The benefits of 3D poker
Since the first 3D poker room was launched in early 2001, poker players around the world have been asking a number of questions. The most common ones include:
- What are the differences between a 2D and a 3D poker room?
- Are there any advantages to playing in either?
- Which is best?
Now seeing as we’ve started up this site, it’s probably fairly easy to guess which side of the fence we come down on … but never let it be said that we’re not fair and open minded enough to realise that there are advantages to both forms of poker!
So with that in mind, we thought we’d compare the new wave of 3D poker rooms to the more traditional 2D offerings out there and let players make up their own minds.
The advantages of 3D poker
There are a whole host of reasons why 3D poker has become so popular over the last few years:
The graphics
The first thing you’ll notice when you login to a 3D poker room is just how much better it looks than a 2D poker room. The graphics look like something out of a video game with places like PKR offering a huge number of different environments which instantly pull you in and immerse you in to much more vibrant surroundings than you’re normally used to.
The personalised options
At most standard poker sites, you’ll be able to upload a small GIF to use as your avatar at the table. When it comes to 3D poker though, you’ll be given an interactive moving avatar that you can dress and design completely how you like.
Not only that, but once you get to sit down at the table and start playing you’ll then be able to encourage your avatar to act in any way that you see fit:
You want to flirt with the attractive looking blonde at the end of the table? Go for it. Want to laugh at someone making a crazy call? You can. Maybe even call someone chicken for not seeing your bet? That’s all good too.
In short, 3D poker allows you to behave exactly as you would at a live poker table … all from the comfort of your own room!
Social Interaction
Due to the fact that everyone is able to personalise their accounts so much, there’s generally a much better ‘atmosphere’ around 3D poker rooms.
While playing poker, you start to really get to know your opponents due to the way that they behave and react to the cards on the table. Conversation is much easier and as such you start to make friends with those players you see online regularly.
Places like PKR are very good at nurturing this environment by providing buddy lists which tell you where your friends are at any particular time, as well as organising a lot of live events (such as London Calling) where players can meet up face to face and get to know each other better.
Low level of competition
While this is starting to change slightly now, it’s still true to say that the standard of player you’ll find at 3D poker site is still much lower than you’ll find elsewhere. Sitting down the likes of Phil Ivey is all very well, but unless you seriously know you’re stuff, the chances are that you’ll lose all your chips within half an hour of the game starting.
With the exception of PKR (who have seriously revamped their tournament schedule recently), most 3D poker rooms offer smaller stakes than the standard 2D rooms. Similarly, the games tend to be much slower, with fewer hands being dealt every hour.
Because of this, professional players will head off to a traditional poker room such as Pokerstars where there is more money to be win in a shorter period of time.
If you’re not a professional though, we suggest trying out the likes of Ladbrokes or Poker3 where most of the competition you’ll come up against will be purely casual players.
The benefits of 2D poker
Smaller download
Because standard poker software isn’t as complex as 3D software, downloading software from a traditional poker room will generally be much quicker. On top of that, when you install the software you’ll find that it takes up less space on your hard drive.
When playing poker, the software will also take up less memory meaning that you can perform other tasks while you’re playing a game. This should only be an issue for those people with slightly older computers … if you have any questions regarding the technical specifications required to run 3d Poker software, we suggest you have a look at our page on technical requirements.
Game variety
If you’re looking to play Texas Holdem, then you won’t have any problems with 3D poker software at all. However, if you’re looking to play other varieties of the game such as Razz, H.O.R.S.E or Stud, you may well be disappointed.
3D poker rooms don’t tend to offer a wide variety of poker games at the moment and even the larger rooms such as PKR, will still only offer Omaha as the only other variant of poker to Holdem.
