Differences in Competition at Different Times

When's the best time to think about going in the poker room? The quality of play in an online poker room varies a lot by time of day. During the day on a weekday is definitely the toughest. The professional players (yes, there are quite a number of pros playing online) are home playing, but the recreational players are all at work. Of course, that's an exaggeration – there are quite a few novices playing at any time of the day, but the competition is tougher during the day.

The best time to play is late at night on a Friday or Saturday night. That's when you get the most casual players, and I suspect, the most drunk players. If you're looking to play against people who think that A6 is a strong reraising hand, fire up an online poker site at 2:00 AM on Saturday (Eastern time).