what stakes play money correspond to real money?

i've been playin' a year now mostly all play money (blew $50 in a month at micros a year ago, and fell in love with the game) and i see very little difference at micros than mid stakes play money....so those of ya who play both, do ya see any sorta correlation between say 10k sng's (play money) and say $2 real.....i know real money feels different, but chips are chips and i'm dooin' well consistently and ready to take a better stab at it. ($2k br)

i've been watchin' $5 sng's and think i can handle that....

please refrain the "play money never is like real" type reply,... i know and understand that.

I haven't played with play money in quite some time but I do not see any correlation between small stakes real money and large amounts of play money. I think even at micros that people are as bad as at play money but there is a psychological side to playing real money, no matter how small the stakes.

Preflop % is always around double in playmoney.

well, here's my thing...after loosin' my first deposit, i wanted to learn more, so i read a few books, have been watchin' strategy vids, lurking here, placed 3 final tables in freerolls (only to loose my tiny winnings at micros)...and currently use PT3 for freerolls (real money) and holdem indicator (play money)....and i feel l need to play higher stakes than micros where the game fleshes out a bit better......i've since been playin' 3-5 hrs a day (avg) and have a will soon have good bit of money to throw at this and am perfectly ok if i loose it all (not playin' with scared money)...i'm just tryin' to get a feel of what stakes i should jump in at....i'm prolly gonna just start with $1 sng's and feel it out...but i don't wanna just spin my tires in the mud.

I'm pretty much in the same situation as you, I've heard that you should skip the 2NL games and start at 5NL at minimum because of how little experience you supposly gain from 2NL.. But then again I hear you SHOULD start at these limits from some people..

Personally I think starting at 5NL sounds best, and thats what I plan to do with my $50 bankroll -- I'll first be trying those $1 SNGS same as you.

If anything, some of the play you see at 100k+ play chips can be similar to the very lowest micro games, like 0.01/0.02 ring. People still spew chips at the lowest levels, but not nearly as bad as the bottom of the play chips. People do hold some value over the play chips though, so I agree with you that the "play money never is like real" stance isn't exactly correct. If anyone wants to dispute that, feel free to send off ten million play chips to me on full tilt, and I'll switch my stance.

Playmoney does have real money value though.

10 mil = around $50 on FTP or $100 on PS

I have played a hell of a lot of play money on tilt. Ive got bout 400mil infact (i didnt buy any of that) and i dont think the players are anywhere near as good as real money until you get to about 25k 50k deep. This is where the play starts getting serious and people actually have some respect for their chips instead of dumping every hand.

If you build up your play money banroll youll find out pretty quick. Its not that hard with the players being as bad as they are.....Only thing is you get some terrible beats that you just gotta cop

i was thinking of playing some 10k playchip SNGs. i was never able to beat these before. i know for a fact the 100k playchip SNGs are a lot harder to beat than real money ones from $1.20-$5.50s. you will see 7 or 8 players still left at the 100/200 blind level. something you don't see even at the $11.00s. but over all play is more aggressive in real money than higher stakes playchips. if i were you i'd try to skip the $1 ones and go right to the $2 ones the rake is so much less.

If you can afford to redeposit again you could play some 2,3 or 5 dollar sngs but if you cannot beat the micros how can you beat the other levels?

That isnt really a sign of skill in a SNG that alot of people are left with high blinds, its a sign of passivity/weak tight play.

micros are just all over the place, the bet amount's mean little, ppl virtually ignore pot odds etc. etc. etc.

i lost my $50 a year ago, when i didn't know squat about the game....it was after that when i started takin' poker seriously...i'm rolled for $2k now and am ready to take a much better shot at the game (online only) than i was then. and micros just make me sick (too too many bad beats/suckouts or even just bad calls) now that i have a much larger br i figure why waste time at micros.....i feel i have educated myself and gained enough experience (well over 50k hands) to take a much better stab at the game. problem is, i've never played a single $2 sng......i'm really not intimidated by them, just simply lack experience. my ring game play is ok, but i find myself more comfortable playin' STT's.

i plan on makin' the move to real money between now and new-years. i just wanna know about what stakes where the general play is "standard abc by the book" type poker....

from what i gather it's buck wild at micros and small stakes, mid-stakes play well, then high stakes get buck wild....just tryin' to pinpoint where exactly those are.

I started with play money, went to real money. Went back to play money to run an experiment/project.


imo the 10,000 Sit and Goes and higher are not far from the $1 real money Sit and Goes on PokerStars. Anything lower than that and the 1,000 play money reload is too easy to go to. But by the time you get to the $5 ones I don't think the play money ones compare.

That would be interesting; a lot of people would consider reloading a single dollar in real money to be trivial in the same way at 1500 chips is.