After spending hundreds of hours in both online casinos and live casinos, there are several differences between the two despite playing the exact same game. Here are several of the nuances I’ve noticed.
Online players tend to be stronger stake for stake
Normally the minimal live game you’ll find in a casino is $1/$2 ($200NL). This is where all the beginners start. Online, the minimal games can be as small as $0.01/$0.02 ($2NL) where there is not much cash to be made. That implies beginners in live casinos are playing for way bigger stakes than online. Online Players playing $200NL are generally very strong.
Live low-stakes players generally don’t have a clue
Cannot tell you how many times I have been talking to live players speak about how online players don’t know what they’re doing. They’ll say aspects such as “you cannot read his face” or “online players do not know-how to bluff and keep a straight face” – stupidness, really. Many live players don’t understand the concept of frequencies and betting patterns, which in fact are far more informative than “his lip twitched when he reached for his chips” or what ever
Raising 3x the bb preflop does not do anything
Many live players do not consider big blinds, they only consider chips. What I mean by that is if one example is at a $1/$2 game, somebody raises $6, many players will think “oh that’s just 1 red chip” in place of thinking about 3 big blinds. If you’re going to come in for a raise in a live game, you definitely will probably want to raise between 6-8bb, check at least in the $200NL live game.
Very little 3betting in live games
Most players in a live setting are way more content to just call a raise as oppose to 3bet, even with big hands like AQ and AK – and it’s certainly not for balance. Occasionally, for anybody who is 3bet in a live game, the player will probably have QQ+ (weak players)
Live players think pocket pairs are the nuts.
In a live game, players have a really hard time folding pocket pairs preflop for some reason. I’ve 3bet with hands like AQ+ and can not tell you how often times I have been called by 22-77. A lot of dead money inside this spot.