Play Money to Real Money...making the move

I've been playing Play Money on poker stars & FT for a while now. I've gotten pretty good at running from my buy in to 10 to 20x that starting amount.

I play pretty tight and just capitalize when guys over play their hands (which is most of the time in the free money games). I usually play 5/10 NL Holdem.

I'm looking to start playing some low stakes real money games. 2/4 cent kinds of things. I know there is a great difference between real & play, but in your opinion how different is the way guys play in 2/4 cent compared to 5/10 free money tables?

I'm guessing it's fairly similar in that people will overvalue a pair, go all in with little hoping to get lucky and pretty much call everything that hits the pot.

Any advice for making the transition, and what can I expect from the way people play 2/4 cent games?

first of all if u have 10 to 20 times the starting amount in play money u only have like 10K to 20k
i honestly think to make the transfer from play money to real u should be able to amass a 1millioon chip roll on either site
so if i were u i would not go to real money yet

What I meant to say (sorry if not clear) is that I am able to take my buy in up 10 or 20x per session that I play.

I have much more than 20,000 total.

What I mean is I buy in to a 5/10 NL for $2,000. Each session I am able to easily move that up to 10k/20k in a short period of time.

I'm mostly curious about how the playing style/ability of opponents on 5/10NL Free compares to 1/2 cent or 2/4 cent real money.

How well would my effective 5/10NL free gameplan work on 1/2cent real I guess is what I am trying to say?

Hi,

There is a pretty pronounced difference.

Play money has no value and can be reloaded. Play money games often consist of people just calling and shoving hoping to get lucky, safe in the knowledge that if they lose it doesn't really cost them anything. This doesn't apply at even 1c/2c.

Don't get me wrong, the play at nanolimits is still awful, but it's a different kind of awful. You won't (often) get people 5-bet shoving preflop with 86s, but you will get people overvaluing hands like TPWK and draws. You will still get people being too loose preflop, but not to the extent that you get in play money. You can still win easily, but you won't often be multiplying your stack tenfold!

The best thing for you to do is go and watch a nanolimit table for a while - it should give you a good idea of what the play is like. Good luck!

Well, y' all have fun. Unless someone forgot to tell me, it is still illeagle to place bets on line in the state of Washington...

I havn't been able to play in ages...

BTW Happy new year

Just my 0.02;

Stars has higher buyin play money sit and goes. The play gets much more reasonable at the 10,000 and higher play chip levels. I've never seen it reasonable at the play money cash tables.

Stars has cheap 0.01/0.02 cash tables, which play as Dorkus says. Full Tilt's lowest cash table is the 0.05/0.10 tables so if you're going to start real money, Stars is a better place to start.

I agree with what Dorkus Malorkus says.

I want to add a little something that's just my opinion. I think getting a matching bonus for $50 out of pocket is a waste of a perfectly good 100% or in the case of Ultimatebet 111%(I think that's their current matching bonus). If a site's going to match your deposit I think it's a good idea to go ahead and try to scrape together at least half of the maximum first time deposit.

Now for scraping it together(this will take time obviously), go ahead and use all the advice here. There's a ton of great advice for freerolls and cheap buy-in tournaments. It should get you on a roll. I'm thinking that even if you have to throw in an extra $50 out of pocket it's still going to maximize the amount of play and winnings at the site where you make that first deposit. That or build starting with a no deposit bonus. Either way, I do think it's better for getting comfortable with playing for cash. That's just my opinion though.

Throw some money on line and get your feet wet.

Free money is good for teaching you the very basics and that's about it.

Well I take that back, when I suffer an unusual amount of bad beats I'll jump over on a free table and play the hell out of every hand just to see if I can confuse the Godz of the deck. Superstitious fool that I am, it seems to help.

Good luck

imo,

play at 1c/2c would probably be the same as 5/10 playmoney, its equally ridiculous, but due to the fact that you're playing real money, you'll almost definately rant about all the donkey play cause you lost $.

Would suggest you start at 5c/10c if possible, the play is better. It is still kinda donkish at times but not as bad as the 1c/2c.

micro limit

when playing micro limit games u should remember that your talking little amounts of money which most times people really dont care about so in that aspect its like playing free money.....lol

I agree with Dorkus, actually go and watch the players,possibly putting notes on some guys as and when you see anything that might be nice knowing later, and then sit at the SAME table that you have been watching and try to use the information you have gained to your advantage.

In relevance to your original q? I would say that 1c-2c is not a lot of money people are losing, but it is still money, and they know that if they lose it then they'll have to make another deposit, rather than having to wait another hour and then getting a free refill. On the flip side though, if they were great players, they would have been able to build a BR and then move up, and some of the plays you see at the 1c-2c tables will lead you to question whether nor not these guys like having money, or whether they think it's charity work to give it away at a poker table. My advice is, wait till you're most confident, because a big part of poker is confidence, and then go ahead and take them down. GL!

gl at the tables all

no1yidmax

if you get 1mil in pokerstars you can sell them. i got 10.00 twice so far. you can play without making a deposit. i like sng

I made the transition this last summer. I had and still have 5 million in play money on bodog, it has been a back and forth battle. Real money at low levels is still a different game than play money. If your fundimentals are strong good luck,and be prepaired to learn a new game. I would if you can watch a 10 dollar or larger buyin tourney for an hour or so, or a 50 dollar buyin cash game for that hour. You will get some sence of how different the game is played. Good luck!!!!!!

There is no right or wrong way to move from play money to real money. You just have to do it. Just like when you move from online play to live action. Both of these transactions are different and once you make the move you will adjust your game accordingly.

The best advice I can give is track your winnings and losses and play the level you can afford with your bankroll...it is all about your skill and bankroll management that will make you successful.

Also, just because you have higher tourney buyins or higher table limits...does not neccessarly mean the play is any better than your penny tables.

I started with $3.40 I won on a freeroll on FullTilt and below you can see an example of the table I keep online that shows my growth (I was also testing a new tool)




Basically, if you have the skills to play poker...you have the skills to move to real money.

Good Luck on the felts :icon_joke

Hi Pokerchix

bertman,

I made the move from Play-Money (Pro) to Real-Money (loser) losing my 1st three deposits ! You might, like I did, think you're the greatest player just because you do well at PM. But in fact you really need to sharpen your skill a lot more.

For the last couple of days I've taken a different approach and gone back to PM at Stars ... to see if I can win playing cash game style at 2-10,000 SnG's, 9 to 45 players, the results are mixed but I'm having fun again even when I'm grinding it out at micro limits

In summary; If you think you're ready then make a deposit and play your A game ... and continue to sharpen your skills trying new things at the play-money tables.

Good luck

Micro table real will be approximately the same as bigger play money buy ins. Easier to compare at FT. Micro real is about what the 2K play money game is. Of course it depends, sometimes the 10K play games are closer. I did most of my play money stuff at FT so can't quite relate with the PS play games.

play money is just to learn the basics of the game, i would not put any value in the amount of play money dollars u win