Pocketfives exists to celebrate the accomplishments of online poker players, promote online poker as a game of skill and provide a place for online poker players to come together to learn from each other. It’s no wonder then that the vast majority of our coverage of online players is of the high rollers and the big movers in the online scene. First of all, these guys (and gals) are fun to watch and secondly, they are very, very good. However, these players are a very small minority of the Pocketfives community and an even smaller portion of the online poker world. It occurs to me to ask the question, is playing online poker +EV for the average Joe?

How would we go about evaluating this question? Well, there are probably ways to gather mounds of statistical evidence regarding win rates and loss rates, time spent, opinion poll sampling, rate of bankruptcy or other real life negative effects among online poker players, etc., etc. I don’t have the time or the resources to gather that data, so I’m going to approach the problem more philosophically.

I am going to make a pretty big assumption, but one that I am fairly confident is true. I believe that the number of people who suffer catastrophic loss in their lives due to online poker is very small. The difficulty of getting money online, the ready availability of micro limits, the responsible gaming procedures offered and enforced by most sites all add up to a much safer gaming atmosphere than you’ll find in any casino. Do people lose their house over online gaming? I am sure they do. Do these people represent a dangerous or even appreciable percentage of those who play online? I think not. Therefore I am going to focus this article, and the question of whether playing online poker is +EV for the average Joe on the vast majority of players, winners and losers, the 95% in the middle.

What can playing online poker provide this average player? Well, it can provide entertainment, social interaction (albeit virtual), camaraderie, competition, mental stimulus, and a way to challenge oneself. It can also provide frustration, social isolation (from friends and family), financial drain, addictive behavior, and irrational goals. I think that most likely the average player experience all of these, positive and negative at sometime in his or her involvement in the online poker world. Many suffer mostly negative effects while many enjoy mostly positive, but for everyone I would say it is definitely a mixed bag.

Let’s take a moment to evaluate a few of these positives and negatives. First is entertainment. This has value regardless of the other experiences a player has online. Let’s say the average player loses $100 a month online. At first you might exclaim that this is undeniably bad, that these people are throwing their money away. I would encourage you to take a moment to consider, what is the actual cost of entertainment these days? Dinner and a movie for two will run you at least $60 unless it’s Captain D’s and Netflix. To return to the player losing $100 a month playing online poker a few nights a week and weekends, you’re looking at anywhere from 40 hours to 100 hours of entertainment. That’s a pretty decent value for your entertainment dollar.

Social interaction in online poker is a bit more debatable. The average player might not participate in the forum culture, leagues or other more interactive opportunities, but even the lonely guy in front of his computer does chat it up with others at the table from time to time. Then there is the opportunity to take advantage of some of the more positive aspects on the online community like Pocketfives, Two Plus Two, E-Crew, PSCrew, the Pokah! community, and many more. It might not be the same as joining a community bowling league or volunteering at the homeless shelter, but in this digital age I think online interaction does have a distinct value and can have a real positive effect on people’s lives.

The danger of course lies in becoming obsessed with the game and spending far too many hours in front of the computer. Many people experience strain on a marriage, relationship, as well as distancing themselves from friends and family. This is a problem and I am not about to claim that online poker is all good all the time. I do think that the average player can and does find a balance that works for them. I would bet that there are more people suffering negative social effects from World of Warcraft than online poker.

Camaraderie, mental stimulus and a way to challenge oneself are all distinct strengths of poker in general. Online poker does not have quite the same camaraderie as your neighborhood home game, but it does offer convenient opportunities to play cards for fun or profit from the comfort of your own home. Also, the wide array of learning tools and tracking tools make online poker much easier to play seriously and strategically than live play. This is why the average online player is vastly superior to the average live player. I’m not talking about pros versus pros here, although that argument certainly could be made. I’m referring to the average .10/.25 NL player online versus the average $1/$2 NL player at a casino. I think we can all agree that the online player will have a much better grasp of the game.

The negatives I mentioned earlier are also very real aspects of playing online poker. For every guy losing $50-100 a month on a 2k salary there are people losing $500-$1000 on a 5k salary. Again, we have discounted the top 1% and the bottom 1% entirely from this equation. There are certainly people at the margins who are losing way too much money online and they should stop immediately. Whether they need to seek professional addiction counseling, or just slow down and learn some BR management, they need to get away from the game ASAP. I believe this type of player is also balanced out by the thousands of college kids who are putting themselves through school playing online poker as well as the talented amateurs who supplement their income playing cards.

So, where does that leave us? Lacking the statistical analysis and data to support my arguments, I would be foolish to make any grand statements of fact here. However, I feel I can say with confidence that on balance, playing online poker is a positive experience for a large majority of people. Those who are on the margins and suffering all of the negatives and none of the positives are thankfully few in number. Hopefully they will figure out what is best for them sooner rather than later. For the rest of us, I say play on player.