Is it possible to improve your game by playing with play money?
I still need to improve my game before starting to play with real money. I deposited 45 bucks on tree dif platforms ( with bonuses it's around 70 bucks) but with no return in the investment. I learned a lot but not enough, should i stick to freerolls and play money before depositing again. I also started studying with blogs, guide's, forum's etc.

I think there is a lot of learning benefit from playing with play money, but many will disagree. The only thing that you won't learn is how to play against aggressive, smart players. For that you'll have to invest the bucks. BUT, until you get to that point, yes, play with play money.

Well, i still need to learn to better read ranges, with what when to bet etc.

I think it can help you in terms of getting a good feel for the game and the deeper you go in a play money tourney the more it becomes like a real money game, but obviously in the real money games you run into superior players with aggressive styles and are usually more knowledgable about exploiting the passive players. Still even in the real money games picking your spots is essential Play money can help with that

I also have a comment about Freerolls vs regular cash/tourney play:

Have you ever noticed, that Freeroll players are incredibly loose, and right from the start, you get an "All-in Fest"?

I find that if you have money invested in the game, that you are much more serious about what hands you play, and your attentiveness to the other players in the game.

Just for that alone, I think that you benefit much more from real money play, from a learning prospective, than a play money strategy.

When you switch from play money, to real money, it's like stepping out of a plane when it's still in the air. A real shocker.

You can always start low with real money, so as not to hurt yourself, and get disenchanted with the game, and learn lots at the same time.

The person really only feels the weight of the stock when he is playing for his hard-earned money. It is a natural tendency to play looser when you are in a freeroll.

I think it doesn't worth it to play with play money, because the few times I've played I saw that the level of the players is the same or worse to what you will find in freerolls tournaments. I would only play freerolls for a while, win some money and play real money with the freerolls winnings.

I will say big no. The play money pool is fill of people that doesn't care if the win or they lose(I'm not talking about you here).

Emotions comes to play when you are using your own money. You´ll discover who you really are, trust me. You will start to understand patterns and behaviours of other people, since we do the same things over and over again.

I'm in the process of creating a discord study group, but I'm looking for players that likes exploitative strategy. If you are one of them PM me.

True that, when i join play money it feels too easy compared to even freerolls ( after the frist 5 min and all-in kamikazes ).

Play money players are not good. But, that doesn't mean you won't get any benefit from playing against them. If you can't beat players who don't care and will just give you their chips, you're going to have a real hard time beating those who are really trying.

You will learn a little, about value betting and playing against wide ranges. You'll learn how to take a suckout, it will happen a lot but you'll make more from the hands where they don't suckout and you win.

I've played a LOT of play money recently. I'm not at my computer, but in the next day or two I'll probably post about it. I was trying to meet a personal goal and prove a point to a friend. I can assure you that the play barely improves no matter how high up you go, at least on Stars. So, I wouldn't bother trying to move up too high in the stakes (maybe get out of the lowest games and above the games where people can reload and sit in them easily). But, you're not going to be playing against tough competition.

The only concern would be picking up bad habits, like limping. Just don't play like the rest of the table. None of them are good. If they're doing something, you should never try and copy them.

It is possible yes, but it will only take you so far.
I'd play for real money but at the lowest stakes until I was a winning ROI player before moving up in stakes. Something too many people just don't understand and make the mistake of playing at stakes much higher than their skill level when just starting out - which is great for all the players that take their money I guess...lol

You feel a lot better when your loss is play money. Still play those games you can play hands you'd normally wouldn't in a cash game. Do some bluffing and shoving. It can be a confidence builder plus it allows you to try different strategies. You can still learn things from play money that you can use when you want to put your cash at risk