Practice with play money

[ihaveapigyo]

Do you think that working on some holes in your game by playing play money is a waste of time?

Play money in tournaments, sorry for not being more specific

[Greg J]

common question

The general consensus is that play money is better than worthless, but not by much.

[Joshssj4]

Depends on the holes in your game. Play Money is not an accurate depiction of what the statistics and play is like on Real Money tables. When I occassionally dabble in Play Money, while I'm drunk and afraid to play for real money, there is constantly 9 people seeing a flop and 5 people seeing a river. You will find this no where else, so to conclude, I feel that play money is generally useless as it'll teach you how to play against a table of maniacs but nothing else.

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

One exception: You can get an approximation of the thing called "poker" by signing up for an SnG, then sitting out until there are only 5 or 6 players left. At that point, people have something invested (time) and the chips therefore acquire value, albeit not much.

[UATrewqaz]

Well, according to theory play money tables are the most "profitable" in terms of big bets I'm sure.

Fold almost every hand except premium pocket pairs and ace/face, face/face suited and only continue playing on favorable flops.

You won't play many hands but you'll take down huge pots when you do win.

But it's all digital fake money so it's kinda pointless and there is no satisfaction, as the other players don't really care whether they win or lose.

[XxGodJrxX]

That sounds a lot like the local Indian Casino I go to. Eight people seeing the flop, one person folding (me). The best $1/2 game in the universe.

In my opinion, if you cannot beat Play Money games, you won't be able to beat real money games. I think an absolute beginner would benefit big-time by practicing in play-money tables before going into real games.

[Solami17]

My favorite line I hear in a fake money room after a weak player pulls a one outter is that it was only play money. Given that there is no monetary value to the cybermoney, people still play to win. At least you always get great pot odds in a limit game...lol

[Joshssj4]

[ QUOTE ]
I think an absolute beginner would benefit big-time by practicing in play-money tables before going into real games.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't. It teaches you the basics if lets say we are starting from scratch. Otherwise it gives you a vary distorted image of what online poker is really like, as far as players are concerned. It inherently only teaches you how to play against lags, which is slightly helpful but not nearly helpful enough.

[smb394]

It's not a terrible idea if you are new to a site and want to get used to the software interface. But, in terms of developing you game, I'm not sure what value it really has.

[XxGodJrxX]

My point is that if you cannot beat play money games, I promise you will not be able to beat real money games. Play money games may not be like real money games, and that is because they are infinitely easier. If you cannot beat people that do not care about fake money, how can you beat people that are out to take real money out of your kids' mouths?

Somebody that goes straight into Party .5/1, without any prior poker experience, is going to lose it all very quick. On the other hand, .01/.02 games are almost as loose as play money games, are those games ALSO distorting real poker?

When I have a friend that wants to get into poker, I always advise that they play for fake money until they can crush them. Whether it is "real" poker or not does not matter; if they can't beat those people, they won't be beating anybody.