1. Speed of online poker play is roughly twice that of land based poker play. The number of hands per hour in a land poker room would be circa 30 per hour at best, perhaps as low as 20. Typical online poker game would see 50-60 hands per hour, and anything up to 120 per hour for short handed “Turbo” play.

2. Rake collected by an online poker room will be 5% or less of each pot whereas land based rooms will be 10% or even higher. In this regard online play is the better value option. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom have laws against the taking of rake. Instead they either charge by the hour or by the tournament. This is the reason that Caribbean Poker is favoured over Texas Holdem in land based casinos in the UK.

3. The quality of player found in an online poker room will generally be lower than that in land based rooms. There are many reasons for this but to actually go to a land based smoky room sitting down at a table of 10 takes an element of confidence that you don’t need in an online poker environment. Land based players are often better in that they usually understand the game before playing it. By way of contrast your average online poker newbie has just watched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel or ESPN. The only exceptions to this that I’ve found occur in Las Vegas where you get the full range of extremes from holiday makers trying their hand with the best in the world.

4. Online poker players can pick and choose the time of day they play as they can play 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week and do so from the comfort of their own home. Land based players must plan ahead and get to the venue at the due starting time.

5. Online poker players have more choice, in the number and variety of games to choose from, ranging from free play to cash games to tournaments of all sizes. If you want to win a seat at the upcoming 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP), then you need to be looking towards online poker tournaments where a far greater range of choices await such as satellite entries from as little as $5.

6. Poker Tells between online and land based poker play are very different. Land based players spend more time observing body language and voice tells through opponent questioning than they do observing time delays between bets and bet size relative to the potential odds of higher hands. Online Poker Tells have more to do with timing, bet size, and table position rather than the judgement of facial expression.

7. Poker etiquette is more disciplined in land based poker rooms. The online poker experience can often be spoiled by drunken fools who believe they have Phil Ivey’s skill level even though they clearly don’t. Catch a lucky card in an online poker room and you may find yourself on the end of some verbal abuse (through the typed chat system). Phrases such as “you’re an idiot” and worse would not be tolerated in a land based room but go largely unchecked online. You always have the option to turn off player chat but my preferred playing style is to goad the offending player into playing on tilt (usually a simple thing to do). One recourse you do have against abuse is to report the player to the pit boss and they will be either banned from chat or thrown out of the room altogether.

8. Online poker gives you the unique ability to play more than one room at a time. Clearly this is not an option open to land based players. I know of people who play up to six tables simultaneously.

As you can see both environments have the potential for a really good game of poker. Different experiences to suit different player needs. Personally I don’t have a preference between the two. I value the convenience of online play, but still enjoy the interaction of a live room.

About the author:
Graham Easton is the author of this article. He is webmaster at
www.texashold-empoker.com.

6 card stud poker is very similar to seven-card stud, but without the last face-up round. During traditional six card stud, the dealer will give each player two cards face-down, three cards face-up and finally one card face-down. There are however many other variants of six card stud, and you can for instance play the game with one face-up and one face-down card, three face-down cards, and one face-up card. During this variant of six card stud, the first betting round will start when one face-up and one face-down card have been dealt, which means that the game will be quite similar to five-card stud, but with an additional down-card.

One of the many 6 card stud poker variants is a game called Alligator stud. During Alligator stud, the dealer will begin by dealing each player one face-down card (a so called hole card) and one face-up card. The first betting round will then commence, and when this round is finished the dealer will give each player two face-up cards. A second betting round will follow, after which each player will receive a fourth card that is placed face-up. The third betting round will commence, and the dealer will then give each player their fifth card. This fifth and final card is placed face-up, and is followed by the last betting round before showdown. Alligator stud is usually played as a no-limit or pot-limit game. If the dealer instead deals each player two cards face-down and one card face-up at the beginning of the game, the game is called Zanetti stud. Another important difference between Alligator stud and Zanetti stud is that a player of Zanetti stud is allowed to use only one of his or her downcards when forming the final hand.

The term English stud is sometimes used for another variant of six card stud, but the name can cause some confusion since several other poker games also are known as English stud. English stud can for instance refer to a type of seven-card stud poker, and a game more commonly known as London Lowball. The 6 card stud poker variant known as English stud is a 1-4-1 poker game with a twist (six-card option). “Twist” is a poker term used to describe a round that follows a certain set of rules instead of the normal rules that are used for the other rounds. Any round can be replaced with a twist round, and in English stud it is the last round that is replaced. During the twist round, all the players can choose to discard one of their cards and have it replaced with a new card from the deck. This make English stud a bit similar to draw poker, but with several notable differences. In English stud, you can choose to discard a face-up card or a face-down card. If you discard a face-down card, you get a new face-down card, and vice versa. The player who bet first during the previous betting round is the one who starts making the decision about whether to have a card replaced or not. This will usually be the player with the best face-up cards. Each player will then wait for his or her turn before discarding one card, or refrain from discarding any card. When all players have made their decisions, the dealer will start handing out the replacement cards. The dealing will start with the person sitting left of the dealer, regardless of who made the first choice. In one form of English stud, each player must add a certain amount of money to the pot if he or she wishes to replace a card.

5 cards stud is a form of stud poker, which means that each player will receive a mix of face-up and face-down cards, and the cards will be dealt in multiple betting rounds. 5 cards stud is usually played as a fixed limit or spread limit game, but no limit and pot limit is also possible. Using a small ante and a bring-in is common, but this practice varies. The 5 cards stud is believed to be the original form of stud poker, but today the 7 cards stud is more frequently played today. 5 cards stud developed during the American Civil War, but is today more popular outside the United States. In South Africa, 5 cards stud is traditionally played using a stripped deck. A special form of 5 cards stud is played in Finland under the name Sökö, Scandinavian stud or Canadian stud.

A 5 cards stud game begins when the dealer gives each player one card face down and one card face up. Just as in many other poker variants, it is common to start dealing to the player sitting left of the dealer. If you have decided to use a bring-in, the player with the lowest ranking face up card must start by paying the bring-in. If you do not use a bring-in, the player with the highest ranking upcard will start the betting round. This player may check.

If you use a bring-in and two players have cards of the same rank, you can use suit rankings to decide which player that should pay the bring in. Remember that there is no standard ranking of suits in poker. A commonly used ranking is diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades, where spades are highest. Others prefer to go alphabetically, with clubs being the lowest and spades being the highest. There are many other ways of ranking suits, so you should ideally decide which one to stick to before you start playing 5 cards stud. If you do not use a bring-in, you should not use suit ranking to determine which player that should start the betting round when two players have equally ranked upcards. Of the equally ranking players, it is the one seated first in clockwise rotation from the dealer will start the betting round in 5 cards stud.

When you have completed the initial betting round in 5 cards stud, one card will be burned and each player will receive one new card from the dealer. This card is dealt face up, starting with the player seated on the dealers left side. The player whose face-up cards form the best poker hand will start the next betting round. Have a straight, flush or full house is of course impossible in this stage of 5 cards stud since this would require five face-up cards. The player that starts this second betting round may check or bet up to the limit.

When the second betting round is finished, the dealer will deal each player a third face-up card and a new betting round will commence. Just like before, the player with the best face-up poker hand will start the betting round. After the third betting round, each player will receive a fourth face-up card. The fourth betting round follows the same 5 cards stud rules as the second and third betting round. If more than one player is left after the fourth betting round, a game of 5 cards stud will proceed to a showdown.