Hey,

As this is the training section, I was hoping to ask those who have had experience training if playing with play money helps you if any.

I know from playing with play money that many players are very loose, often wanting to just shove all in with any two cards first hand in the game to triple or quadruple up.

Also, as the game goes on, people begin to leave their seats and not play, these two situations almost never occuring in a real money sng.

So I guess my question is what is a good way (apart from actually playing with money and incuring a loss) to practice and gain experience in poker? Is play money the best way at no cost or is there a better method reccomended that is also free?

Yes , thats what phil ivey did to sharpen his skills, mentioned it in some interview in uk, think durrr and antonious the same.. lets them concentrate on the correct play instead of the money they may lose!!

great idea

I started with play money. It's a good way to learn the rules of the game, how boards come out, and just get experience seeing hands. I wouldn't recommend it for much beyond that.

once you learn all the rules of the game, etc, and basic strategy, and are comfy with stuff, then put 20 or 50 bucks online and start playing the smallest real money stakes you can find. the money will make it seem a tiny bit serious for you but the players will still be bad. and the money hopefully won't be enough to bother you.

Im have some money on my FT account but am a losing player which is why i am hoping to improve my game with play money.

I plan to get good at SnGs and am planning to practice on higher play money levels before tackling the real money sngs. I currently play at the lowest stakes in play money (since I don't have a play money bankroll yet to really justify going up although I can always reload)

I was wondering if anyone has experience practicing with play money tourneys at what buy ins do players start playing legimitately well (like $1 or $2 sng levels)? Im thinking possibly at the high buy-ins and higher where alot of play money is needed to play at.

you can learn bankroll management with playmoney. accumulate 3 million playchips on pokerstars. i gonna buy them from you once you have done that and then start playing 0.01/0.02c tables. that´s how i started.

My personal opinion is that Play money isnt "real poker" in the manner that since people dont have anything to lose they can just throw their chips away.

All the local freerolls in bars/etc that I see are such donkaments because people come to the table and go all in the first hand if they have an ace.

It's different to play when you have to take the risk of losing something.

My tip is to go play $0.01/$0.02 or other such micro stakes and stay there for some 10k-20k hands.

Yes, once you get to a certain level. Until you get past the lowest stakes, it's too difficult to play post-flop poker.

Quick answer is no way will it help your game.

Play money only helps if don't understand poker at all to start with. It would help you learn the betting, what hand beats what, and other very general poker guidelines.

People don't play for "real" when using play money.

For example, if you're playing a sng you'll have one person AI pf then four others will follow just to see if then quadruple up, which would never happen in a real money sng and isn't the correct way to play.

The best possible way you could improve at poker using play money imo is to play HU

Disagree,sure a big % of players just mess around but if a player was playing say HU against other regular HU play money players I feel this is definatley going to improve a players experiance,skill level and knowledge of HU poker.And for that matter a few other games providing the player can sat at tables while people are not moneying around(which is harder at FR & 6max that's why I mention HU)

PartyScout

Learning not to follow along and shove YOUR chips in the middle would be the lesson learned here. Learning not to play like a donk is important, and play money can help get it done for nothing.

Because I had moral qualms against "gambling", I avoided the micro limits for a long time. Back in those days you could sell play money pretty easily so I had this idea to sell a few million worth of play chips and start playing the micros with those.

I was on Pokerstars and even though their highest stakes at 100/200 cash games is no good for learning, the "high stakes" Sit & Go tournaments where the buy ins go all the way up to 200,000k play money chips have some pretty decent play. This is especially true at the HU tables where you can meet some tough opponents. If you make enough there you might be able to find a buyer for your efforts so that you can start grinding it out at the micros.

Peace

'Dante

You'd probably be better off playing against bots on Poker Academy than learning bad habits on play money. If you must use the play tables, make sure to sign up at the .net sites so you don't spoil your rakeback later on.

I would say buy a simulation program skip play money. Will give more bad than goo IMO.

You should play with playmoney on full tilt. They have a daily 15$ freeroll tournament which costs you 500,000 playmoney chips to enter in. There's never more than 50 players and I THINK top 7 gets paid. That's where you should start.