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Billiards is a widely popular sport, with millions from all over the world loyally playing everything from snooker to 9-ball. On the live side of things, pool tournaments are huge ratings grabbers, and also great ways for amateurs to make the leap to the professional ranks and earn name recognition and even some good money if they’re focused and skilled enough to best the competition.
Every small town to big city in the country has a smoky, dimly-lit poolroom, where men and women of all ages play the game for fun, practice to hone their skills for the next level, or engage in monetary matches to hustle their rent money. This has been common practice for ages. However, things are changing now; technology has hindered some players’ ability to learn good pool.
With so many websites offering pool play on the Internet today, it’s awfully easy to fall into a trap. And it’s not that websites are hoping to tamp down anyone’s talent. It’s not their fault. It’s just that the real game and the computerized games are light years apart in terms of technique.
With Texas Hold’em or any type of casino game, what you see online is what you’ll be facing in a real casino or at a real poker table – minus the live faces. The rules are effectively the same; the odds are still the odds. Practice online can make perfect offline. The games are just that similar. But with pool, there’s just not enough sites offering realistic games out there to help teach real technique. So beware, pool players, because the game at the local billiards hall is drastically different from what you’re playing on Pogo or a similar site.
For starters, the only way to view the table is to truly get down and view the table. 3D-rendered graphics can give an eye-level view, but it’s still on a flat screen. There’s no texture. There’s no feeling it out. You can learn to be good at the computer model, but it will not translate to success on a live table. And the same goes for table speed. Speed of the cloth is something particular to a table and something that needs to be felt by the player. Computer models cannot replicate this.
Then you have other aspects to deal with, like the lack of English needed (or available) online compared to live tables, and the significance of a well-chalked cue-tip being overlooked on website games. And not to even mention the fact that on the web you have a dotted line directing the center of the ball to its target, and you won’t find anything close to this on a live table.
Computer sites offering pool and other gambling games are widely popular. With the ease of access, no deposit codes for big bonuses, and the freedom to play anytime, online sites really draw in the clientele in a big way. But for online billiards, be prepared – because what you see is not what you get.
The only way to become a good pool player is to practice live and practice often. A 3D model won’t do it for you.
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