I thought on-line play was…. interesting. Other than the occasional fun tourney I won’t be playing it though, there is just too many distractions for me to concentrate as I should. I also can’t get over the feeling of how easy it would be for people to collude. Kids these days are so good and fast at IMing that I think they could easily collaborate outside any system that the poker rooms could catch. With good analysis software they should be able to find patterns in this collusion to identify who is doing it but honestly I doubt they are doing it – it’s not as if they have an immediate liability if someone is working to cheat someone else out.

Finally, I have enough distractions around the house to want to be spending time playing poker here – I like to get out to do so, but having the option of playing at home all the time just isn’t a good option for me. But I can certainly understand why people would do it, and for many I’m sure this is a great experience.

What did you think of online play? It’s completely out of whack to an old-fashioned game, isn’t it?