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Online: It’s a question of validity

I tend to give online poker a bit of crap, knocking its stature in the world of poker venues and such, but the truth is obviously its a wildly popular form of enjoying poker and making or losing money at the game. Still, a heated debate continues to rage about the validity of the game online. Not only for the reasons I talk about, but for the trust factor, as well.

Since I’m trying not to be bias here, I’ll start with the positive side of the argument, the side where we believe it is just as valid to play online as it is to play in a casino. When you think online play, you tend to think of it as a Wild West of sorts, that you see some crazy stuff you wouldn’t see in the “real setting” of a casino. Well, the reason why this may be is because you’re typically playing many more hands online than you are in a casino (factors that contribute to this are cutting out the shuffling and discarding time, more of a feel of speed-up play, etc…). So when you deal with that volume, it’s only natural that “crazy” things like horrible bad beats multiple times in a row or incredible hands might pop up more often that you’d consider realistic. Also, let’s face it, online play offers a venue to try out your craft if your new to the game. A “fish” if you will (and we do, heh heh), often contributes to these unrealistic scenarios at a higher volume than you’d see at a real table.

I know many players specifically use online play as a means to practice for live tournaments such as the World Series of Poker or other events in a casino. So, while they’re not necessarily playing to make money, they certainly consider it valid enough to practice there on a regular basis. That tells me quite a bit about the community’s real feelings toward the online game.

On the other side of the coin, aside from not being able to really read the people you’re playing against (yes, patterns of play and pause time can be observed), there is a legitimate fear among many players that even the biggest sites (we won’t name names) aren’t legitimate venues for honest gambling. If you cut through the complaining after bad beats, there are some very true stories and concerns that are yet to be thoroughly explored. It’s not all whining, and while I won’t endorse or dismiss these accusations, you hear many more of them against online sites than you do against dealers in a real casino.