Online Poker Has Changed Completely

I have never been a big fan of the online poker experience. When I play, I like to be able to see my opponents and the cards. Playing online I realize I am just a part of a computer program and as such, I feel like I am just giving up a tremendous amount of control. There have been plenty of stories about scandal with online sites and how there are "bot" players that are sent in to mop up everyone else. I never heard these kinds of stories in all the years I have been playing in casinos.

There was a period of time a few years back when the online poker sites were just getting popular and it seemed like everyone was trying it out. It was great because you never had to leave your home and could play virtually whenever you wanted. The other fun thing about online play was the fact that you got dealt so many hands so quickly that you could get done whatever you wanted in a short period of time and then have the rest of the day to do whatever else you wanted.

A few years back I went on a pretty good run online for about seven or eight months. I stuck primarily to limit hold em and I wouldn't play for more than an hour at a shot. I made money most of the time. Then a strange thing started to happen. Regardless of what I tried, or how many other people were in a hand with me, suddenly, it was almost impossible to win. I started to slide and my sits went from averaging an hour to about fifteen minutes. The reason for that was because I had a rule. If I took two bad beats in a row at a given table I would change tables. If I had to change tables more than twice, I was done for the day. Needless to say, I started finishing up very quickly. Before I took any serious loss to the bankroll I had built up, I cashed out and called an end to my regular online playing.

I would still drop in from time to time but it was never the same. It was always difficult to win. What really turned me off was the number of times I was going to a flop with only one other player and losing every time. That's enough to turn anybody off the game for a long time. I resolved that I would only try the game out for tournaments and not risk any of my roll on line anymore.

As it turns out, most of my play was in casinos and I really would not go to online play much at all. Recently however, I dropped in to one of my old online haunts just to see what was happening. Turns out everything has changed. There are only a fraction of as many players at the site anymore. I'm sure the Federal government outlawing certain Internet cash transfers for Americans had something to do with that. However, it seems like there is more going on.

When I went to the old limit games that I used to play which was $10/20, I found that most of the time there wasn't any game available. This in comparison to a time when there were so many tables and not a single seat because it was so busy. Now, nothing. Not only that, when I did see a game start up, it was the tightest play I had ever seen.

It would appear that a lot of players have started to feel the same way about online play. Clearly, they are not interested and the beats the sites were handing out became too much and too unusual to stick around. The sites appear to be only a shadow of what they once were. To be honest, I think they are getting what they deserve. If you asked me, I'd say stick to games where you can see your opponents and watch the deck being dealt out.