Online poker you may play anytime you want — 24/7 365. You can play it in total comfort, right from your own home, wearing whatever you like (or nothing at all), sitting, reclining, or jogging on a treadmill (even though we do not recommend it). You may set the lighting, temperature, and ambience to be just while you like it. In lots of ways, with online poker you simply have more control.

You have no other people to contend with (at least not face-to-face) — no-one hovering over you, talking at you, pushing you, crowding around you, giving you unsought advice, or shooting you nasty looks. You should not have to smell smoke should you not want to. You have no sexy waitresses tempting you with mind-altering drinks and otherwise distracting your attention away from the game at hand (pun completely intended). You don’t have to drive anywhere (and with fuel prices what they may be, that alone preserves your bankroll tremendously), nor do have to get dressed up or tip your dealer — all of which save you time and money.

Another advantage of online poker is the fact that you may play against people from world wide. Think about it next time you sit down at an online poker table — not everybody there even speaks the exact same language. And globetrotting on the internet gives you access to more casinos and poker rooms than you can ever find in one single place, even if that one place happens to be Vegas!

Online poker players get to pick from an inordinate selection of cardrooms, game types, and table stakes. Moments ago, we mentioned the ambience of the environment where you are going to be sitting down with your computer to play online poker (probably your house), but online poker gives you almost just as much control in determining the ambience of the cardroom itself.

Whether you enjoy an Old West setting, a Hollywood setting, an Egyptian setting, a jungle setting, a resort setting, and on and on…you may in all probability find an online poker room designed around whatever theme suits your tastes. Likewise, you may find rooms more more likely to have more (or less) experienced players, faster (or slower) action, higher (or lower) stakes, etc.

Through the same token, on the contrary, when playing online poker it also helps to be aware of its perceived disadvantages as in comparison with playing traditional “offline” poker. A simple awareness of the main difference alone will make you an even better player.

For one, you do not get that intimate, face-to-face contact with other human beings. But don’t rule online poker out as a social outlet altogether. Increasingly more online poker rooms are fostering a real feeling of community amongst their players with attractive and appealing member’s clubs, player forums, and sponsored land-based events.

For some poker players, the game just is not the exact same without the feel of the cards within your hands and the weight of the chips when you place them within the center of the table (or perhaps the sound of them clinking as you pull the pile towards you after a big win). And also you cannot substitute a number, however large or small, for the visual impact of the chip stacks — red, blue, and white — increasing or receding in front of you and expect the exact same effect.

But probably the biggest deal that makes some offline poker players leery of playing online poker will be the inability to read another players. Most expert poker players rely upon inadvertent visual cues given by their opponents — tells — as to the actual strength or weakness of their hands. There is one area to be said for the amount of information you may glean by simply looking your opponent within the eyes (thus the prevalence of sunglasses at the poker table) and watching their hands, their posture, their facial expressions, etc. Fortunately, conversely, there are various of tells you may look for in quality online gambling agency poker also, you need to simply know where (and just how) to look. But that is a subject for another article.

As for this article, we leave you by having an analogy. If you like going to the theatre for your shows, the arena for your concerts, and also the stadium for your games, get thee to a brick-and-mortar casino for your poker playing enjoyment. If you like Tivo though (or maybe if you just ain’t got the dough for the theatre, arena, and stadium tickets), then online poker is your ticket.