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Play-Money in Online
Poker
Play-money in online poker games, like the name suggests,
is not real money but usually fake chips
used by people to take part in online poker
games without the risk of losing real money,
or for the sole purpose of entertainment.
Since nothing of actual value is neither won
nor lost, play-money poker game doesn’t
fall under the category of gambling.
That’s why this type of poker game has
become very popular with people of all ages.
Why Play-money Poker?
Though play-money poker is basically intended to entertain,
majority of online poker rooms offer games
like Texas Holdem for beginners to
understand the basic rules and structure of
the game, or get acquainted with the
software used for online play. For serious
players too, play-money poker game can help
in understanding principal strategies,
experimenting with new strategies learnt
etc, and to an extent, refinement of key
skills.
Influence of
Play-money on Real-money Poker Game:
However, there are a few things to remember before actually
using online play money poker games to
refine one’s poker skills. If serious care
is not taken before taking up play-money
poker, it can very much impair your skills
when playing real money poker. This is
because since play-money poker is played for
fun most of the time, opponents will not
really care too much if they lose or win.
So, winning the game becomes very easy and
once you get used to that play environment,
your style of play in real money poker will
certainly mimic the style you’ve been
exposed to, which is not a very good start
for players who want to earn money playing
poker online. Refer to this example:
In a play-money game,
if you go all-in on a board of A♠ K♠ 5♠,
it would not be such a big surprise if some
opponent calls you with a Q♣ 9♦,
which rarely happens in real-money poker.
Preflop Strategies in Play-money and Real money Poker:
The strategies behind play-money poker and real-money poker
also differ greatly regarding the Preflop
play. Loose preflop play is common in
play-money games because a player can see
the flop with a lot of hands and hope to hit
a solid hand. This results in a huge payoff
if a strong hand is flopped, which
encourages playing loose preflop. In
contrast, real-money players will play
tighter preflop and only see the flop with
certain hands since they don’t want to
risk throwing their money just like that.
Similarities:
There exist a few similarities between play-money poker and
real-money poker games. For one, multi-table
play-money tournaments and large Freerolls
are quite identical except for the fact that
Freerolls include real prize money. The
basic strategy between play-money
single-table tournaments and low buy-in
single-table tournaments is also similar, in
which play is looser in the beginning
getting more aggressive towards the end.
Though learning to play poker with online play-money poker
can be very entertaining, and useful in some
ways, experts do not suggest relying on
these games if you really want to excel at
real money poker games.
Next:
Key skills in texas holdem poker
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