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When I play Random or Standard the table is too tight for me to make money

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I really think the low-limit table is a little too loose and a bit more aggressive than I typically see. But anyhow, I really like the random table the most because it's different everytime. It's really easy to make money there over the long haul, but it's not uncommon to go 200-400 (or more) hands running at just about break-even (up a little, down a little, etc...). But eventually you'll get some good cards and get ahead. However, if you don't play well consistently, that money will quickly be lost [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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and when I play Beginner the play is too wild.

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That's where you should be making easy money, and you'll find a lot of tables like this online... There's some good posts in the micro-limit forum that talk about this very topic. Go in there and read the digests and faqs. They'll help you out.

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So you're saying I should be able to beat Standard tables and crush Beginner tables before I play for real money?

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You should be able to win consistently if you expect to win online. The beginners table in academy plays with undaptive bots that just play as programmed, and you'll run into plenty of them online. You should be able to recognize their patterns and beat them fairly easily, same as the random, standard, and advanced. Like I said before, academy is a great training tool. It'll prepare you as well as anything can for the real thing, but it's not the real thing, and I guess that is one drawback against PA: it could get you used to playing against 'bots [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] However, if you can't beat the training tool, do you think it's reasonable to expect to beat the real thing?

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BTW, how would you rate each setting vs. on-line play?

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Gosh, that's tough to say.... At .50/1 you'll see a lot of play similar to what you'll see at those settings online. But the 'bots are still that: robots. They will make play similar to what you see online (the patented "slow play the set" and A-rag play), but you'll also see some "stupid" moves on their part as well... So like I said, it's tough to say.

The real value is in teaching you strategy and hand selection, as well as giving you experience for a cheap price (free!). It'll help you develop a good feel for what cards are good in different situations, and understand the value of each preflop...

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Would you say that Beginner equates to the .05/.10 tables? Low Limit to the .50/$1 tables? Standard to the $3/$6?

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I think that's a little simplistic. You can actually run into some good players at .05/.10 (some of the guys from the micro-limits forum play there for learning). Those settings are really the "mix" or "type" of players at a give limit. As you increase the limit (from .5/1 to $1/$2) etc, you'll run into better 'bots regardless. I guess what I'm saying is that at any given time, running into any of those players online is a possibility at any limit. I like to play random and standard settings the most, as I think that over the long haul (many games) that's what online play is like on average.