While playing online poker is very similar to playing it offline, one of the big differences is the amount of variance most online poker players experience.
That is because, due to the way online poker is played, variance online is far higher than variance offline. That means online players usually win less than offline players, and have other problems in their gameplay as well.
Beating variance in online poker is possible, though. It just takes more work to do it.
What is variance? — The simple explanation is variance is nothing more than the difference between the results you expect and the results you get. In other words, how much your overall results are averaged out around the mean over a specific period of time.
If you experience a lot of variance when playing online poker, your results will vary wildly. If you only experience a little bit, then your results will not be that much different from each other.
Variance is stronger in online poker — Variance tends to be a bigger problem for online players. This is due to the much faster speed of online play. A speed that allows for more hands to be played and, thus, less variance to occur.
As many judi online poker players also tend to be better players than those who play offline, this affects the win rate and, thus, affects the variance a player may experience.
What that means is, when an online player does start experiencing a downswing, it can take thousands of hands to recover. In the offline world, however, that recovery will usually come after just a couple of hundred hands.
How to beat variance in online poker? — Beating variance in online poker usually comes down to one thing. Simply play a lot more hands.
Playing more hands online means you eventually play so many the short-term variance you are achieving will not have as much of an affect over tens of thousands of hands. In other words, the downswings will just have less effect than they would over a few thousand hands.
The more hands you play the more of a chance an upswing will have of eventually kicking in. When it does, it will last for a high number of hands and will lower the effect of your downswing.
Playing more hands and winning more — Most online poker players that take the game seriously notice the same thing.
If they play a few hands a night, variance becomes such a problem the game is just not fun. If they increase the hands they play by a large number, however, variance is felt less and the game is more enjoyable.
At some point an upswing will then kick in, and your chances of winning will increase markedly.
This is why beating variance in online poker often boils down to nothing more than increasing your bankroll so you can play a lot more hands.
