What Makes Online Poker a Better Choice for Serious Gamblers

---

As poker continues to grow in popularity around the world, serious players now have more options than ever before on where to play. While the live poker circuit will always hold appeal, online poker sites offer some key advantages that make them a top choice for serious, seasoned poker players.

More Game Variety

One of the biggest advantages of playing poker online on platforms like JokerStar is the sheer variety and number of games available at all stakes. Whereas even the largest live poker rooms may only spread a handful of game variants, online poker sites will have dozens.

This allows serious poker players to switch up games to keep things fresh, try new variants and find ones that best suit their style and bankroll goals. Games like mixed Omaha, mixed stud, draw poker variants and more exotic games can usually only be found online. For poker enthusiasts who love learning new games, the options are endless.

Better Rewards and Player Incentives

Online poker sites also offer much better loyalty and VIP reward programs compared to live poker rooms. The best online poker sites have comprehensive tiered loyalty programs that reward players with cash back, tournament tickets, merch, event entries and more.

Reaching the top loyalty tiers at the leading online poker sites can entitle players to 50% or more cash back on fees, valuable tournament entries, personal account managers and even luxurious trips and prizes. Even low-stakes recreational players can earn rewards.

Brick-and-mortar poker rooms simply cannot compete on rewarding players to the same extent. For serious players putting in big volume, the rewards and comps from online poker sites provide huge added value.

Convenience and Accessibility

Of course, one of the main advantages of online poker that attracts all player types is convenience. Being able to log in and play poker from home in a few clicks beats having to travel to a live poker room any day of the week. Take a look at some key conveniences online poker offers:

• Play anytime – Online poker sites are open 24/7, so you can play when it suits you rather than having to plan around a poker room’s operating hours. Play a quick tourney during lunch break or multi-table cash games until 6am. You make your own schedule.
• Faster gameplay – Online poker just plays faster, with about twice as many hands dealt per hour compared to live. Serious players get more opportunities to put their skills into practice. Everything from dealing to betting runs smoother.
• Wider selection – At even the busiest live poker rooms, you may have 10-20 tables running at peak times. Top online poker sites will have 100,000+ players online and tens of thousands of open tables across different variants, limits, tourney types. Endless action.
• Play anywhere – As long as you have a device and internet connection, online poker allows playing anywhere. Live poker requires being near a poker room. Frequent travelers will especially appreciate being able to keep their poker action going from anywhere.

Overall online poker delivers a level of freedom, flexibility, pacing and sheer volume of play that land-based poker cannot match. For serious players, that convenience pays dividends.

How Online Poker Sites Level the Playing Field

While some aspects of live tells and reads are lost playing poker online, top poker sites actually provide software tools that help level the playing field in terms of skill. Here are two big ways online poker evens the skill matchup:

• Hand Replayers – All online poker sites offer hand history replayers, letting you review previous hands to study your play and your opponents’ patterns. This is invaluable for plugging leaks in your own play and exploiting tendencies you spot from other players. Live poker offers no such luxury for reviewing hands after playing them.
• HUDs – Poker tracking software and heads-up displays (HUDs) allowed by online poker sites also let you capture key stats on opponents to gain an edge. See important stats like VPIP, PFR, AF, CB, Folds to 3Bet and more tracked right at the tables via the HUD to exploit playing patterns. Powerful stuff not available live.

While poker purists argue these tools reduce the skill gap, they are allowed and part of the online experience. For serious players committed to improvement, these tools help accelerate that process faster than relying on memory and notes alone as in live poker.

Fairer Play and Security

Finally, while cheating allegations occasionally crop up even for reputable online poker sites, they invest heavily in advanced security to provide greater game integrity compared to their live counterparts. Online poker sites utilize:

• Algorithmic RNG card shuffling – Poker sites use sophisticated RNG and shuffling algorithms designed to ensure fair, truly randomized dealing. No dealer errors or manipulation possibilities. Cards are as random as technology allows.
• Game hand histories – As mentioned before, hand histories allow players to replay hands down to the second. Strange plays or patterns can be analyzed. An openness simply not possible live.
• Employee monitoring – Top poker sites install layers of access controls and monitoring over their own employees. Logging, access rules and scrutinizing employee activities reduces risks of internal foul play. Physical poker rooms generally have far less oversight.
• 3rd party auditing – Many top poker sites contract reputable, independent auditors like eCOGRA to formally audit and verify game randomness, equity and player fund segregation protections. Provides greater public transparency.

While live poker retains its atmosphere and character, online poker does offer security and oversight measures that protect players. For poker players playing for anything more than entertainment stakes, those protections matter.