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SPYDER1998
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Personally, Play money poker is a good tool to practice your game, i played play money tourneys and ZOOM for over a year when i was still under aged. and now playing in micro stakes, i can say that sometimes PLAY money players are tougher than the fishes in the micros. IF YOU CAN GROW YOUR PLAY MONEY IN pokerstars FROM 40K TO ATLEAST 3 MILLION, YOU CAN CRUSH THE MICROSTAKES IN real money POKER
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casique31
Rock Star
Silver Level
The answer is a resounding NO. Play money tournaments are extremely overwhelming. In the case of freeroll tournaments, they are usually very similar because they do not have any cost for the participant. It should also be noted that the value of entry to a tournament for an American, Canadian or European is different from that of anyone who lives in a South American country, no one is to blame for this, but the former will play a little looser. , instead of us. Latinos, they'll eat our nerves for a $ 10 ticket
spectralwave
Visionary
Bronze Level
Nowadays, novice poker players can find an almost inexhaustible source of materials aimed at improving their game, including poker books, strategy articles and even programs like Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager. As vital and essential as these programs can be, nothing can compare to the winnings earned at the poker tables. In addition, play money tables are not exclusive to a poker game. Many poker rooms offer a wide variety of games to choose from, so once you feel like you've learned well in Texas Hold'em, for example, why not give Omaha a try too? At play money tables, all new players provide a number of chips, given by the poker room. All the chips you win accumulate in your play money account, or allow you to move up in limits, play against better players and gain more experience in the game. If unfortunately you end up losing all your chips, you don't have to worry, as the poker rooms will give you more free chips every time you need them, so you can rebuild your bankroll. One thing to remember at play money tables is that you must be patient. No professional poker player was born overnight, and the more time you spend gaining experience and working on your skills, the more likely you are to succeed at joining the real money tables. And never forget, improving your poker skills is an endless process. As the popular saying goes, this is a game that “takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master”.
ghitocarcia
Rock Star
Bronze Level
in my opinion I think definitely not. Well, from my own experience every time I played with play money and tried to play with decent tables or cards. the others or the vast majority
they don't play seriously and they generally cheat and play with any pair of cards and it actually gives annoyance that trying to play decently they beat you with rubbish. I prefer to play micro limits and pennies that also timbean but not so much.
they don't play seriously and they generally cheat and play with any pair of cards and it actually gives annoyance that trying to play decently they beat you with rubbish. I prefer to play micro limits and pennies that also timbean but not so much.
abgvedr
Legend
Silver Level
Play money poker is not only a great learning tool, its a overall a great game, and its almost the same as real money poker.
1. If you play the lowest limits on some free poker room, where you can just click some button and get minimum amount of chips, then yes, the quality of the game would be very low. However if you climb the tables you would notice that game becomes beter and beter.
I played for play chips for like 6 years, and i had a ton of fun. On the highest tables the game was very intense and fery few donkeys and bad players. Only ones who were buying chips from site. And after all if you play some freerolls or some low buy in mtts you see aton of donks as well.
2. Again. If you play the lowest limits, there are as lot of donks. But thats not the fault of play money poker. Its the fault of limits.
3. Again. And again. This is just 1 single problem you reffering to. Donkeys. If you can win your way through the lowest limits of donkeys to higher limits, you would notice that game there is just as good as real money poker.
1. If you play the lowest limits on some free poker room, where you can just click some button and get minimum amount of chips, then yes, the quality of the game would be very low. However if you climb the tables you would notice that game becomes beter and beter.
I played for play chips for like 6 years, and i had a ton of fun. On the highest tables the game was very intense and fery few donkeys and bad players. Only ones who were buying chips from site. And after all if you play some freerolls or some low buy in mtts you see aton of donks as well.
2. Again. If you play the lowest limits, there are as lot of donks. But thats not the fault of play money poker. Its the fault of limits.
3. Again. And again. This is just 1 single problem you reffering to. Donkeys. If you can win your way through the lowest limits of donkeys to higher limits, you would notice that game there is just as good as real money poker.
I know some people play "play money" poker like on full tilt. However I am not sure how good that is as a learning tool beyond it just looking like poker. Maybe learning the basic rules but anything beyond that is useless.
It looks like poker, plays like poker but it is not poker. There a lot of problems that come from trying to learn poker on play money:
1. Too many people are involved in too many hands:
Just the mere fact that literally nothing is at stake is a problem in of itself. You are removing an important psychological tool when you take real money out of the equation. People are a lot more likely to play trash hands like:
This is great when you are in real money poker when you have like AK suited but when everyone and their brother at the table play these kinds of hands you got a problem. Lets say you are playing a full ring of 9 people. You have to play SUPER tight because you will see 70-80% of the people at the table see the flop and are very likely to follow you to the river. Bluffing is impossible to do on here which leads to my next point.
2. Bluffing is non-existent on play money
Sadly one of the most important and fun aspects of poker doesn't really exist in play money. With nothing being at stake who cares if they are trying to bluff? A lot of people who play "play money" poker are gamblers. You are dealing with those same people who are not afraid to go all in with hands likeor even
3. Multi-table tournaments are a nightmare
What do you get when you have 80% of players playing every hand and non-existent bluffing? A luck feast. Now I don't really like to use the term luck while talking about Texas Hold Em but for play money I have to use it. You have to play tight and not bluff against those kinds of players but that is problematic in a multi-table tournament setting. Stealing blinds is so important to stay alive in a multi-table torny setting but it is VERY difficult to steal blinds on those tables.
You cannot absolutely scare most people off a hand; so you just have to pray they don't hit something ridiculous.
If you are going to practice I would personally just go with micro stakes at the very least. I am just so done with that scene and I wouldn't recommend it to new people.
darthjewel
Rock Star
Silver Level
There is nothing wrong with play money, but if you start learning poker you need to mix it with some freerolls and low stake games to get a sense of a real money play.
I have started with a similar mix myself and after several moths left play money and gradually started to move to higher competitions.
After over two years and some 8000 games I know about poker enough to have a growing money balance and to think about taking on higher stakes.
Beside of the time I have invested nothing.
Even if I could agree that I should have started only with the real money ( as cash games and $1 MTTs ) I estimate I would cost me between one and two thousand to gain a similar experience.
I have started with a similar mix myself and after several moths left play money and gradually started to move to higher competitions.
After over two years and some 8000 games I know about poker enough to have a growing money balance and to think about taking on higher stakes.
Beside of the time I have invested nothing.
Even if I could agree that I should have started only with the real money ( as cash games and $1 MTTs ) I estimate I would cost me between one and two thousand to gain a similar experience.
cwdignus
Carpe diem
Loyaler
learning in poker involves several phases, of course the game with play money can never be compared with the game with real money, everything in its proper place, as there is a lot of difference between online and live poker, there is no Manichaeism everything has positive and negative side, when the person is not familiar with poker as was my case, playing with play money at the beginning was very valid
kanogott
Visionary
Platinum Level
For the first steps is play money a good chance to learn the basics. You can test some strategies and learn which cards are playable and which cards are not so good to call and bet. The players without real money play more donkey style and call more the bluffs because the didnot invest real money. If you good in play money it is not a guarantee that you are good in real money. You must develop your game to the real money style.
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orlando miguel rossler
Rock Star
Silver Level
5 years I played fictitious even in homes with friends it is also a good way to learn without risking cash then a friend gave me 1 dollar and I played several sit go win several and played some tournaments but I am very bad at the end of the tournaments I continue to learn day by day day
