Typically there are two ways of playing poker: live and online.  Some people prefer to play poker in person, some like to play it online and some like doing both.  Online poker is a rapid growing industry inside the gambling scene, and has emerged in force during the last decade.  Many modern poker professionals made a name for themselves initially by playing poker online.  Many professional tournaments and championships that take place at big casinos have seats reserved for players who qualified through online poker games. 

Online poker differs from live poker most notably in its anonymity.  When playing online, competitors are not able to see each other’s faces, or build a rapport with each other.  Talking is performed in a chat box at the bottom of the screen which tends to be impersonal.  Furthermore, during tournaments, players are frequently switched from one table to another as people are eliminated in order to maintain eight full seats.  This style of playing eliminates many of the principal aspects of strategy in traditional poker.  In online poker, skill is derived mainly from noticing patterns as well as making accurate predictions by having a good understanding of the odds. If you wish to test these theories, a great place to start is bets10.

This creates a very different game from live poker.  During live poker, players physically sit at the same table, allowing them to look at each other and detect “tells” or movements and gestures that give away what the player is trying to do.  If a player is bluffing, he or she might look around nervously or act in an abnormal manner.  Detecting tells is a big part of being skillful at live poker.  Being able to fold with good cards in your hand because an opponent is acting like he has a big hand is critical in live poker.  In online poker, this aspect is eliminated.