I have a group of people I chat with on AIM about hands and strategy and what not. It is nice to get immmediate feedback from players who are skilled. It is also important to seek out players who play better than you do, make friends with them, and learn from them. It is usually a give-and-take scenario where you have one aspect of the game you are good at and can help them with and they, in turn, can help you with another aspect of the game.
I also have a small group of people whom I email all of the time who are separate from the AIM group.
I think there are multiple problems with real life interaction. The first is that most people who play poker are not the kind of people I would like to interact with for the most part. The second is that if you interact with someone in real life, you may get into sticky situations where they would like to borrow money from you or something. The third is that it is a lot more difficult to find a highly skilled person in real life because there are less of them. The fourth is that generally people in real life are less available than people online. The fifth is that it is a lot easier to form a cohesive group of people online, through mailing lists or a chat room or something than it is in real life. The sixth is that you generally will be playing against your friend in real life, and if you are like me and have a certain way of playing at the table, it may interfere with it.
I think there are more, but I think on the whole dealing with people online is a lot better. At any rate, having a support group is important for when the times are rough.
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I also have a small group of people whom I email all of the time who are separate from the AIM group.
I think there are multiple problems with real life interaction. The first is that most people who play poker are not the kind of people I would like to interact with for the most part. The second is that if you interact with someone in real life, you may get into sticky situations where they would like to borrow money from you or something. The third is that it is a lot more difficult to find a highly skilled person in real life because there are less of them. The fourth is that generally people in real life are less available than people online. The fifth is that it is a lot easier to form a cohesive group of people online, through mailing lists or a chat room or something than it is in real life. The sixth is that you generally will be playing against your friend in real life, and if you are like me and have a certain way of playing at the table, it may interfere with it.
I think there are more, but I think on the whole dealing with people online is a lot better. At any rate, having a support group is important for when the times are rough.