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

You’ve got no other people to contend with (at least not in-person) — nobody hovering over you, talking at you, pushing you, crowding around you, giving you unsought advice, or shooting you nasty looks. You don’t have to smell smoke should you not want to. You’ve got no sexy waitresses tempting you with mind-altering drinks and otherwise distracting your attention away from the game at hand (pun completely intended). You do not 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 benefit of online poker is that you may play against people from throughout the world. Consider it next time you sit down at an online poker table — not everyone there even speaks the same language. And globetrotting on the net provides you with access to more casinos and poker rooms than you may ever find in one single place, even if that one place is actually Vegas!

Online poker players get to select from an inordinate number of cardrooms, game types, and table stakes. Moments ago, we mentioned the ambience of the environment where you will be sitting down with your computer to play online poker (most likely your home), 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, as well as on and also on…you can almost certainly find an online gambling agency poker room designed around what ever theme suits your tastes. Likewise, you may find rooms more prone to have more (or less) experienced players, faster (or slower) action, higher (or lower) stakes, etc.

By the same token, conversely, when playing online poker it also helps to be aware of its perceived disadvantages as compared to playing traditional “offline” poker. A simple awareness of the difference alone might make you a far better player.

For one, you don’t get that intimate, face-to-face contact with other human beings. But don’t rule online poker out as a social outlet altogether. More and more online poker rooms are fostering a real sense 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 same without the feel of the cards in your hands and the weight of the chips while you place them in the center of the table (or the sound of them clinking while you pull the pile towards you after a big win). And you can’t 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 largest deal that makes some offline poker players leery of playing online poker is the inability to read another players. Most expert poker players rely on inadvertent visual cues given by their opponents — tells — as to the particular strength or weakness of their hands. There is something to be said for the total amount of information you can glean through looking your opponent in the eyes (thus the prevalence of sunglasses at the poker table) and watching their hands, their posture, their facial expressions, etc. Fortunately, however, there are a variety of tells you may look for in online poker as well, you simply need to know where (and the way) to look. But that is a subject for another article.

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