Playing with play money might be creating bad habits? Time to move to pay site?

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RickAversion

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I have been playing online poker on my phone using DragonPlay App.
It has been fun, and I have finally gotten better at the game.

However, since it's free, and the chips are play money, I have a feeling I am now developing bad habits. Everyone pretty much always calls any pre-flop raise, for example.

I think it's time I started playing at a real money site. I don't even want to gamble, it's a dangerous path to tread down. But, I do want to play more REALISTIC poker.

I have heard that even micro stakes play is very different than play money. I this this makes sense. Even if I just throw $20 or $100 at some money site, I might get more realistic poker play, against better players.

I would like to play on my phone like the DragonPlay app. Is this possible?
If not, what is a reputable site? It seems like some big secret. I am not even clear on whether online poker is illegal anymore or not, since people seem to be playing on pay sites.

Can someone PM me specifics? B/c I have not seen a public thread about where to play with real money. It must not be allowed to be posted publicly?
 
duggs

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what country do you live in
 
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banshee1975

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If you start playing cash start at the micros because it will be totally different than play money
 
Propane Goat

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If you click on the "poker site Reviews" button up above it will give you info on several rooms that take US players.

Carbon has freerolls that you can participate in without depositing, and of course there's the CC freeroll club which is about the best freeroll deal you will find anywhere. $100 prize pool with 75 entrants beats the heck out of a $50 prize pool with 2300+ people in it any day. I have heard that Merge has increased their rake on cash games to a ridiculous amount though, so you may want to look at Bovada or some other site.

Play money is fine for people who just want to have fun and have no interest in actually playing strategic poker and trying to improve their game. For absolute beginners, it's good practice in looking at position and its implications, good vs. bad starting hands, how to bet, etc. but beyond that it's a waste of time.
 
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Freerolls were you can win some real money.

There is value in play money poker, it is not black and white but shades of grey
 
Poker Orifice

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However, since it's free, and the chips are play money, I have a feeling I am now developing bad habits.
I would think you are correct in your assumption here. You may have to 'unlearn' some stuff when you start playing for real money.

I think it's time I started playing at a real money site. I don't even want to gamble,
I have heard that even micro stakes play is very different than play money. I this this makes sense. Even if I just throw $20 or $100 at some money site, I might get more realistic poker play, against better players.
Yes you will for sure!
I would like to play on my phone like the DragonPlay app. Is this possible?

never heard of it
If not, what is a reputable site?

There's a bunch of threads on CC

Can someone PM me specifics? B/c I have not seen a public thread about where to play with real money. It must not be allowed to be posted publicly?
It is allowed to be posted & there's a bunch of threads on here.
 
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If you look at the country where the sites are, you could see if the sites are honest. canada and Austrailia are stable countries, I favor Merge Gaming sites for real and play money.
A value of play money sites or software, if you can't beat them over the course of playing several thousand hands, you won't be able to beat real money games.
It is important to know the rules of the games and especially how pots are split.
 
Bambilo1986

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I too started playing poker on play money and quite successfully. Then the minimum deposit supposed into the account and all lost. Game on real and play money strongly differs
 
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RickAversion

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Carbon has freerolls that you can participate in without depositing, and of course there's the CC freeroll club which is about the best freeroll deal you will find anywhere. $100 prize pool with 75 entrants beats the heck out of a $50 prize pool with 2300+ people in it any day.
.

Can you explain what a freeroll is?
I'd like to try this Carbon freeroll that you speak of.
How do I do this?

What is the CC freeroll club?
This is a $100 MTT?
How often does it run?
How do I join?

How can US players play at Bovada when online poker was banned?
Is there some loophole?

If you join Bovada, what is the realistic minimum one should deposit, if he wants to play the smallest stakes?
 
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ChipTowerz

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good luck to u with real money poker! big change!
goodluck!
 
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jcdagenius

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play money is very different than real money. you will never know how good you are without playing for real money. make sure you study some strategy on poker it will help a lot.
 
Propane Goat

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A freeroll is a multi-table tournament which is free to enter but has real cash prizes. These are generally done by poker sites to attract traffic, the cost of running the tournament is part of their promotional budget to attract new customers. People who win cash in freerolls often play ring games at the same site, so the company gets some of the cash back in the form of rakes. Carbon Poker has $50 NLHE freerolls 3 times a day, so if you go to their website and download the software, then sign up for an account you can participate without depositing anything. Betonline has freerolls every hour but their software sucks, still good for practice though.

In the beginning stages of freerolls the level of play is generally like play money, but if you get deep enough the play improves a lot.

It's a popular misconception that the federal government banned online poker in the USA, which it did not. There is no federal law that bans online poker at all, what they did was make it illegal for financial institutions such as banks to do transactions with online casinos. There are several states in which online poker is illegal, I believe Washington and Missouri are two of them, but these are state and not federal bans.

You can find out more about the CC freeroll club here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/cardschat-freerolls-31/cardschat-freeroll-club-requirements-145133/

CC freerolls are held weekly at quite a few sites and for varying prize pools up to $500, the schedule is here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/cardschat-freerolls-31/cardschat-freerolls-schedule-207828/
 
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RickAversion

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It sounds like there's no downside to playing in these freerolls, as a way to get some MTT experience.
But it looks like I can't join Carbon, based on my zip code.
 
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RickAversion

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How do these sites give you a 300% deposit bonus?
Aren't you playing against other live players?
So, how does the website make their money back if you just lose their bonus to other players?
 
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there is a downside.....the play is very spewy and erratic....actually increasing variance due to people going all in just wanting to double up because its a freeroll. you will get experience as far as blinds increasing and being in a tourney field with many other players but the starting stacks in freerolls are so short you have no room for true play. this can easily make you wonder if you are making mistakes but it could be the structure causes you to make certain moves that you don't have to in real tourneys even small buy in.....also carbon takes 10 weeks to pay you so cashing in a freeroll would only lead to a headache of how to get your money back off. good luck.....also download pokerstars app just for fun they have tournaments since you play dragonplay app
 
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the site makes money off rake the deposit bonus is something to draw players to the site. if you deposit on bovada they will double your first deposit up to a certain amount but its mainly good promo to draw to the site....the site is not losing they have many ways of making money and rake is a big part of that
 
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RickAversion

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Looks like Bovada and Caron do not accept people from my state.
So much for that idea. I guess I will need to go a casino for real money play.
 
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RickAversion

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Moot point for me, but yes, I agree that playing in a freeroll $50 MTT is probably not worth it, b/c people will just be freewheeling it like they do in any play money site.

Rake the deposit means they take a percentage of your deposit as a fee?
 
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jcdagenius

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rake out of cash games and tournament buy ins.......you can try playing on Americas cardroom they also payout fast go to americascardroom.eu
 
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jcdagenius

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also the casino is much more expensive....we are talking like 50 to dollars online can last months versus taking 200 max buy in to casino to play 1/2 holdem and that's does not include gas and food.....
 
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jcdagenius

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I didn't know bovada had restricted states...but its possible ...
 
yeezus

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Bovada has restricted states I was unaware of this. I know merge has a list of states that they do not allow to play.
 
yeezus

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I also advise if you are to start at micros stakes that you check out Verneer on cardrunners.com. You can try a 7 day free trial and cancel afterwards. Has a bunch of great vids on how to beat the micros easily. Good luck on your switch and see ya at the tables.
 
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