[archcity]

As someone who did really well with play money for about 6 months and just started with real money at PokerRoom (Mac user) about a month ago, I thought I'd jump in with my first post.

Playing NL SnGs is definetly more challenging but I think more fun. Most play money games would finish before blinds even became an issue. Also a ten person play table would be down to 6 or 7 players after a couple of rounds, because of crazy all-ins at the beginning. That made it easy to get in to the "money". At real tables you have to play real smart poker to get in the money.

Also playing NL .25 ring games, because that is the lowest they have at Pokerroom. Probably would prefer at .10 table given the choice. I am holding my own, down just a little. The difference I see is it's much harder to extract money with a really good hand, and you can loose a bunch with a really good hand that is not the nuts.

I also found that it is hard to build a big stack and make money by "ruling" table. In play if you build a huge stack, people stick around or more players fill empty seats. In real money if you double your stack people leave and no one is anxious to sit in with you. Quickly you'll find yourself playing heads-up. I don't like playing really short handed (2-4 players) at a ring table. So you have to sit in with the standard buy-in at another table.

That's my 2 cents as a beginner.