It doesn’t really matter these days where you go with regards to online poker or where you play, you cannot get away from using poker software or facing opponents who are using them. One of the biggest mistakes that you will ever make with online poker is to assume that you are playing an almost accurate representation of live poker.

They are two almost entirely different games in their own right and a NL100 game online will play differently to its NL100 live game counterpart. The online poker games will be tougher to beat and one of those reasons will be because of the fact that there has been a large compression of skill lately with regards the lower levels.

What this has led to is more and more solid poker players playing at lower levels but multi-tabling. A top player is now no longer playing NL1000 but six games at NL200 or maybe four games at NL400 perhaps using poker software to boot.

The NL400 players of old are now multi-tabling the NL100 games and so the process goes on. But the difference between online poker and live poker is that the game is being played out electronically. This may just win the award for the obvious statement of the year but yet it is the underlying principles behind this that greatly impact on a poker players ability to be able to make money consistently in online poker.

It is the sheer fact that online poker is played electronically that allows other types of poker software to come into play. I have used numerous different types of software over the years and in recent months, Poker Office 5 has been my software of choice in the main. These items give players a tremendous advantage over other players who are not using them.

You really have little choice in the modern online poker game to use these items. I don’t think that they can ever totally replace expertise but when dovetailed with a good sound and solid poker player then it can be a deadly combination. Many high-stakes online players have lost their shirts playing against good sophisticated and technical players. Some of the greatest names in poker have been unsuccessful playing online poker so this just highlights how different the games are.

The poker sites themselves basically want this to happen as a levelling of the playing field is great for producing rake. They don’t want poker sharks creaming money off the top from all the novices. They want these novices playing good solid sound poker so all of them lose to the rake. Your job as a poker player is to make sure that you are better than the masses.

You need to learn how to use these different types of poker software that are allowed on sites like www.bwin.com for example and you need to know their strengths and weaknesses so that you can plot an overall poker strategy.

Poker software like tracker software along the lines of Poker Office are here to stay so you need to avail yourself of these items. This will at least put you into a situation where you can gain a substantial edge against all of the other poker players who are not using them.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson