Friday I relaxed for a while and then watched the Cardinals make an amazing comeback on to advance. After the game I decided to go play some 1/2 nl at Riverspirit. I have been relaxing quite a bit and have not been playing much. I have only played online one day this month but I have played live a few times. But honestly, I haven't even been playing much live.
I started playing online again in May after 13 months away where I played all live. I was doing well at live and was making money but due to some unforeseen expenses that came after a downswing I was left with a short BR. Once short and a little frustrated after a long downswing I chose to check the traffic online and was surprised at how many players were online. Obviously this was before Lock left Merge and the traffic was nice. Since then Lock left and the traffic was split between Merge and Revolution and the guarantees began to drop and just kept dropping.
I was still happy to have a place to play and kept grinding. I was also giving lessons, blogging, and writing a couple articles a month for P5s. Online poker wasn't anything like it was before Black Friday but it was good to be playing, coaching, and improving. The last six months being back playing online was really good for me as I have improved a lot between playing, chatting with good players, doing review, and giving lessons. I am very happy that I checked the traffic that day and came back to online.
Unfortunately though online poker is in a bit of a funk right now as the traffic seems lower than ever and it seems most people are having trouble funding their accounts as it seems the sites are not taking any Visas or debit cards like they were. I will say I do not know anything I am just talking about what I noticed. I am going to be paying attention to what goes on with the deposit options and will continue to play some, but for the immediate future I may continue to play some live. I have always had success playing live and have a real good feel for players and plan on putting some time in and building up my BR a little.
One thing that has amazed me as I was grinding live recently is just how many mistakes the above average players make. It seems that they all just want to see the flop. I have seen so many players limp, and then called after a raise and a re-raise just to miss the flop and fold. Another thing I see a ton of is players calling off 20% to 50% of their stack and then folding on the flop. Also it seems that position is just not very important to any of them.
Around here the level of play is decent but it seems a huge majority of the players live in their own bubble and have never worked on their game. And then the few guys that win fairly often and have a clue are really just a little more aware than the rest but also seem to have never really worked on their game. In my opinion that is the biggest difference between online players and live players. Most online players have done something to try to improve.
For the most part live players just show up and play and slowly improve by trial and error and experience but usually have major leaks. And online players seem to have their mistakes pointed out more either through the table chat, by talking poker with friends, or by posting a hand in a forum. Online players are also often a member of P5s or 2+2 and are trying to improve in some way not just showing up to play. I guess in a way I am saying it is easy for a live player to show up and play often and win or lose and never really examine their play, but most online players think about their play afterwards whether it be a specific hand or a full review. I would think if someone was able to do some research where they compared they play of one hundred random online players verse one hundred random live players I think the online players would have less leaks.
The online poker experience which includes playing, talking poker in a poker chat group, P5s and 2+2, and the ability to do review is by far better for trying to improve. I think both live and online are great and there are benefits to both, but when it comes to improving the fastest way would be by playing online, reviewing your play, and using the forums.
I have some things I want to talk about regarding decision making at live 1/2 nl but I think I will save that for next time. I hope everyone is doing well and I wish all of y'all the best of luck crushing tomorrow whether it be online or live. Good luck and get that money!
If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information, contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.
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