Online poker you can play anytime you want — 24/7 365. You may 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 (although we do not recommend it). You can set the lighting, temperature, and ambience to be just when you like it. In lots of ways, with online poker you simply have more control.

You’ve got no others to contend with (at least not in-person) — no-one 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 in the event that you don’t want to. You have no sexy waitresses tempting you with mind-altering drinks and otherwise distracting your attention away from the game at hand (pun completely intended). You don’t have to drive anywhere (and with gas prices what they’re, 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 advantage of online poker is that you may play against people from around the world. Consider it next time you sit down at an quality online casino gambling agent (my review here) poker table — not everyone there even speaks the exact same language. And globetrotting via the internet provides you with access to more casinos and poker rooms than you may ever find in one single place, even when 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 are going to be sitting down with your computer to play online poker (most likely your house), 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, and also on and also on…you can certainly find an online 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, however, when playing online poker it also helps to be aware of its perceived disadvantages as compared with playing traditional “offline” poker. A simple awareness of the real difference alone can make you a more suitable player.

For one, you don’t get that intimate, face to face contact with other human beings. But do not rule online poker out as a social outlet altogether. Increasingly more online poker rooms are fostering a real feeling 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 within your hands as well as 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 same effect.

But probably the biggest deal that makes some offline poker players leery of playing online poker will be the inability to read the other players. Most expert poker players rely on inadvertent visual cues given by their opponents — tells — as to the specific strength or weakness of their hands. There is one area to be said for the amount of information you may glean simply by 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, in contrast, there are a number of tells you can look for in online poker also, you just need to know where (and how) to look. But that’s a subject for another article.

As for this article, we leave you having 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 though (or if you just ain’t got the dough for the theatre, arena, and stadium tickets), then online poker is your ticket.