Playing Poker Online; Real Money Verses Play Money
2011.06.16
 Joe and Dean debate the Topic. Presenting oppossing points of view
Joe’s view
My friend Dean and I recently got into a discussion about the merits of playing online poker for play money. I say it has no merit at all! Poker is a money game. You take the money out and you have nothing. Kind of like playing cribbage without keeping score. What’s the point?
People who think they are honing there poker skills by playing online with play money are just kidding themselves. Anyone who has never had his hard earned money on the table has never really played poker. That’s just pretend poker. Any idiot can be cool and calm playing with meaningless chips. Get that player into a ring game where he has to pull real green out of his pocket, I’m betting his game would fall apart.
Then there’s the online player who, through beginners luck, runs up a big chip stack online. Yea, its real money, but not money he had to work for, bust ass for 40 plus hours per week for. Basically there playing with found money! Now I realize that almost everyone that has played poker online knows someone who hit a nice run when they first started playing online and ran up a big chip stack. I’ve known a few that have quit their jobs, bought new computers with big TV monitors. Then tried to settle into there newfound calling as a professional poker player. But reality sets in. All of the sudden the money becomes real and they can’t play effectively. Most live in denial for a while, blaming “bad luck”, “bad cards”, or my favorite, “playing with too many donkeys!” If they’re smart they get back to work and move on with their lives.
The player I respect can take his/her last few dollars into a game and still make the right play when his backs against the wall, and do it without breaking a sweat. I’d like to see some bozo that cut his poker teeth with play money on the internet find themselves in that situation. I believe he would melt like a snowflake in a blast furnace. That’s my view
Dean’s View
One dollar.
One dollar deposited into my account without me ever having to try and process my credit card online , send an e-check, or mail a cashiers check to fund and feed my poker jones. I won an actual dollar by playing with play money.
I know Joe will say that there is no value in playing online poker with play money. He’ll say something about how real men play with real money and that it is not poker if you play with play money. He feels that playing with play money is a waste of time but my one dollar is all I need to prove he is wrong.
Play money is easy to get from any poker web site, there is no hassle trying to deposit funds, and playing with play money is a great way for all levels of players to improve their game.
One of the secrets to becoming a better poker player is seeing more hands. The more hands you see, the better you become at figuring odds, assessing hand value, and evaluating that big raise your opponent just made with a seemingly crappy 3C, 6H, 9D flop.
Experience is valuable in poker playing. Seeing hands provides that experience whether real or play money is used to gain that insight. It is all good.
Online your opponents are faceless - although they might have a nice avatar featuring their smiling face alongside their seat. You cannot read the players like you do at a real table, no facial ticks or body tells, but you can read their betting patterns. Reading betting patterns is another way to read your opponent and online playing helps you get a handle on reading those patterns which, when you get to a real table, will help you analyze and read your opponents in another way making you an all-around better player.
I doesn’t matter. If you are a true poker player, when you sit at an online poker table with real or play money and that first hand comes out, you want to win. You want to be the last man or woman standing. The rush is the same.
And you can turn your play money poker into real money poker as I did without ever having to deposit a dime.
I have a dollar. Ask Joe how much he has already deposited in real money to feed his poker jones !
Playing with play money has its value. It makes sense without cents !
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