Another noob intro and question |
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Posted Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:36 pm GMT by gr8johnson
Hi, I have been messing around on a couple of sites with play money for a while (couple years), but never did anything to get better. Then I played a small stakes($10) game with a few guys. I am hooked. I hung around to the middle of the game( 3rd out of 6). Now I have read some stuff on line and started reading a Hellmuth book. I put it down already though. I ordered Small Stakes Texas Hold'em which I have seen here that is well reviewed. I felt that I had learned a lot more and wanted to play at a table. Well I live near Detroit and went downtown and sat at a $50 buy in cash game. Well I took my $50 in chips to the table and realized I had a tiny stack. The big blind went around and past one time and I played only two hands AA and QQ preflop. Well I lost them both on the river. I was broke. I waited and played good hands but did not have enough money to keep playing.
Well that is a bit of how I got hooked. Now here is a couple questions for you, If I am not ready to play for cash and just want to play for play money, is it better to play on line with other people for play money or play a video game like WSOP. My logic behind this silly question is this. If the people on line know it is not real money than they do not play for real. They just go all-in and call everything. I try to played with a goal of learning how to play but it does not seem real to me. At least with a video game it is designed to simulate actual play.
I will be putting some real money on PokerStars $25-$50 to start and play micro just to get the feel for using real money. There are also a couple of poker clubs in the area that have $25-$30 buy in tourneys and cash games that I plan on getting into also. My main question is the video game vs. play money to practice with. Thanks and I look forward to plucking your minds.
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
Posted Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:09 pm GMT by golddog
The only ways play money games help you from my experience are:
1) You're really just learning the game, and need to see how blinds, betting, dealing, et cetera works.
2) You need to learn more about how hands develop. By this I mean, seeing a ton of hands all the way to the river, so you can see what kinds of cards often become decent draws, how big hands get cracked whne conditions are right, things like that. Since almost every had goes to the river, you see a ton for free.
Play money games are worthless for the strategies around betting, thinking about odds, et cetera. Very rarely is anyone paying attention to what they're doing, much less what you're doing.
I'd recommend jumping in with a small amount and trying the micros instead. By small, I mean something you won't miss if you lose it. I don't think the play's a huge aomunt better, but probably some.
Forces you to think about thinks like bankroll etc.
Welcome to the forum. Enjoy. Read up, there's tons of great info here.
Posted Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30 pm GMT by supafrey
Alot of sites have 1 cent and 2 cent blinds. I'd honestly recommend depositing 20 bucks again and sticking to those micro stakes to start. If you're honestly thinking of shelling out the ~$40 bucks most of these terrible video games cost, invest that in poker and you'll have 20 buyins to play the micro stakes. If you've read any books and stick to a basic strategy it's pretty hard to lose thaaaat much thaaaat quickly. You'll learn a ton and may make a buck or two.
The games are decent to learn the mechanics, but you'll quickly find out the "trick" or basic strategy to beat whatever artificial intelligence they've programmed in to it. The production value on these games is hella low, and they're targeted to poor players and indiscriminate console owners' parents/gf that don't know better and have heard about the fad. The game online seems to change every month these days... a video game isn't going to teach you all that.
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