Why Online Poker Is Easier to Play Than Live Poker

1 minute
When it comes to poker, there are two distinctive forms: online and live. These forms are not strictly rivals since the popularity of the first fueled the boom of the second.
Nevertheless, it’s been nearly 20 years since people started playing poker games online, and that long period certainly left its mark on the very nature of the game.
The ease of play is one of the main distinctive characteristics, and we’re going to show you why it’s better to start your poker journey in the online arena.
Play Poker Anytime, Anywhere
With the arrival of the Internet, the days when you had to travel far away to find land-based casinos are far behind us. With just a laptop and a steady internet connection, you can simply register and start playing anytime, anywhere.
The rise of the mobile industry has pushed this convenience even further. Numerous poker apps for tablets and smartphones have led to even better accessibility.
The fact that you can play from home has also eliminated the need for fancy attire. Sitting in your cozy pajamas won’t hurt your chances of winning in the slightest.
The Variety
Even if there is a live venue with poker being played on your street, you’ll still be restricted in terms of the game selection.
On the other hand, it’s fairly easy to find an online casino that will offer the widest variety of games. Without a limited game selection, your money-making opportunities become much better, as you can focus on the games that’ll give you the biggest advantage.
This advantage becomes even greater with all the discounts, promotions, bonuses, and rewards offered by online operators.
Online poker rooms are booming, making the digital gambling market highly competitive. These offerings are a mandatory part of a strategy that almost every online casino employs to stand out from their competitors.
This variety also exists in the payment options. In land-based casinos, you're tied to your cards or cash-based transactions and physical chips for withdrawals and deposits.
Online casinos can offer e-wallets and various other alternatives, including even cryptocurrency. This also means fairly quick payouts and top-notch security for your funds and your personal information.
Getting The Hang of it
Online sites are the best place to develop your poker skills and strategies since you’ll get a lot of practice.
The range of opponents you’ll come across is very colorful and versatile. As we’ve already said, you’ll be able to find a game at any time, so you can choose to play only when you really feel like it.
Since online poker is anonymous, you’ll never have to deal with prickly opponents or be looked down upon during your learning process. You get to play under an alias and you never have to disclose your real identity to other players.
As no dealers are dealing out cards, there are no physical chips, and players don’t need to count out their bets, online poker is much faster-paced, allowing you to play more hands than the live one.
This pace increases further with the option of adding more poker tables and trying different variants. All of this won’t just save you a lot of time, but it will also turbo-charge your learning process.
On top of that, you’ll also be able to review each hand you played after the session, allowing you to learn from your mistakes and capitalize on others' mistakes.
Almost every online poker site will also offer you a play-money version of the software, meaning that you can practice as much as you want without placing any real money deposits until you're ready.
So the only real preparation you need before you start playing online is learning the basic poker hand rankings. After playing play-money poker for several hundred hands, you'll get the hang of the basic rules strategies and will be ready to move on.
Finding Your Groove
Another reason why online poker is better for beginners than the live variety lies in the fact that it offers a significantly lower barrier to entry.
When you’re done practicing for free, you can start with much smaller stakes and move up as your game improves.
Online casinos don’t have any expenses of physical poker rooms, such as chairs, tables, and staff, so their stakes are absurdly low, often as low as $0.01/$0.02. The minimum buy-in for these games is just one dollar.
So, making just a $20 deposit on an online site can keep you going for quite some time.
Note that this doesn’t mean you can’t make good money playing online. Faster transactions combined with lower rake turn online poker platforms into great money-making machines. You can always start micro stakes and make your way up as long as you have the required skills.
A Helping Hand
The online world is full of available tools and resources, and poker is not an exception. On your way to becoming an experienced player, various poker software will provide a helping hand by tracking your opponents’ stats and providing you with the analysis of their play.
While there are no such features in live poker games, playing in the online arena makes them all available in one place and always at your disposal.
What makes online poker easier to play than live goes far beyond simple convenience. It is all about being able to build up your skills and strategies gradually without emptying the bank in the process.
Opportunities are greater, the learning process is quicker and more efficient, you have access to more options, and online poker tools are always there to back you up.