response 25 of 32:

Dec 16 03:35 UTC 2005

Anyway, I will now proceed to list some of the benefits of playing poker
online:

1) Selection.  With many online poker rooms running more tables than there
are in Atlantic City and Vegas combined, as well as the nifty statistics (such
as hands per hour and the number of flops seen, indicators of roughly how much
money one can expect to be able to make) easily reported with modern
electronic poker technology, it's much easier to find any table running any
popular game you want for all sorts of stakes.  As well, you can play for
stakes (all the way down to $0.01/$0.02) and with numbers of players (as low
as two) that wouldn't be feasible in a real life casino, where the cost of
running another table is prohibitive.

2) Portability.  You can play anywhere you have an Internet connection:  on
the train, on the can, wherever.  No need to search out silly regulated
casinos.

3) Bonuses.  Because of all the competition, online cardrooms are willing to
offer you large bonuses in exchange for your business.  Typically, the most
generous of these bonuses are the ones you make on your first deposit:  these
are frequently 100% of your deposit or more.  You can also get bonuses for
redepositing and for referring friends who deposit, though these bonuses are
generally less generous.

The bonuses are generally released based on how many hands you play at a
certain level.  Sometimes the bonus is 'trickled out' as you play, and
sometimes it's released in one lump sum.  (Trickling?  Lumps?)  Still other
sites release the bonus to you immediately, with the condition that you have
to play a certain amount before cashing out the bonus.

4) Rake.  Because there isn't as much overhead, online cardrooms can offer
much lower rakes than you would find in real life.  10% is typical in real
life, while most online cardrooms offer a 5% rake (THE AMOUNT THE HOUSE TAKES
OUT OF A POT IN EXCHANGE FOR ITS SSERVICES) with a $3 cap.  The rake is even
lower the fewer people are playing.

5) Rakeback.  Again because of stiff competition, there are third party
referral services that allow you to sign up for cardrooms through them and
receive a percentage of the amount you contribute to the rake back.  Getting
30% of your rake back is a VERY significant boost.

6) Speed.  The automization of the dealing and the shuffling of cards,
combined with the ability for players to make their decisions before the
action comes to them, leads to MUCH faster play than is possible in real life.
Estimates I've read say that online play is generally twice as fast as real
life play.  If you're a winning player, this means you'll make more money.
If you're there for entertainment, it means you can have more fun.

7) Safety.  A large problem in poker is collusion, that is, two or more
players secretly working together to fleece the rest of the players.  This
is something that happens both online and offline, but online there are many
more ways to detect it and combat it, since every action a player makes can
be recorded and analysed.

One form collusion is chip dumping, that is, one player in a tournament
purposely losing all his chips to another player, giving that player a huge
advantage.  If this happened in real life, it's fully possible that the losing
player would have mucked his cards before anyone could investigate -- if
anyone even thought to raise the alarm.  Online, though, every hand is
recorded.  Sites could be programmed to automatically be suspicious of certain
actions:  "Hmm.  He called the guy's all in bet with ace high and four flush
cards on the board when he knew he was in late position and so wouldn't have
to show his cards?"  Even if the software weren't sophisticated enough to
catch all such problems, if a player suspected trouble he could alert the
room's operators who would investigate, if they were at all reputable.

8) Quantity.  Online, you can do something that simply isn't possible to
elegantly do in real life:  play more than one table silmultaneously.  Again,
if you're a winning player, this can dramatically increase your profit without
forcing you to play for higher stakes.  You're likely to lose some profit PER
table, since you can't pay as much attention to what's happening at each
individual table, but being able to play more than one table can more than
make up for this.  I've read blogs of people who play eight tables at a time,
though I'm sure there are people who play even more.

response 27 of 32:

Dec 16 05:22 UTC 2005

Whoa!

SPEAKING OF POKER,

I had just made a reasonable amount of money playing positive expectation
games (i.e., games that I'll win at in the long run), so, uh, I decided to
play a few dollars at a SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE expectation game, i.e. Jacks or
Better video poker!

I was playing Euro 1.25 hands, and, uh, stayed around even for ten or so
hands, but then got trip treys on the first hand, and another trey on the draw
for quad treys... or, in other terms, about Euro 30!

I stopped playing after that, 'cause I figured that was enough!

response 29 of 32:

Dec 21 16:17 UTC 2005

Why don't you make a game like Let It Ride, except each player and the dealer
get two pocket cards and there's a flop, a turn, and a river?!

Sure, I wouldn't play the game, but wouldn't some people?!  Isn't it worth
trying?!

Why not try "side" bets, like a GUESS THE COLOUR (RED OR BLACK) OF THE FLOP
BET that pays eight to one?!

Sure, I wouldn't play the bet, but wouldn't some people?!  Isn't it worth
trying?!

At least one casino I know offers remote consoles for playing roulette.  That
is, there's one central table people play at, except they play SOMEWHERE ELSE
in the casino and watch VIDEO of the table and junk.  Why not something
similar to allow people to play other games while they're out of the action?


Why not offer people who play poker a $5 matching bonus to play blackjack or
some shit?!

Wouldn't any of these things help?!

response 31 of 32:

Dec 22 06:40 UTC 2005

I play all the time out here, and one thing I'd like to say...
 
 A lot of the pro player's advice is good.  But some of it is not so good.
They eventually figure that if you end up good enough, you'll run into them.
And then they'll steamroll you.