How should I practice my tournament play for free? |
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Posted Mon May 08, 2006 7:53 pm GMT by Implied_Odds
Should I play online against other players with free money, buy a PC Hold Em game, or download some sort of poker software. I would buy in for cheap tournaments online but online gambling is now illegal in my state. I need some practice for $25 buy-in/12 min rounds/B & M tournaments I plan to hit up. I'm a limit player converting to no-limit tournaments. Any recommendations?
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Posted Mon May 08, 2006 9:00 pm GMT by LeafsFan1122
Too bad you can't play some small stakes tournies...those are the best practice IMO. Poker software may be helpful to you and actually come to think of it play money tournies can't hurt you either. Try it all. 8)
Posted Mon May 08, 2006 9:08 pm GMT by vyni
I'm sure you'll find many different opinions/suggestions on the subject here... Browse throught the forums and you'll find several threads on this with replies from players with ALOT more expreince than myself.
Since it's a common question, I'll throw my 2 cents in.
I've been practicing/training myself in the free 'play money' poker rooms. Doing so however, you must remember several very important differences from the money tables. Namely, with play money, you're free to make the risky calls, and so are the players you play against. Play money losses do not have the 'sting' that real money losses have. That sting does wonders for helping you remember what's a bad play. Lol.
Also, the level of play is an issue. You're playing against alot of careless and/or inexperienced players when you play with play money. Once you find you're dominating in the play money world, do not make the mistake of thinking you'll have the same degree of success when you move to the real money tables (unless you're playing the nickel and dime games). The players you'll face on the money tables usually have some degree of experience.
Having said this... I play with pretend cash on bodog, strictly no-limit sngs. There, you'll find there are 500 and 2000 sngs: since play money accounts begin at 1000, you can avoid alot of the wreckless players by sticking to the 2000 tables. Make no mistake though, there are plenty of foolish ones there too. It blows my mind to see how many players will go all in preflop on the first hands. Usually, once half the tables pushed off, you're left with a couple decent players to practice against. My own limit experience is limitted to one sng at party poker, which I personaly did not like. I'm clearly a no limit player. You'll need limit advice from someone else.
At this point, I'll place in the money in approx 75% of the sngs I play. Clearly it's time to graduate to the real money tables. The money tables are without doubt the best grounds to practice and learn on. With players money involved, most will play more responsibly, and should you not yourself, those losses drive the lessons home. I simply began on the pretend money tables because I had zero prior holdem experience.
As far as pc games, you'll have to catch that advice from someone else. I've looked at a few console games, all disappointing. Any game with 'ai' players isnt much use at all from what I've seen.
So there's my 2 cents, worth pretty much just that. Lol.
Posted Mon May 08, 2006 9:18 pm GMT by vyni
... and yes, I'm aware he stated he could not play the money tables in his state. My 2 cents was for everyone asking the question.
Posted Tue May 09, 2006 4:26 am GMT by JohnnyCache
The best way to get tournament experience cheap is to organize cheap tournaments costing 1-5$ with friends that are interested.
With pals, you can get a decent game cooking for a 10 dollar bill or less because competitiveness and novelty will make up for the light stakes a little, and live practice is part of what you need, because at the blinds you described in your earlier thread, you're going to be playing the lottery unless you make very correct decisions.
Posted Tue May 09, 2006 2:12 pm GMT by BeerWench13
This is awful to say, but the law doesn't go into effect until June 7. You still have a little under a month if you want to play online. Just make sure you cash out before then.
However, if that isn't an option, try ESPN poker. It's free, and you can win prizes/trips. I think they're giving away a trip to Annie & Howard's Poker Fantasy Camp right now. I'm not 100% sure though.
Like Johnny said, get some friends together and have a small buy-in tournament. You can download a tournament director off of the web that will keep track of the blinds and payouts for you. If you don't have chips, you can use alternate items. When I was a kid, we played 5-draw with candy.
Posted Wed May 17, 2006 9:51 am GMT by poppingmycollar
feerolls? i know the first 20 minutes of them are like an all in fest with play money... but once you get past that stage people play seriously and you can gain experience with tournemnts.
Posted Wed May 17, 2006 3:17 pm GMT by jimmer
move to vegas!
Posted Wed May 17, 2006 3:21 pm GMT by snoogins47
I hate to support a specific site, or whatever, but most of my freeroll days were spent in a combination of Jetsetpoker and Pokerpages... Pokerpages was the way to go as far as free tournaments went. Jetset was better because I could make a few bucks, but Pokerpages free tournaments played more like a real tournament than just about any free tournament I ever played.
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