I differ a bit then some. Personally, I wouldn't recommend freerolls as a way to seriously learn from your mistakes. A lot of people who play these, don't play the way they normally would had they had any money actually invested.
Actually Carl, you don't differ all that much from one of the two approaches for 'learning' poker. There has emerged, over my years here, 2 distinct groups who advocate 2 distinct approaches.
1...the
DON'T waste you time playing play chip poker group.
vs
2..the
There is an awful lot you can learn for free via play chips group
.
I would belong to that 2nd group. I am a tourney player primarily. I was playing bridge for free on the internet before I started with
poker online. The cheap entertainment was more alluring than any promise of riches OLP might provide. I had already experienced sharks at live poker many years before and knew there was danger in them thar waters. When I found out about play chips and freerolls, I figured I could finally afford to learn poker properly.
If not for play chip poker, I would NEVER have deposited real money to learn the game. My finances dictated that, perhaps if my finances were much better I might have dabbled for entertainment purposes, but I have always been frugal, so maybe not.
What I have seen over my years here, and the numerous discussion on the merit of Real vs Play money poker, is that many of the cash folks continually bring up that 'You've got to have something at stake' argument. At its heart is that you have to learn to deal with the
scared money aspect of poker. A valid concern for sure, especially if you have deposited over and over and over again, or have mortgaged the house prematurely to get in a big game. You absolutely will be faced with how you learned to deal with scared money.
Freerollers OTOH, usually never had to deal with the scared money thing. They approached the game as sport and entertainment and while they learned certain aspects of the game slower than those who paid repeatedly via depositing over and over and over, they did eventually learn all those aspect of the game.
So, IMHO, it is unwise to knock
free poker as a waste of time. We freerollers can fight back laughing at you for all that wasted money deposited over and over and over again.
Bottom line is that the game is enjoyable, or should be, at whatever stakes you play. At the free stakes, pride is the currency.
change instances of free poker into a link to https://www.cardschat.com/strategy/free-online-poker-game/