The differences between online and casino poker

Whenever there’s a discussion comparing online poker to its live counterpart, the question inevitably comes up: which one is better? Which one is more profitable?
In my opinion, the answer to that question should be pretty simple: online poker is far more accessible and profitable than live poker for most everyday players.
There are several facts to back this statement up, and I’ll try to expose a few of them in this present article.
Before anything else, think about travel expenses. Ask any successful live poker player how much he/she sends on traveling, and on different fees associated with it. Sure, there are comp dollars to be earned in the casino through play, but those won’t even come close to covering at least some of these expenses.
Everything that you spend while getting yourself in a position to play adds up to the rake, and by the time you take a seat, the odds you’ll be faced with will be stacked sky-high against you. Then there’s a matter of time. When you travel around in order to play in a certain live event, besides the money you invest into moving around, you also invest time, time that could be spent just as well playing poker and making money.
Finding a seat in any real poker room might be a lot more difficult than you may think. Running a live poker room is something not many brick and mortar gambling establishments can afford or are willing to do. It takes up valuable space, and it’s a lot less lucrative to operate than a room the same size, filled with slot machines. On top of everything, live poker rooms take their rake based on time limit, which – in case of low stakes tables – will amount to a bigger rake than what is taken in an online poker room.
When playing online poker, travel related expenses are – well- zero. You don’t have to go any further than your own living room, and if you that’s far, you’re either too rich or you’re just lazy. The rake is always directly proportional with the pots played, so you’re not getting short-ended there, and table selection is a reality in online poker. If, at any time, you decide the opposition at the table you’re playing at is too tough, you can just move on to another table while making sure you stay properly bankrolled. This is impossible in live poker.
Table selection is a huge factor in beating Texas Holdem, and in live poker you’ll be simply deprived of this useful edge poker .
Since we all know that winning poker is about squeezing out cent by cent and dollar by dollar, and by no means about taking down huge pots, the number of hands you manage to squeeze into the hour also matters. In online poker, you can play as many as 60-80 hands/hour, in live poker, on the other hand, you’re lucky if you can see 30 (under ideal conditions)
Now for the biggest difference between the two types of poker: online poker features a variety of bonuses, (sign-up or first-deposit ones, loyalty ones etc) all sorts of promotions, and some other benefits.
Rakeback is something only online poker can give you, thus providing a quite unparalleled edge, over an indefinitely long period of time. Other bonuses like poker cashback, are also meant to give players an edge. Online poker rooms can afford to provide their players with such advantages because they get literally thousands of players each day.