bluffing. This especially goes for weaker, less experienced players who are often bad at hiding their excitement, letting you read them like an open book. The only good thing about this aspect of online poker is that your opponents can’t see you either, so you don’t have to bother keeping your best poker face one or thinking about not showing any emotions while playing.
Online poker is great for inexperienced players because every online casino offers a certain type of bonus or other welcome gift to get more new players to join. It’s great getting some extra credit or other benefits you wouldn’t normally get if you were playing just a game of regular, real life poker.