The growth and explosion of online poker mirrored my own growth in the game. I came into poker as the online boom was beginning and although I started playing in small live games with friends, I quickly added online play to my routine.

I was, at first, playing many more hands and hours online than I was live. I would rush home from work to try to get registered for the $40 and $100 tournaments that went off at 6:00pm ET on Paradise Poker and can remember a few times that I drove way too fast on the way home, busted through the door, and ran up the steps only to miss the end of registration by a few seconds.

Once my learning curve slowed down a bit, the initial rush of the game started to wear off. I began to enjoy playing online less and less over the years, but part of that was because I was able to find a few local games that played decent stakes. Once I got in with a group of gamblers that liked to play and they became comfortable with me, I had access to a variety of games and limits that I never knew existed.

Over the seven years that I have been playing regularly and seriously, online was a big part of it for two or three years. I had pretty much quit playing online long before Black Friday. I can look back now and while I have a few fond memories of playing online, they are few and far between compared to the stories and memories I have from the live games I play in.

There is a distinction to be made between live casino games and live local games. In 2006, I started traveling for PocketFives to major poker tournaments, mostly the WPT and WSOP. While I was traveling, I would sometimes be able to get in some cash sessions at whatever casino was hosting the tournament. Those games treated me well and I enjoyed them, but even there, the lasting memories are nothing like what I have gotten from the local games.

My current favorite game is a Wednesday night get-together that has been running every week for over three years. In 2011, my travel schedule had slowed down significantly and other than a trip to the PCA and spending almost a month in Vegas for the WSOP, I wasn’t gone very much. Pretty much every week I was in town, I was at the game.

It has a small, private, consistent group of players, all of whom I like and enjoy being around and who collectively have taught me more about life and business than I could ever have gotten out of any sort of Masters program.

The game is fun. The people are fun. They laugh and joke. They give each other a hard time. Every once in a while, a slowroll between the right two people isn’t bad etiquette and the whole table can get a laugh (even the guy on the losing end). Occasionally, they get mad at each other, but when the next week rolls around, they are all buddies again. They support each other’s businesses, hunt, fish, golf, and vacation together.

The game usually runs for eight to 10 hours. When you spend that many hours with the same people week after week, year after year, you really get to know them and form lasting relationships. For me, online and casino games have never been able to offer anything close and I feel blessed to have been able to play a game I love regularly, while at the same time, I have access to a social environment that would be almost impossible to duplicate.

The convenience of online poker and the consistency and variety of games at casinos definitely have their benefits, but for me, online and casino play will always be complimentary to the regular local games I play in.

Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at PokerRoadCourt@gmail.com.