Lately I have been mixing up my poker play between both live and online poker. I went through a dry spell post WSOP playing live so decided to focus my efforts online as of late. Today I decided to revive an article about the differences between both forms of poker and how to approach each one. Hopefully the PokerAtlas community will find it useful.

I should point out that I really enjoy both live and online poker, and I wouldn't want to play only one or the other for a living. I really don't love going to the casino every day, waiting on waiting lists for a seat, and seeing only 30 or 40 hands an hour. I also don't love the idea of sitting in front of the computer every single day, not getting to go to the casino to shuffle chips and converse with other characters at the tables. Now, with online poker in Nevada, we players have choices and can play both live in the casinos and on the virtual felts!

For me, about an 75% live to 25% online mix is the correct way to go. Financially, playing online 100% of the time would likely be best for me, as my hourly rate online when seeing about 500 hands per hour is historically better than playing live poker and seeing 40 hands per hour. Also, by seeing this many hands per hour and per day, my bankroll swings seem to be less than when playing live. Playing online also affords me the opportunity to spend more hours per day at home with my family. I think the bottom line is that live games are softer in general, but with the increased number of hands per hour, lower rake, and less overhead (tokes, etc.), online poker can still be very profitable.

In a vacuum, I think online players are more fundamentally sound than live players, which can, unfortunately, lead to tougher games. One of the main reasons I believe this to be true is because, as a whole, online players understand the concept of balancing their ranges better than live players do.

For those that aren't familiar with this concept, balancing has to do with varying your play. A player who is capable of three-betting preflop with A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-K, but also can three-bet hands like K-5 suited, 8-7 off-suit, J-7 suited, etc., is going to be much more balanced when he three-bets preflop than a player who only three-bets A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K. Which player would you rather play against? I know I would be much happier having the player who three-bets only the premiums to my left than a player who three-bets a more balanced range, which leaves me guessing at the strength of his hand all the time.

In live, low-limit no-limit hold’em games, I think keeping a balanced range isn't as important as it is online. The reason I believe this to be the case is that I often see players three-bet only the very top of their ranges, yet they still get called by opponents with hands that play terrible against big pairs (for instance, hands that can flop top pair, top kicker and lose a lot of money to an overpair). I think this is partially because the live game is so slow that people hate folding semi-decent hands and would rather just call a three-bet and see a flop. It's much easier to fold and move on when playing online because the hands come out so much faster, and it's very likely another playable hand will be right around the corner.

Another difference between online and live is the frequency of bluffs, and also their effectiveness. I feel like online players bluff/pick off bluffs better than live players. I think the main reason for this is that online players have fewer references to go on when trying to spot a bluff, but their thinking is very in-depth about the ones that they do pick up on. With a lack of physical history and live tells present, online players need to be extra careful about which spots they decide to bluff.

I think that when online players bluff, they tend to pick better spots where they can tell a believable story, which in essence is exactly what a bluff should be. I think live players tend to just bluff because they feel like they need to every now and again, but they don't take into account enough regarding the texture of the board or their opponents tendencies to call down. When it comes to picking off bluffs, online players tend to rely more on betting patterns, which are very reliable, as well as the story their opponent is telling.

Live players often seem to call to "keep people honest." You don't know how many times I've heard at the table: "This kids an Internet player, and all they do is bluff, so I just gotta call him down when I make a pair." That’s not the definition of a "hero call," that’s actually a recipe to donate money to the "Internet kid." A hero call, in my opinion, is when a player has thought through a hand in its entirety, calculated a feasible range of hands for his opponents, and decides to call based on the info he has gathered, not just "to keep him honest."

The next point I'll touch on is value-betting. I think that online players are much better at getting max value out of hands. Online players have learned the art of the thin river value-bet. An instance of this is having top pair, good kicker on a flop in which your opponent can also have top pair and be outkicked. Your opponent calls your turn bet and the river completes a backdoor-straight draw. After your opponent checks, you should be value-betting here in most cases. Internet players have come to master this, yet I still see people checking back hands that make me cringe in live poker, hands that any competent Internet player would be value-betting even at small stakes like $0.50-$1 no-limit hold’em.

Live players miss this bet far too often, meaning they aren't getting nearly the maximum value that their hand affords them. The reverse is that Internet players often "Value Town" themselves by betting too thin for value on the river. "Value-Towning" is simply betting the worst hand on the river for thin value, rather than checking and showing down the hand for free, and getting called by a slightly better hand. I see this as a good thing overall though, because it means that the player who "took himself to Value Town" understands the true value there is in the thin river value-bet, and over a long period of time will see a higher win rate because of it.

Another difference between live and online that players often overlook is bet-sizing. I think Internet players size their bets in a better way to both maximize profits and disguise the strength of their hands. This may be partly due to the "bet pot" button online, as well as the size of the pot always being displayed on the center of the table. Still, this isn't an excuse for bad bet-sizing in live games.

A good player always should know approximately what is in the middle. Far too often I see a $20 raise preflop, three callers ($80 pot), a $50 flop bet — which is fine with one caller — ($180 pot), a $70 turn bet (ummmm ... OK, $320 pot now), then a $75 river bet. OK, I'll agree there are times when this line is appropriate, but in general this isn't good bet-sizing. Would you bet this way with a bluff to make it cheaper? Maybe. Would you bet this small with the nuts? I doubt it. This takes us almost full circle from where we started — balancing our range — to now balancing our bets. If you can't learn to balance your bets, then good players will pick you apart. I think this is one of the huge differences between online and live players, and also a big difference that separates small winners from big winners.

Don't mistake my glorification of online players throughout this article as a sign that I think all live players are bad. There are many live players who can do all of these things that I wrote about, and do them well if not better than many good Internet players. There also are many very bad Internet players, which is why the game is still very profitable if you're willing to put in the volume and game-select well. I'm speaking through my experience as a whole when I make these generalizations. Take them all for what they are worth — my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

Also keep in mind that when talking about live games I am basing this on many hours at mostly $2-$5 no-limit hold’em, but I think it holds true for almost all $1-$2 no-limit hold’em games. When you start talking about live $5-$10 no limit hold’em and above, many of those players play very well and practice the concepts that I wrote about in this article.

Good luck at the tables!!