Tikay's Table Tales

What IS The Real Thing?

The relationship between online poker and what some of us call "the real thing" – and I mean live poker, not Coca-Cola – is beginning to get interesting. For too long, Internet poker and Internet players have been branded as a lesser version of the game. It's time now, I think, for a comparison:



Live Poker Players Are Better

Europe's premier live competition is the European Poker Tour (EPT), which, as we go to press, has reached Round 4. Have the Internet boys been put in their place, have they taken a good thrashing at the hands of the established names? Well, let's take a look: Barcelona – Jan Boubli wins … one up to the live boys. The Vic – do you remember the winner's name? No, you don't. He plays only a handful of live events each year. Baden? Not too many names in that final, either, and the winner, a big online player, arrived four hours late for day one and was still able to run over a quality field. Dublin – unless you are a serious poker geek, you won't have heard of the winner there, either. The third-place finisher was playing his first big live event, but he is an online superstar. Two or three of the other Dublin finalists were, with respect, equally unknown on the live circuit. And don't think the "names" were not present in Dublin, or the other EPT events – as they were. They all must have just gotten unlucky. I mean, it's ridiculous to even consider that maybe the old guard has had its day, and is being replaced by the new breed … isn't it?



Live Poker Is More Fun

Of course it is … we all know that. Being able to see your opponent and chat with him is much more fun; that is, assuming he doesn't talk 13 to the dozen, blow smoke across the table, have BO, take up too much space, spill his drink on the table, continually act out of turn, or miss his cue to act because he's too busy blathering on to his mate.



Live Poker Has Nicer Players

I sat next to a guy recently who'd arrived 35 minutes late to find that a fair bit of his stack had been blinded away. "Where's the rest of my chips?" he asked, before going on to explain in detail why he was late. Ahem, it's your turn to act, mate. "Ah. What are the blinds? How much is it to me? Who bet? Who else called?" Repeat four times per orbit, while he continued to chat away merrily. It got a bit too much when he suddenly decided to put the clock on some guy who was having his first dwell of the comp. He was probably an Internet player; they are all a pain in the butt, too.



Live Poker Has Better Tournament Directors

An incident goes off in a cardroom, and what happens? I'll tell you what happens … and, chances are, so will all the other players at the table. When a ruling is requested, there are never fewer than four players, with four different versions of the truth, all trying to tell the tournament director what happened, while the silent few sit there and have a snooze. And are the rulings consistent? You know the answer to that one. What happens online when there's a dispute or a ruling is needed? Well, the thing is, I don't actually know – as I've never seen one. The rules are clearly laid out, and you can't argue. What an awful place this Internet must be.



Live Poker Has Better Playing Conditions
You can't beat sitting in a crowded cardroom with 10, sometimes, 11, to a table. There's no side table for your drink, so it's on the floor or the felt. Leaving your seat means asking four players to move, and the geezer behind you has bumped you six times. You hang your jacket on the back of your chair, and five minutes later it's on the floor being trampled on. It's those Internet players causing the trouble, I know it is.



Live Poker is Organized Better

How many live competitions have you been to this year that started on time? I'll bet the answer is less than one. When there is a TV table and the final is being recorded, did it ever start on time? Err …



So, Is Live Poker Really The Nuts?

Well, despite all of the above, yes, it's pretty good, and I apologize for poking fun at the live venues, and the players in them. However, it's time for a rain check, and another look at the Internet boys. They are taking over the game. They are better. What's more, the Internet cardrooms are making a fortune. Name a live casino that makes money, directly, from poker. No such place exists.



The balance of power in the poker world is changing … and it's changing faster than you think.

Tony "Tikay" Kendall is the presenter of Poker 425, and a partner in www.blondepoker.com.