With the ever rising popularity of poker, mainly Texas Hold’em, its worth letting people know who are thinking of taking up this highly rewarding and highly risky game whats what, and which is better, online or real? And how can I get good?
Of course they are the same game both online and in real life but there are big differences in my experience of the game. Online poker gives you a sense of security being in your own home and being able to get up and leave and any point, where as a real game if you enter a tournament your in for the all or nothing. The biggest worry with online poker for me is the risk of some very clever people not wanting to play by the rules and using IT knowledge to cheat. Make no mistake cheating online is as prevolent as in real life, if not more so. I was reading an article just recently about how some online poker sites are set up with the only intention of getting your financial details, and on a lot of the sites (I didn’t know this) the system used to shuffle the cards is less than realistic and has large flaws, which could be exploited to name but two risks.
So should you abandon online poker and go for a casino based game in real life? Well this comes with similar risks to the online game. If you are new you are at a high risk of getting exploited no matter whether it’s in real or online. What I would say if you are going to play real. Play in an established location, avoid your local tournament at the pub, unless you are comfortable with the people you are playing with. When I say comfortable I mean you know the people, not that they give you a warm feeling of comfort. Have a few games with friends for small amounts of cash in the kitchen or garage before going into thousand pound tournaments, and if you are going to play in real, get your poker face right, which can be fun trying to master but a nightmare if you are getting it wrong.
Which ever method you chose, remember why you wanted to play the game in the first place. You either want to have fun in which case play the freerole games online (I would recomend Full Tilt poker for this), or with your mates for small amounts. If you want to use poker as a way to make money, you need time and patients and the ability to be able to lose thousands as well as gain thousands, which will enivitably happen if you want to go pro.
