hey guys i want to know if i should try for real money read below and tell me what you think bassically i only play poker with play money but i keep getting good results with it. the results are pretty much me gaining a huge chip lead and being what i guess you would refer to as the shark at the table.(although i think im more of a rock but not as tight).i am trying to learn to become better with decision making by being loose in play money ( i tend to play quite tight) i think its going ok im still making money with the loose play. i havnt used any soft of software that aids in improving my game. i have read lots on poker theory pretty much all the top sellers along with some other material. i do find it difficult trying to keep track of how the players work due to them being able to leave at any time. i ussually only pick up a few things like the lowest hand ranking they could have when they bet (still working on that but im getting better at guessing what they have) in my experience when i lose big money hands its due mainly to a bad beat its very rare through a actual outplay i guess (perhaps im not agressive enough) so can you tell me what real money games are like compared to play money... i think that real money would have stronger competition but im not sure how strong. im young and dont have a lot of money so also if theres anyway i can try to give you a better understnding of how i play ask but i cant give stats yet. ( games i played dont record that stuff)

You should give real money a try, but even 2NL is a huge step up in average skill level from play money games. What might be considered tight in play money games would be considered loose in cash games. I remember when I used to crush on Zynga with a VPIP of around 25%, because everyone else was playing 90% of their hands. When you try real money, you have to start thinking of much more than just your starting hands. Read as much as you can on 2+2, but definitely give 2NL a try. Learn about position, value betting, odds and equity and you'll be good to go. Sticking to play money for too long will just mean you develop habits that will be harder to drop in the real money games.

i guess so cause when i try thinking to much about what their thinking that im thinking it seems to be to high up and im more likely to lose money and that they only think about what they have so its a bit to predictable mainly i guess i have to adjust the thinking level to each player


. i agree that they are loose when i first played it i use to only play premium hands but after a while i loosened up. ive learnt stuff about postion, value betting odds (im working on that need to be quicker at maths) and i quess equity is about money? or do you mean it as in manners etc?

I think you're confusing the words 'equity' and 'etiquette'.

Equity has nothing to do with poker table manners, which aren't all that important online. 'Equity' is just a fancy word for 'your chance to win'. So if you have a flush draw on the flop, and no other outs, you have about 33% equity in the pot, or a 1/3 chance to make your flush. We often compare our equity in a pot with the pot odds we're getting, and when our equity is better than our pot odds, we usually want to continue with our hand. Sometimes people will talk about 'fold equity', which just means 'the chance you will win the pot with a bet because your opponent folds'. Equity can also be expressed in terms of chips or dollars in the pot that you theoretically 'own' because of your chance to win.

you should feel confident before you start playing for money. Just keep learning from your mistakes until you don't make very many. Playing for money has many more serious players than those who play for play money. Try to get a friend or two that will play heads up with you and provide a challenge while helping you with your play.

never looked up etiquette :P so i got spelling wrong.
to me the equity sounds like pot odds probably why i got confused i assume when people say odds that they mean what they figure their outs are possibility of getting it then making it into a simple variant such as 1 out of 3.
to me odds are money and non money related if that makes sense? to me money is put into the odds so yep i think of it as a number. say like call 500 in 1500 pot to make it 2000 i see it as odds i guess i should also label it as equity now.
so im guessing fold equity is when you give them bad pot odds where if they call its not a good move.

i think play money has made it hard to find difficult situations to learn from. i use to make lots of mistakes now not so much problem is finding a friend that can help me learn to improve. the ones that are 'good' that i know are tightish (mainly during the flop turn and river) or have a 'bully' personality.

my personality is kind of werid im very confident in general i think maybe to much sometimes. i am thinking logically about things till i think its the best decision. i have like £70 in my account which has to last me the rest of the week. might start real games at the end of the week. im thinking of trying some software hopefully one that can give me advice on playing certain styles? i want to become adaptable over time

How much money can you effort to spend on playing real money?

Whenever someone asks if they should switch to real money play, I always give an emphatic yes. New blood is great for the game, and it will help you become a much better player.

YES! Everyone basically sucks at poker.

Consider having home games with people that play more than you do, or if money is not too much of an object try a local cardroom, for the most part these games will be easier than online.

its funny but youre actually kind of correct

download the free trials of Holdem Manager and Pokertracker so that you can record your hands, find out your vpip/pfr etc. and get on with playing cash games. 2nl, 10bb deep.

The sooner the better. The only thing you need to start playing 2NL is like $40. The most important thing is that you are keen to learn. Most people at 2NL don't even have that. They're just there to gamble some pennies. The sooner you give it a shot the sooner you will start to really learn. Of you lose it consider it $40 spent

...learning a new skill. Well at least starting to learn a new skill.

That isn't really quite right, but maybe you should just read about it somewhere. But I'll try very briefly to explain the difference:

When talking about 'pot odds', your cards don't matter. Only the bets matter. If someone bets $100 into a $200 pot, you have to call $100 to win $300. You're getting 3 to 1 pot odds. Your cards are completely irrelevant - whether you have the nuts or you're drawing dead, you're getting the same pot odds if you call;

When talking about 'equity', the bets don't matter. Only your cards matter. If you have 77 preflop against AA, you have roughly 20% equity (since you will win about 20% of the time). The bets are completely irrelevant - whether villain bets $1 into a $100 pot, or $1000 into that $100 pot, your percent equity is the same.

Often to decide if a play (a call, normally) is going to be profitable, we compare our equity with the pot odds we're getting.

If you're still unsure, you could try taking out a no-deposit bonus and trying to run that up (if money/depositing is really an issue for you). I wouldn't recommend it if you can actually deposit money, as they sometimes block future rakeback/bonuses, but they're good for getting a feel of the game.

If you feel confident of your self you can play for real money in micro stakes.

Yes, and you should lern to structure your posts.

ok i get it now i put them both together when they are separate things. i thought pot odds was cards and money matters if that makes sense? i guess ive been doing both lol ( i need to work on comprehension ive read loads and forget some stuff in this case both things being separate)

i did lol but they seem to go from paragraphs to a block of text
plus when i type its like a stream of consciousness it does not always make sense and it doesnt like punctuation lol :P

If you have to ask, probably no. When you're confident enough and have a bankroll to play cash you should. Play money won't teach you much.

play a strong aggressive betting style. look up Chris Fergusen's section from full tilt strategy guide.

You can't really learn much from play money and in fact if you play it optimally you will develop bad habits for real money play i.e. lots of limping / calling with speculative hands; jamming over limpers with JJ; jamming any top pair hand etc.

Yep.

In effect you can do yourself a disservice by playing play money for too long. It can take a while to get out of the bad habits.