Online Poker Forum at Full Tilt Poker

huskermoney00 · Two Pair Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 51 Location: Lincoln

Does anyone think that its a good idea to play the play money tourneys and SNG's to help bring your game up? i know that the players play a little bit more reckless but do you think that its a good idea to learn the game more and stuff like that? some thoughts please?

prolifik0119 · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:01 pm Post subject:

In my experience, play money players don't tend to take the game seriously, or at least very few of them do. It's like playing the .01/.02 cent tables, expect to get chased and called with junk.

e_ratledge · Royal Flush Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Posts: 746

dmoore1998 · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:04 pm Post subject:

It's worthwhile to "learn the game"...like at a VERY basic level. If you don't know how blinds, antes, things like that work then it's ok. After that though it's only going to hurt more than help I think. You can call all-ins with top pair in a play money tournement and be leading, but you don't want to get in the habit of thinking "oh look, i have A7 on a flop of 765, i should call off my stack here"...even though in play money you might be ahead.

huskermoney00 · Two Pair Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 51 Location: Lincoln

oh i know how to play, just want to try something new and try to step up my game a little bit more ya know? I guess im just trying to get a good feel for the game before i deposit again

prolifik0119 · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:07 pm Post subject:

dmoore1998 · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject:

Play money is not gonna help you work out your play at all. If anything I would say it's only going to give you bad habits. If you make it deep in some tournaments then the play might start getting more "real", but in my opinion it's not worth the bad habits you're gonna hafta use in going crazy early on to get chips in these all-in fests to get to the real poker.

prolifik0119 · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:18 pm Post subject:

e_ratledge · Royal Flush Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Posts: 746

fire_eyes_2k · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:27 pm Post subject:

I think play money does have a certain value at the high stakes, but I think freerolls are the best for learning. (Im learning Razz playing a mixture of freerolls and playmoney).

HuJwang · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:51 pm Post subject:

i find that the 100,000 play chip sit n go's actually have better players than the $1.25 sit n go's (at least in my experience). these are the only play chip games worth playing to learn strategy.

however the ring games, even the 1000/2000 tables, are not very good. they quite frequently degenerate into pushfests, and it takes a pre-flop raise of at least 7 or 8 times the big blind to make people fold crap hands (some will call with anything no matter what). also a lot of people build up to 10 million chips or more, and then get bored because their "bankroll" is now well above the maximum stakes, and just sit there donking off chips on nothing.

at the low stakes, you can't learn much, as most people will see close to 100% of flops. the only value you can get out of it is to basically get a feel for the average hand, and how strong of a hand you will need to win a pot. however any sort of strategy that works at these tables will result in disaster at a real money table.

I HATE CAPS · Straight Flush Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 357

the only real use for a play chip table is so that you can learn where everything is. where the fold, call, raise buttons are. where to type your raises. where to click to sit out. that kind of thing. as for improving your game it might actually hurt your game. you will start to pick up bad habits.

BOYNAMEDSUE · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject:

Play money ring games won't help you, but the play chip tourneys and freerolls will. I played a play chip tourney once and was surprised how seriously people took it, especially near the end. I found people took the freeroll less seriously, but at about the half way point, once the riff-raff is knocked out, people started to take it seriously. And there are plenty of freerolls on the net to satify anybody who doesn't want to risk any money.

But I still think playing for real money is the best way to go. Losing money is a great way to learn.

jon reynolds · Pair Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 21

I think Ill take a stand here.. I actually believe that play money games CAN help you. The thing is though, you just have to find the right game. Any limit below 1k/2k or a 100,000 buy in SnG and its basically a donk fest. I think that if you play a 100,000 sng and take it seriously then you will progress.. sure there will be 1-2 donks, but isnt there always? It might be hard to get to these levels though.. as you start out with only 1k in chips, so it might take you a while.. but once you get to that level then there are actually some good games..

(Edit: If anyone wants to take play money seriously (lol) then I might be kind enough to share with you as to get you past the lower limits..

BOYNAMEDSUE · Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:14 am Post subject:

It can help you learn the rules and basic strategy, but as Cyndi Lauper sings, "Money changes everything". Everything you know about poker is moot until you play for real money. My brother used to play play chip poker on UB and he couldn't believe the difference between the play chip games and the $.01/.02 NLHE games.

	Full Tilt Poker is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. © Copyright 2004 - 2005 FullTiltPoker.com., All Rights Reserved