I know most players that are members of this site focus primarily on Internet play with a few trips to casinos mixed in. The primary exception being TUP. I have had the opportunity to play live a couple times and am amazed at how poor the average casino player is, at least at the 100 and 300 NL games i've played in.

My question to the community is why do you thing the "net" players seem to be better than the live players? I am convinced it is not an anomaly based on my own experiences and those of other BTPers.

My opinion is that we can utilize tools like PT and GT+ and I know speeking for myself I am in it to make money 1st and have fun 2nd where I think the live players have that in reverse order. I also know that I can play 300 or 400 hands in a couple hours after work on line and gain a lot of experience in a short amount of time. Strictly live players would be lucky to get 300 hands in for an 8 hour session.

If the live player field is really that weak, why don't there seem to be more live pros and semi pros? Maybe there are and we just don't hear from them.

Thoughts?

I would play live but there is no casino near me. Home games are too risky. I want to play in a comfortable enviroment...and for me that's online.

Even when I'm close to a casino, I like playing online.

I play the casino, but it means a thirty minute drive each way, increased rake, misdeals, slow action and lack of game selection but I might get a free cheeseburger. My biggest complaint is that NL game is sporadic at the poker room closest to me, with one table running when it is available, and that leaves me playing 4/8 or 5/10 limit with the biggest bunch of showdown muppets ever. There is a new room now open about an hour away, more than I want to drive to frequently unless the game is a real berry patch and they offer no limit. They have razz, and hi-limit poker advertised on the website, but I haven't called to find out if I'm going to start making the trek to play. It would be great if they gave poker players comps to the buffet I guess I will find out later this month.

The best part of playing live, I go to the cage, they give me the money. No waiting for transfers unless there is a line, i hand them chips they give me cash.

BKAZ... there are a couple of us live junkies out there... Me... Aisthesis... Rhound...

I think the biggest reason live players are SOOOO bad, especially at the 1/2 and 2/5NL tables (which is usually as high as I go) is that they're going to a casino to "gamble"... They're bringing money that is expendable, and play poker like blackjack... They don't think about things like pot odds or kickers... They're playing their cards, and anything that happens because of that is pure luck... Just like a blackjack player....

There's usually 3-4 players at a table (sometimes more) that will play ANY hand... I hear em all the time saying stuff like "anything's worth $2"... Then they flop top pair w/ a K5, and will never let it go... Another 3-4 that'll chase anything (ie... flush, gutshot straight), regardless of the odds... Then there will be 1-2 players that think they know what they're doing (and sometimes do)... And me (dont' wanna say what category I fit into )...

To answer your question about why there aren't so many live "pros and semipros" is that there's really only a couple cities in America that gambling is actually legal, and then the occasional indian place, which could be good (like in Cali) or suck big hairy donkey balls (like here in FL)...

A lot of the guys online multitable, playing 4 games at the same time, in their underwear, which surfing porn on the internet and eating cheez-wiz out of the can... For a lot of online players (me included some of the time), live games are just WAAAAAAAY too slow and boring (one table, maybe 25-30 hands per hour).... There have been times live that I've folded every hand for more than an hour... It gets really lame sometimes, especially when I see the jackball across the way w/ $1000 in front of him after he just flopped a boat w/ the 73o that he played to a 10xBB raise...

Hope that was as informative as it was intended to be, although I doubt it cause I'm drunk as fuck (having just lost my ass at a B&M game )... One more plus... At least when my Aces get cracked by Q2 (which it did) for a nice $300 pot, at least I get free beer.. Although it is in a can...

I was thinking of asking the same question. I live in SF bay area where there is lots of legal poker and lots of NL at that.

Live is more entertaining and online is more for money. Live you can get a better read on the player than online. More convenient online and more hands per hour, better game selection.

I play both. Weekends I play live and during the week I play online. My problem is that I always run into a jackball that stacks me both online and live. if I don't run into one I have a profit for the week.

Live it takes a little more courage to push in $150 of real chips vs. online where you just push a button.

Online is a vast feeding ground for sharks and I am sure there are a lot of players making a living playing there. Hard to play as many hands live. I play at least 1,000 hands a week and if I just could win $0.50 a hand that would be $500 a week.