How much softer is live vs online?

Dara O'Kearney says that a $1,500 WSOP event is like a low stakes online MTT...with a few important caveats.

I often get asked how much softer live poker is vs online poker, and with the WSOP scheduled recently released, now is a good time to explore that. 

Obviously, the answer is context-dependent anyway. An $11 tournament on PokerStars is going to be much tougher than a €10 tournament on Unibet, for example. A $1,000 tournament at the WSOP is likely to be much softer than a £1,000 GUKPT event. 

Having said that, I would say that a $1,500 World Series of Poker event is about as tough as a $11 tournament online. Which is jaw-dropping when you think about it. 

It's for lots of reasons, mostly around the extra volume played online. An $11 grinder online is going to either improve or quit playing, while a live grinder, with a smaller sample size, can let leaks go unimproved for much longer. The WSOP is also a 'bucket list' event for home game players. 

Weak fields, elite end game

If you are a winning $11 MTT grinder, an important caveat before you get overexcited. The best players in the world do not play the Big $11, but they all play these WSOP events. 

This means at the business end of live tournaments are decidedly tougher. They look much more like a $109 tournament online. The last 100 players in a World Series of Poker tournament are going to be mostly very good, if not elite, players. 

I have always been an advocate of late registration, but the WSOP is a good example of when not to do that because you want to spend more time with the home game players. This is also a good reason to prioritise your ICM skills in your study because any error will be magnified against the elite players when the payouts are on the horizon. 

You can get more great strategy advice via Dara's free strategy newsletter.