Online poker tournaments differ a great deal to ones that are held at casinos. There are a few similarities, sure – poker, winning money, etc. But that’s really it. There are far more differences between the two, of which we’ll cover 5 in this article.
Fundamentals are far more important in online poker tournaments
Multi table tournaments, or MTTs, require players to make decisions by using mathematics. They need to make these decisions on the greatest amount of optimal calls as they can. Online poker games have a bigger volume of play, which adds more pressure on players. Online games demand that there be no divergence from optimal play because then you’ll lose expected value.
Live tournaments demand far more people reading than tournaments on the internet. This means there’s a lot more stress because suddenly the player has to multi-task. Hand equity calculations need not be as exact as with online poker: physical tells tend to narrow down hand ranges.
Fishier live tournaments
The buy-in here doesn’t matter; live tournaments are generally fishier than online ones. Compare any two tournaments (one offline, the other online) that have the same amount of buy-in and you’ll see that live tournaments tend to attract weaker players. Cash games tend to follow the same pattern – some of the tables at casinos are a lot easier than the same tables at an online casino.
The other side of the coin is that live tournaments have more variation. Don’t go broke; instead, you should play a tighter hand. Fold as many of your weak hands as you can and stay away from weak draws.
Expect more passivity at live tournaments
Live poker players try to get the most chips out of their opponents over time; online poker players engage in full-on chip warfare.
How bluffing differs
Bluffing depends on a cool exterior when betting or raising hands that have no chance of winning. Some find bluffing much more difficult offline than online; others find it more difficult online than offline. But bluffing online should be easier because you do not see your opponents’ expressions.
Only bluff when you acknowledge that your opponent can fold a marginal hand.
Live poker tournaments favour value bets
Passive play does have great value in live tournaments – it gives great terms for value betting. Play good hands slowly from the flop to get better rewards than at online plays. Try to get the most value out of this and make sure other players do not call you down with a better hand.
Author bio:
Volcanic Gold wrote this article about how online tournaments differ from those in offline casinos.
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