I turned last week’s Thought of the Week into a column. People seemed to like it so a somewhat expanded (and edited) version will appear in Card Player in the March 21 edition (after the six part blind series concludes).

Also, the Wynn poker room has begun to promote a 60-120 game with, at least for a few months, very reduced rake and very agreeable comps for players. I have been playing there a bit more but the games tend to go well during the day and die off during the hours I like to play. Wynn certainly has done a 180 in terms of player satisfaction and hospitality, and I wish them well.

This week I wanted to briefly discuss on-line and live play. Many people have observed that on-line play seems tougher limit-for-limit than live play, and I agree. My theory: live players don’t need to expend much effort to play, especially in casinos (as opposed to cardrooms) where they come to gamble and poker is just one alternative (and trendy right now).

To play at an on-line room, you have to go to a website, download the software (spare me the e-mails about web-based sites), learn to work it, figure out a way to get real money there (difficult for Americans), and then you can start playing. Clearly, people who go through this are serious about their interest in poker.

In casinos, people may visit once or twice a year, and that is the only time they play. Few people download an on-line poker site just to play rarely. So again, the on-line players play more often.

Being more serious and playing more often does not make one a good player, but there is always a winnowing process in poker. Frequent players either learn to play at least somewhat better, or they go broke (or at least get tired of losing so much or so often). So the games get tougher over time as fewer new players join and more experienced players and winners stay.

If you play 10-20 live and win, you need to be careful at least if you think that means you will beat a 10-20 game on most sites. Perhaps a 5-10 or 3-6 will be better for you. Many players not realizing the differences try to play the same limit on line as they do live, often with bad consequences.