Real money vs. play money?

[firehorse]

I did read the FAQ and I *think* this belongs here, but am not 100% sure. So if I'm wrong, sincere apologies and I'd be grateful to know what might be a more appropriate place... /images/graemlins/confused.gif

I'm really more of a blackjack player (sorry! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif), but am doing some research on internet gambling and a poker-playing friend sent me here. Basically the paper is on how people start playing online for real money. I'm making a poll so it's easy to respond, but if anybody would like to tell me more in a reply post I'd love to hear what you have to say!!

Thanks so much!

(edited to say I left out "too young" in question #2 but can't figure out how to modify my poll yet /images/graemlins/smile.gif so please just send me a reply if you would have checked that or if I've left out anything else!! - tx)

[HRFats]

Responded to the survey but wanted to elaborate (also, there are several questions that are not complete in the survey).

Anyway, I started playing because someone offered to put $50.00 into my acct. I had been playing free tables almost daily for 4 months so I decided what the heck. It was literally free. I wound up making $100. I have not been back to the free tables since. There is obviously a HUGE difference between the free and real tables.

As for why I waited, it was 100% because I did not want to lose money. If the affiliate had not offered the $50, I would never have played.

[IsaacW]

Where's the "never played for play chips" option?

CHECK.

[eric5148]

I need to be able to pick more than 3.

I went from play to real money because:

-I was killing the games

-I finished reading HPFAP and WLLH, and discovered this forum

-I needed money

-I wanted to challenge myself

People who stick to play money do it because:

-they don't like gambling in general, but they like poker

-they don't trust online casinos because they're unregulated businesses

-they don't think they're good enough, or still learning the game

-they don't trust that the cards being dealt are random

-they're afraid of family/friends looking down on them if they knew they were "gamblers"

[TheMetetron]

Where's the option for "I've never played poker for 'play money" because that's just stupid"?

[eric5148]

It's not stupid if you were a total beginner to poker when you started playing online. If you weren't, or jumped right into real money games, fine, good for you.

[cnfuzzd]

i moved to real money because pacific gave me a free twenty spot. And look at where i am today....<sniff> I HEART YOU WORTHLESS POKER SITE!!!


peace

john nickle

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not stupid if you were a total beginner to poker when you started playing online. If you weren't, or jumped right into real money games, fine, good for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can be a COMPLETE beginner be able to beat the .50/1.00 on Party. I've taught a few who have no idea what the hell they are doing to beat that game in a few hours.

[uuDevil]

Even when I played for play money, my intention was always to play for real money. Why? For fun, of course. But mainly for the money. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[dana33]

This is not a very well-designed survey. It's like you just thought of a bunch of random possible reasons and wrote them all down, no matter how improbable. You would have been better off talking to some poker players first to get a better idea of what the typical reasons for abandoning (or even never using) the play tables are.

E.g., options that should have been included:

- Never played at the play money tables.

- Read and saw that play money tables only teach bad habits which need to be unlearned when playing for real money.

- Can't spend play chips / wanted to win something worthwhile. [This is much different from "really needed the money"!]

- There was no challenge from the beginning; even a moron can beat the play money tables by just playing tight.

[bholdr]

you left out the most common reason people play poker- they just like to gamble!

[Reef]

how about the "I only play play-$ when I'm drunk"

[elric]

I am a CMP (Cash Money Player)...

However when I go to a new site I will play 10-15 minutes on the play tables till I get the hang of the User Interface. I would rather struggle with the Interface when it does not cost me any real money if I make a mistake. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[urko888]

Yeah - this option should be listed. I never played on the free $ tables.