'Online Poker News' Offers New Window Into Online World

Three months ago, Card Player launched an e-newsletter for people interested in online poker, calling it the Online Poker News (OPN). You can find it, and get yourself on the mailing list for it, by going to the www.cardplayer.com website.

When Jeff Shulman offered me the chance to take the editor's position at OPN, I accepted, in part because I like editing (the writers at The Michigan Daily, my college newspaper, used to groan when they learned I was night editor, because my nickname was "Slash"), in part because I didn't mind the money (hey, this is Honest Andy, the guy who stupidly turned in the $5,000 he found on the Bellagio floor), and in part because I believe there is so much misinformation about both Internet poker and its relationship with live brick and mortar (B&M) casino or cardroom poker floating around that I thought the editor's position would be a good place from which to dispel some of those myths.

Although this next thought is more of an opinion than a provable fact, I believe that just as "the cowman and the farmer can be friends" (what can I say, not every song that runs through my head is by the Beatles or David Bowie), online poker rooms and B&M rooms are not natural enemies.

A Rising Tide Floats All Boats

Rather, on the theory that "a rising tide floats all boats," I believe that success by Internet poker rooms will lead to more success for B&M rooms. Do you remember the first time you ever walked into a large B&M cardroom? Admit it, now, weren't you a little intimidated? Everyone else seemed to understand how everything worked.

Me, I felt like I was some kind of cowman or farmer who had come to town for the first time in five years, and was wondering just what the heck I had gotten myself into. Yes, the natural eager anticipation of a poker game had me excited, but I was accustomed to home-game poker, and bizarre games like my old favorite "Juice" (six-card stud high-low declare, start out by dealing everyone three cards down, they discard one, decide which of the remaining two they want to turn faceup, and from then on it is played out like "standard" one down, four up, one down six-card stud).

I was kind of new to this hold'em business, especially figuring things out like what to do about posting blinds if I sat down in the middle of an ongoing game, and even though I had played Omaha, lord help me if I wandered into a "kill" or "half-kill" game where I was supposed to post an extra amount if I scooped a pot and had to figure out when it was my turn to act.

Internet Experience Would Have Helped Me on Land

If I'd had previous experience with Internet cardrooms - and I couldn't have, because the Internet didn't exist for the general public back then, and I'm not even sure if it was yet in operation for the military - I wouldn't have felt anywhere near the same intimidation factor. (You know that's how the Internet got started, right? A wide-area information system designed to be able to operate even if one central system-serving computer got destroyed. Who knew they were starting something that eventually will have more impact on our lives than the automobile?)

Not only would I have been more experienced with standardized cardroom games - which might have drawn me toward a public cardroom much earlier in life - I also would have had experience with waiting lists, and with playing against unknown players who talked (key word: talked) like they were the next coming of Johnny Moss.

It took me a while to figure out that most of the players in these public cardrooms who talked a big game couldn't play anywhere nearly as well as they thought they could (or at least not anywhere nearly as well as their withering criticisms seemed to indicate they could).

The B&M Rooms Might Have Lost a Less Confident Player

The criticism didn't chase me away, but I could see how it might have sent someone less confident home, looking for the relative safety of his pals' barbs. Internet experience will prepare players for this. So, yes, I think Internet poker will, in the long run, benefit B&M cardrooms by drawing a whole new generation of players out of their home games and into more standardized games.

OPN is a monthly newsletter, and while we are still experimenting with the format, a few trends have developed. We are running articles about strategy differences between online poker and B&M poker (yes, there actually are online "tells," although they aren't anywhere near as good as the B&M variety); running a continuing series about the constantly changing legal landscape for online poker (we even ran a special "Extra, Extra, Read All About It" issue when a key legislative matter came up at the last moment); and offering tips from none other than the Mad Genius himself, Mike Caro (these alone would be worth the price of admission … oops, I forgot it is free).

You can help shape what OPN will include in the future. I welcome your suggestions on items we should include on either an intermittent or regular basis.

If you enjoy playing online, I suggest you sign up for OPN. It "don't cost nuthin," and you're likely to pick up some information that may help you understand more about the ever-changing Internet poker world.

Andrew N.S. ("Andy") Glazer, a.k.a. "The Poker Pundit," is Card Player's tournament editor, writes a weekly gambling column for the Detroit Free Press, and is widely considered to be the world's foremost poker tournament reporter. He serves as a quality control consultant for www.TotalPoker.com, for which he also writes the free biweekly "Wednesday Nite Poker" newsletter. Andy welcomes your questions through the "Ask Andy" feature at TotalPoker.com.