anyrag_dipscat;274407 wroteI'm very proud of having stuck to my stop loss in the year 2011. Online poker always _ends up_ being a disappointment to me, but there are still long stretches when I enjoy playing it. It's an old and tired but true saying that everything you do these days costs money, and online poker is no different. The real difference is whether playing online poker is significantly different from playing blackjack, and for me it is. I have more of a feeling of being involved an in control when playing poker than I would if I were to play games against the house. That feeling might be fallacious, but it's real, and it's worth the pittance I spend on online poker.
Now, if the online poker sites would only be less predictable in how their software operates. The universal pattern for me is: (1) make deposit; (2) go on initial heater with earnings of 200 bb/100; (3) go on subsequent cooler with losses of -500 bb/100; (4) sewer out and move to a different site for a while. What, do they imagine the initial heater is going to keep fooling me forever? Unlikely.
There is also one satisfying thing about online poker that you don't get from live poker: if the nine other players at my table include six personal friends who are playing off each other, at least I can't see it, whereas in live poker that kind of thing is impossible to miss. The result is the same, so what really matters is peace of mind.
For the TL/DR crowd...
"I feel more in control of my fortunes in poker than I do in Blackjack, but I'm probably wrong"
"The poker sites have a pattern they force you through whenever you make a deposit - classic conditioning to keep you hooked"
"I'm sure there are tables where 2/3 of the players are colluding"
Dude, you really really liked the x-files didn't you? Is Jesse Ventura's "Conspiracy Theory" on your PVR? If I told you I had a copy of Catcher in the Rye, would I still be invited to play?
Mark