Great stuff for sure here...
I am disappointed though, that within 2 pages of replies, there is no real comment, only cheers...I'll try to make my own then.
You have pointed out what is probably the most interesting evolution that this game have ever seen:
poker was only played live, until the online revolution that happened less-than-a-decade ago.
Today, the first generation of "natural born online poker players" - players who basically have just learned/played this game online - is emerging, and getting more mature.
It is interesting to see that even though the rules are the same, the game is different.
Why? because of information. The lack of information online compared to live is progressively being replaced by flawless mathematically driven strategy: EV max.
But think about it, in the majority of live games, there is no such thing than EV.
Mathemathically speaking, EV is what you should expect to earn/loose in the long run, ie. if that exact situation came to happen a number of times that would get variance insignificant. (thousands at least)
Say, you are playing a Final table in a big buy-in/big field live tournament. You get into a mind twisting situation, and struggle to get a decision out of it. Should you think about EV????
Not in my opinion.
If you are an amazing player doing really well, almost as good as the poker superstars you worship everyday, you will still probably face this situation less than 10 times in your life.
If you consider the history against that single oppenent, your knowledge of his game, your perception of his state of mind, then this is a unique situation, as much is any real life situation.
Conversely, online poker is a video game. A lot Different than any video game in many points, but similar (thus different to live poker) in some.
Think about how many hands a day a massive multitabler can play, compared to how many you could play in a live game.
The point of my reply is that the boom of online playing have brought so much liquidity to poker, that the volume of hands one can play can get him close to unsignificant variance, over, say a year, while live play is still a lot more subject to variance.
Two different games, two different optimal strategies.
It is interesting though, to see online players perform so well in live tournaments.
Flawless preflop strategy seems to be taking the lead over long time gamblers' astute post-flop plays.
Interesting to see how online playing is bringing mathematics as a hotter topic than psychology in poker.
Think about it, "coy-boy" would probably be the best adjective to define long time professionals, when nerd/geek seems to be what defines the most profitable online players.
Respect. |
United States. Apr 09 2008 19:19. Posts 5773
