5 Reasons Online Poker is Not a Good Fit For You

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While we can espouse the benefits of playing online poker all day, the fact is that online poker is not for everyone. For one reason or another, there are players that would much rather play in the live setting than online. Other factors can also impact the suitability of online poker.

Today, we will take a look at the top 5 reasons why online poker may not be a good fit. We aren’t saying that you should never play online poker, but it may not be the best option if you plan to play poker seriously.

You’re Easily Distracted

One of the biggest challenges facing some online poker players is distractions. There are many things around you that can distract your attention from the poker table. Everything from TV to other people in your house are sources of distractions.

There are some people that can still focus on poker despite all of the things going on around them. Others are unable to focus whatsoever. If you are the type of person that cannot concentrate or study anywhere but in a silent room, then online poker may not be the best fit for you.

You Cannot Multi-Table Efficiently

The reality of online poker is that you need to be able to play more than one game at a time in order to become truly successful. It’s a numbers game. The more volume you put in, the better your results. If you play in micro stake cash games, you are not going to make enough per hour to make a living, assuming you’re striving to play poker professionally.

Even online poker tournaments are not a good fit to single table. The payouts are generally smaller outside of the top events, so playing a single table is not going to give you a good hourly rate. If you are not able to play more than one table at a time, you should only play online poker recreationally.

Your Internet is Poor

This is a problem I’ve had in the past. Depending on where you live, your internet may not be viable for playing online poker. For example, I once lived in an area where my internet was one-way broadband. It was great for downloading, but uploading was at 56k modem speeds. This made playing online poker next to impossible at times.

Not all broadband is created equal. If you’re on satellite broadband, you may have difficulties in keeping a solid online poker connection. For example, if you constantly buffer to watch YouTube or cannot watch Netflix due to poor streaming, then online poker may not be a fit.

You Rely on Physical Tells

Some old school style poker players rely more on reads and physical tells they get in a live poker game than they do betting patterns or learning the math of the game. If you’re someone that relies heavily on feel in your game, online poker is going to slap you in the face.

You need to learn other ways to put players on hands, such as betting patterns. Also, you need to have a decent grasp on poker math to understand situations where you need to stay in hands or get out based on pot odds and equity. These skills are much more important than “feel” in poker.

You’re a People Person

Poker is always called a “social game” and that is true for the live setting. However, online poker players can be successful without ever saying a word to another player. In fact, one knock on players coming up during the Poker Boom is that they lack the social skills of old school poker players.

The truth is that some people cannot stand online poker because of the lack of social interaction. They get tired of staring at a screen or typing to other people. These people crave human interaction and it even impacts the quality of their poker game. If you are a people person, online poker may not be the best fit for you.