Getting Burned

Hello, first I would like to say hello to everyone, I am new here and this is my first post.

I am a bit confused here, I started playing poker online about 6 months ago, only at play money tables for the time being, I use to play quite a lot with friends and colleagues, I watch a lot of poker on the telle and have read countless books on strategy. I keep hearing that poker is more a game of skill than it is luck, but when I play I seem to be in the, maybe 2% of the people I have played with that seem to put any thought into what they are doing yet I keep getting burned. I have tried playing super tight to extremely loose and everywhere in between. I am using the hold em indicator at the moment which helps minutely, but not enough for it to be worth buying for real money tables. Is part of my problem here the fact that I am playing at play money tables where people tend to just throw money around, do people tend to play more intelligently at real money tables and am I likely to do better there, or is it if I can't win at play money tables I will not win at real money tables. I feel I have a reasonable understanding of strategy and money management, I haven't read or even heard any new concepts in a while, don't get me wrong I don't think I know a fraction of what there is to learn but I feel I have a good understanding of general concepts. I suppose I am just at a loss. I do enjoy poker and like the idea of playing online but if I am just going to be handing money to people why not just skip the middle man and stand on the street corner handing out 50's. Sorry for the long post, these are my thoughts and as I said am feeling lost at the moment I don't know where to go from here, and was kind of hoping some one here could grant me a bit of guidance. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Gareth

Play money is nothing like real money

Most people are play money tables have nothing else better to do and are just bored.. so they just throw their play money around. Don't learn from this.

Though, there are bad players at every level.. if you stick to "good" playing, then you will be a winning player in the long run.

Now.. what is "good"? Making the right reads, not calling with pure crap...

I suggest reading the following:
10k post: micro stakes full ring guide [long]

There are a bunch of other great threads here at CardsChat to help you along.. check out the Tournament, Cash, and Learning Poker sections (as I see you probably have been checking out since you posted this in the Learning Poker section).

People at the play money tables ARE NOT throwing money around. The only value of the play money tables is to familarize yourself with the site software. If you understand the basics of poker & pay attention you can do fine at the real money tables online. Have a look at some of the strategy articles here at CC. Enjoy & good luck.

some people also play play money like real money,because to them ,they have paid labor,they like to play it well not just throw play money.

Wow, thank you all for your speedy replies. OK this is my attempt to sum up what you all have said, if I am misspeaking or just misunderstanding than I am sorry and please correct me.

Play money tables are not like real money tables, they are good for learning software and familiarizing yourself with the game concepts if you never played before. But they can only take you so far, And I need to take the plunge and move to real money tables to get a better understanding of the game. If I play intelligently than I should do alright. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep playing.

I hope I got the general concept of that, if not I apologize and please set me right. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do here. This seems like a good place with good people. Thank you!

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. If you aren't ready to deposit, at the very least, start playing freerolls. They aren't going to be a whole lot better then play money, but they are some and you have the chance to win something out of it. Once you do move over to real money games I would suggest getting either PT or HEM, they will help you a lot in analyzing your game.

Make sure you take full advantage of CC. Just reading is fine, but try posting some hands in the HA sections and answer a few questions. You may not know as much as some of the people here (I know I sure don't) but one of the best ways to learn is to teach.

Brilliant, pardon my ignorance here but what is PT and HEM

PT = Poker Tracker
HEM = Holdem Manager
They are both tracking software. They keep track of your hands, opponents hands, wins, losses, betting, pretty much everything. They are great for going over some of your previous hands and finding leaks in your game. They both have free trials if you wanted to check them out. Just google the names and you can try them each out.

IMO, if you don't feel comfortable enough to deposit money into sites right now.. then hang around CardsChat, work your way up to 65 posts and apply for the Freeroll Club here at CC. You will get access to the CardsChat freerolls where you can play for free and try to win real money.

Most freerolls are almost as bad as play money.. except for the ones here at CardsChat. If you can hit the money in one of our freerolls.. then you have a chance to build a decent bankroll from nothing.

http://www.cardschat.com/f31/cardsch...thread-143084/ (http://www.cardschat.com/f31/cardschat-freeroll-club-sign-up-thread-143084/)

Excellent, thank you all, you have filled me with enthusiasm for the game again and I am looking forward to testing the waters. It seems I have found someplace with a wealth of knowledge for me to learn from and I don't feel so bad about getting burned on the play money tables. I have signed up for a site called Bodog to get a feel for things, I am just waiting for deposit details to be sorted. I have read some good reviews on it. So thought I would give it a go. Does anyone have any experience with this site. I quite like the Pokerstars software and am told it is one of the better sites but the offer I am using requires me to register on a site I don't have an existing account with play money or real.

I've actually never played at Bodog before.. but from what I'm told.. it's a good site if you live outside of the US.

If you live in the US.. best places to play are PokerStars and Full Tilt.

Play money, is nothing like real money, but if you want to have anything like it with play money, I suggest the Full Tilt play money steps sit and gos. The first couple steps are just like all the other ones, but once you get to about the fourth or fifth step, people actually start to take it more serious. Also, if you win the seventh(last) step of the ladder, then you can use the play chips for a special play money tournament on Full Tilt the has a real money payout.

If real money was like the play money tables, I'd be a rich, rich man--and that's definitely not the case, ha. Yet that's not to say some people don't take it seriously.

Personally, I didn't learn anything from play money ring games--there are too many yahoos mindlessly splashing around and reloading or leaving right away--but in later stages of play money tourneys it's similar to the real thing, imo.

Don't play at Bodog, Bodog is terrible. Full Tilt and PokerStars is all you need.

Cheers thanks for letting me know, why is bodog so bad

Bodog isn't really a poker site. It's a sports betting and casino site that happens to have poker. Which means their software is fine for sports betting and casino games, but it really really sucks for poker. I believe the most tables you can play at one time is four. And they don't get a lot of traffic, so it takes a long time for SnG's to fill up and there is down time with ring games, due to the smaller player pool. Also, PT3 and HEM were not designed for Bodog, they do have patches for Bodog, but they are kinda buggy. Bodog just isn't a good site to play poker on. Like I said Full Tilt and PokerStars is all you need.

The multi table sng's do take forever to fill up, it is unreal. However if you play cash, the tables are very soft and there is not alot of traffic so you can get to know the donkeys rather quickly.
The single table sng's are very soft too.
I went from 16 dollars to 90 in 3 days playing $5 9 man sngs. I only played one at a time and in the evenings.

I am less critical of free money games, but admit that at the lowest levels they are only valuable to learn the mechanics of the site, not the game.

At the biggest buy-in levels of free money play, both ring and tourney, you will find play that is close to $10 buy-in games, either ring or tourney.

So there is some value at those levels, but what you do find at those levels are players who understand the game and are probably tuning up something or other about their game and it might be a good place to start developing your player notes. If/when you move to real money, you might have notes on some by doing this.

As mentioned the best thing you can do is hang around, read the articles, ask questions, and before you know it you will have the 65 posts you need to join the Freeroll Club here and a real chance, with limited participants and money added at the beginnings of a real money bankroll.

Sounds good to me, Thank you all again for all your advice, and links to some quite informative threads. I think I have learned more in the past couple of days than I have in the past month reading books, most books I have come across all say pretty much this same thing, some are even quoted word for word.