The On-line Hazard.
There is one poker obstacle that is unique to on-line play—your computer. A variety of issues can come up that will make Doyle Brunson lose to a class of 5th graders, the most prominent being a bad Internet connection.
You don’t have to be on dial-up to have connection worries. Many things can go wrong with wi-fi and routers and your Internet service provider that may be unavoidable. You need to take it as another way that bad luck can lose you money. On the upside, there are some things you can do to minimalize the damage.
Don’t play online on someone else’s wi-fi network, especially if they don’t know you are doing it. They could shut it down or kick you off without warning. Don’t play a game on a day there could be bad weather. You run the double risk of your connection to the web and your connection to the power dying. Generally, you can tell if something is wrong with your connection before you fire up the poker client. If your browser is moving slowly, don’t risk putting money on the line. There are various websites you can visit to test your bandwidth. Do it.
If you do get kicked off your poker client, don’t panic. Your Internet may still be up. Check with your browser as you restart the poker room. It has been my experience that the poker room fails to server issues more often than something on my end. You will reconnect as soon as they do, and the other players are in the same boat. Chances are no money will be lost.
Sure, I have lost a game due to connection failure, but, honestly, I’ve won a game from it too. When you are heads up with a player who has just timed out, don’t hesitate to take their blinds. It isn’t honorable, but it can’t be helped. If you are aware of the online hazard, you can be sure that it won’t take you as often as that runner runner flush.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 5:38 am and is filed under Poker Life Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
