Online Versus Offline
Marcus Bateman
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Marcus Bateman /
15 July 2008 /
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As the dust settles after this year's WSOP, we can clearly see what a massive effect the internet has had on poker.
Players who predominantly play their trade online have won numerous bracelets, as well as a whole host of second places and final table finishes. The online forum PocketFives.com claims its members have cashed for over $15,000,000 in this year's WSOP up to the main event - a huge total by anyone's definition.
Considering these huge sums of money being won by online players, it seems appropriate to look at the factors which have enabled so many players too achieve this sort of success. Below are some of the key differences that have enabled online players to become so technically skilled. This piece will be followed up tomorrow by a second part, that will give an in depth analysis into what lessons can be learnt from these factors.
The internet has produced so many young and talented players for a few key reasons. The first - and arguably most important - is the ability to play numerous tables at once. This allows players to see far more hands during a set period of time than they would live. As an example, the young online superstar Tom 'durrr' Dwan claims to have played over a million hands of online poker by the time he was in his twenties. This is more than Doyle Brunson will have played in his entire career playing live.
This massive turnover of hands is further accentuated by another key difference in online games - speed. Not only is the process of dealing and shuffling the cards made extremely quickly, but players also have a much smaller amount of time to make decisions, due to the time limits imposed in online games. Live it is common for a player to mull over a tricky choice for minutes - online your time to make decisions is measured in seconds.
These factors have created a large group of players whose technical knowledge of the game is extremely good. Their bet sizes will be very close to optimal, the spots they bet in will largely be correct, and they will change gears at the right times. A particularly good example of just how good the best online players technical knowledge of the game is Betfair's Annette Obrestad winning a 180 player tournament without looking at her cards - her vast knowledge of the dynamics of tournament poker situations allows the cards to become redundant.
The final key factor that has helped online players is the ability to look at mucked cards after a hand is over. Live players hardly ever request to see mucked cards - online a player can simply open up the hand history and see it. This has allowed players to gather far more information about their opponent's tendencies than they ever could live.
This wealth of information has greatly increased the speed at which an up and coming player can accumulate knowledge.
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