Psychology of an All-In Bet: Why Poker Players Going All-In More Often When Playing Online

Like other sports and industries, poker rooms and professionals have been upended by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing players to take their talents to online platforms. For years, it’s been documented which players prefer to play online, and which players have more success playing live. Competitors who predominantly play live at casinos have been made to adapt to ever-growing but volatile online tournaments and cash games.

            Before highlighting the differences between live and online poker, it’s important to first note that the same game is being played. The math, strategy, cadence, positioning, and structure are all exactly the same. However, one interesting phenomenon has taken place in the past year that is worth significant consideration: players are far more likely to go “all-in” when playing online, both in tournaments and in cash games, than they had been when playing live events.   

            The Psychology of Poker is fascinating. There is the traditional Mental Performance aspect of play: emotional regulation, concentration, bouncing back from mistakes, and remaining process (instead of results) oriented. However, there’s also human elements that are difficult to quantify. How important is the money in play to each individual player? How much does a player care about what others at the table think of them? And of course, what information can a player gather about the strength of an opponent’s hand by looking at, studying, or talking to them at the table?

            As far as why online players seem to be going “all-in” more often, here are four possibilities to consider:

1.     “All-In” is simply a click of a button

One of the savviest decisions casinos have ever made is the idea of having a physical representation of money (chips) as opposed to hard cash. Having a black chip that symbolizes $100 feels easier to risk than an actual $100 bill. Past studies have shown that players are more aggressive in cash games when chips are in play as opposed to actual money, despite the fact that the chips represent exactly the same amount of real dollars.

Now, as players compete online, there is NO physical representation of money at all. Players are left with a digital number that indicates how much money (or big blinds) remain in their stack. The simple and immediate push of a button allows a player to risk all of their money without the visual and physical requirement to move all of their money forward, which could lead to more aggressive decisions.

2.     Players aren’t getting “live tells” from their opponents

For high level live poker players, many decisions are made based on information gathered from their opponents called “tells.” There are common, humorous examples, such as a player coughing every time he or she is dealt a good hand, but in reality, tells are significantly more subtle, and players spend a great deal of time studying how to extract data from others at the table. For example, a player is more likely to glance quickly at an extremely strong hand like pocket Aces or Kings, sometimes because players think they’ll give something away staring at such a strong hand, other times because their decision to raise is so obvious that there isn’t much to think about. However, if a  player has a more complicated hand like 9-8 suited, they could spend more time considering how they’d like to play the hand, and end up looking at their cards for a longer period of time. Others search for players’ bodily tells, such as studying an opponent’s neck after they make a large bet to see if they can see a pulse, which may indicate that the individual is nervous.

The old saying “play your opponent, not your hand” has a significant element of truth to it, and live poker players often go “all-in” after detecting weakness from their opponents. In online poker, predominantly live players struggle to gather critical information to help them make decisions. Misreading strength and weakness tells based on bet sizes and positioning could lead to players going “all-in” in incorrect spots. In general, the decision to risk everything you have during live games is often based off of a variety of factors, tells and information included. The absence of live tells in online games create more situations where skilled players will get out of line and pick inopportune spots to be aggressive.

3.     Absence of Embarrassing Losses

Of course, like any other competition, embarrassment and judgment about poor decisions should not factor into a player’s choices on the felt. However, as we discussed, there is a human element of poker. “What if I bluff all my chips, get called by a huge hand, and I have to get up from this table with everyone laughing at me?”

Another element of Psychology while playing poker that is difficult to quantify is the difference between (somewhat) dressing up, driving to the casino, heading to the poker room, and needing to go home after a loss; versus playing from the privacy of one’s own home, and simply closing their laptop after losing all of their chips. Losses may seem more harsh when losing your money leads to a chain of events that begins with facing your opponents, leaving the table, and going home as opposed to walking to the kitchen to warm-up leftovers and throwing The Office on the TV.

As with any competition or activity, most individuals would prefer to take risks or chances in private, not necessarily in front of others, especially their competitors. Playing online eliminates the experience of embarrassment that a player may feel after incorrectly going “all-in,” which could increase the likelihood of them doing so.

4.     General Perception of Consequences Online

Whether it’s poker, social media, or any other interaction online, there is a pervasive issue with individuals speaking and acting as if their actions don’t have consequences. People are more likely to say bold, aggressive comments online that they wouldn’t say in person. Many feel more comfortable disclosing their feelings with romantic interests over a text or Snapchat than they do in person. It’s likely that this trend extends to online competitions for a variety of reasons, as people have been programmed to inherently believe that actions do not necessarily lead to the same consequences online, behind a computer, in the privacy of one’s own home. Much of poker, especially tournament play, is taking risk-adverse action and mitigating poor results. As we said originally, despite differences in psychological factors, online poker is played exactly the same as live poker from a mathematical, theoretical standpoint. With that said, if individuals tend to be more prone to taking risks and not considering consequences from behind their personal computer, it could explain the increase in aggressive “all-in” bets in online games.