Hi,

I am looking for advice for online sites where I can practice with virtual money, learn and plug my leaks. Most of the places I know (like Zynga) doesn't have serious players, so it is really hard to practice and learn. Moreover, I can't really download and look at hand my histories (to check my leaks with poker tracker or somewhere else)

Can someone advice me the right place where please play with virtual money, but seriously to learn?

USA?

I am a big proponent of play money games as a tool to learn to play. But......you are learning to play in an environment where about half (?) of the players are serious players. Therefore... you are "learning" on tables with some very loose players...not at all typical of "real" games. (maybe somewhere between micro online games and the live 1/2 games in many parts of the USA. (Also, not sure if you can capture hand histories at some of the sites available with Play Money games)

That said..... invest about $50 in a online site and playing .01/.02 games will provide better training than play money. Training budget.

Yes, USA. Yes that is the problem I am dealing with. Since most of the field is not so serious, it is more detrimental to the game then being useful. Moreover without having the ability to analyse your leaks it seems more or less like a waste of time/ entertainment.

I don't think it is as bad as you think. You have to learn to adjust to your opponents when playing real money....... seems like playing virtual cash requires the same adjustable game.

Let's say you get into a loose 1/2 game the next time you are in Vegas. Kinda typical though I think some places in Vegas (The B and the V as examples) are getting better players in general. But you can still find loose games. So are you saying that training on play tables will be of no value? I would not. I also think these same games are easily beaten by someone that plays and wins on the .01/.02 games online.

I see your point. You are right, this is a good practicing zone for loose games. I wish some site also offer hand histories as well (with virtual money).

A play money zoom/rush/fast/whatever could maybe be more similar to regular .1/.2?
I mean it's still play money, but at least people are incentivized to play a little bit tighter.

Poker is all about maximizing value. Frankly, playing good poker is boring. It involves a lot of folding. But if you are playing real money, this is worth it for the monetary reward.

If you're playing play money? There's no monetary value, so the value is fun. People will make crazy moves and rip stacks in with junk and they'll be making the mathematically correct play. They'll lose chips in the long run but the chips are worthless anyway.

Even at .01/.02 stakes, you can only afford to be so crazy with real money. That's why there's absolutely no comparison between the two.

OP - Check out NLOP.com

This is sort of a hybrid between play money and real money. You play cash games or tournaments for tokens, which have no apparent value. But you can then use the tokens to play in tournaments that pay out in real money.

I have played there for a few weeks, just to try it out. The level of play isn't very good, but it is better than I've seen in play money games. You will see absolutely terrible plays, but also some reasonable poker. The main thing is that you can play for something of value (cash) without ever investing money. You can continually add to your token balance simply by having ads playing (you click on a tab to "earn tokens"). I do it with my speakers off - so I'm really not bothered by the ads. I consider it sort of a game to see how many tokens I can "earn" while I'm playing in a game.

I have yet to win any actual cash, so I can't speak to the legitimacy of the site and how they pay out - but I've accumulated a lot of tokens, and had a little fun. I sort of got tired of playing on Ignition, so I decided to give this one a shot.

See https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/283/big-ugly-poker/