success getting to my head? advice

[dreed 0]

I play the play money SnG's on pokerroom.com because i am not 18 years old and can't play for real money. The play money ring games are just crap shoots, with every player calling to the river. Play money ring games are the worst thing you can do if you are trying to become a better poker player so instead I sit at pokerroom's single table play money tournaments. These are $100 +1 or $500 +1 buy in, ten handed, and top three players place in the money (I'm not sure what the payouts are exactly). Every time I enter I literally either win or place in the money. I consider my style of play to be tight/aggressive, which seems to be working well.Besides wanting to brag about my winning sessions :wink: (even though its not for real money), I also wanted to know what you guys think. Is this anyway to gauge my play or get better? Should I be judging myself by my success in these tournaments, or do these really mean nothing at all?? THANKS

[allinbluff35 0]

Should I be judging myself by my success in these tournaments, or do these really mean nothing at all?no they don't mean anything, even .05/.10 has more bearing on skill than play money.

[dreed 0]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but i dont think the .05/.10 game "has more bearing on skill". There are more talented young players who can't gamble yet than there are at the extremely low limit tables that are filled with fish just trying to have fun and maybe even learn the game.

[ddudley 0]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but i dont think the .05/.10 game "has more bearing on skill".   There are more talented young players who can't gamble yet than there are at the extremely low limit tables that are filled with fish just trying to have fun and maybe even learn the game.

Sorry but I gotta agree with allinbluff on this one. I've played play money before and it has nothing to do with real poker. It's the worst thing you can do for your game. The 5/10 cent tables more accurately reflect real poker and are a much better place to learn.I thought a lot of underaged people play online. Why can't you do that too?

[allinbluff35 0]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but i dont think the .05/.10 game "has more bearing on skill".   There are more talented young players who can't gamble yet than there are at the extremely low limit tables that are filled with fish just trying to have fun and maybe even learn the game.

1. You get my useless post of the day award.2. Try and convince mommy and daddy to let you put your allowance on the site and you will see that nickel and dime poker has more skill to it than play money.

[FOOSE1 0]

Dreed,I started out on Pokerroom also with play money (few years ago). I also played mainly the sitn'gos. It has no representation of "real" poker until you get to the last 3 or 4 people. Even then you are playing with what I consider at VERY BEST, average players. Most of the time it is below average players. I will say the only good thing about play money is that you get to see a lot of hands to kind of get the feel for the game. But, until you've grinded out hours on the real money tables and lost your shirt when you thought your top pair was good you really can't judge a whole lot from your play money success. Example: I played play money for six months and won over $1,000,000 in play money. I decided I was "GOOD" and deposited and LOST over $600 in three weeks. That was a couple years ago. I have gradually learned my lessons the hard way and now average about $500-$750 month playing part time online. So it can be done, but it's not as easy as it seems when your playing with play money.GOOD LUCK!

[dreed 0]

thanks for your replies, and if you ever want a cash game allin i'll be willing to take your money any day. I love all those online poker players who crap themselves when they get a pair playing at a live table.

[allinbluff35 0]

thanks for your replies, and if you ever want a cash game allin i'll be willing to take your money any day. I love all those online poker players who crap themselves when they get a pair playing at a live table.

1. You are an idiot.2. The first line you typed you said you weren't even 18 years old and asking if you could judge a persons skill by how they place in PLAY MONEY games. 3. So understanding everything from your first post and your last post on this subject I highly doubt you are going to drive to where I live to play me in a cash game(have fun at recess tomorrow and where a jacket it could be cold outside).

[dreed 0]

Please allin do not waste my time with silly fighting and name calling. The last time I checked this forum encouraged discussion and debate about poker and did not foster petty quarrels and bickering. It seems to me that you are more childish than anyone I have met on this forum. The next time you address me I would hope that you learned how to spell also

where a jacket it could be cold outside

. Might I suggest visiting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ for commonly misspelled words. Lastly, you are correct, I am not 18; thank you for verifying one of the largest points in my original post. That is the whole reason why I dont play for cash online... it's that whole illegal thing, you know?

[Suited_Up 2]

Allinbluff is right. Period. Play money is no gauge whatsoever of the real money. I thought I was good too because I could beat the play money games... anyone with any patience whatsoever can beat those games, since everyone playing is just jerking off with the cards and going all in every hand. And is your cash game for monopoly money or are you playing the illegal underage version of that? Everyone here disagreed with you about the play money... maybe one of us actually knows what we're talking about.

[dreed 0]

I agree that play money is not a very good way to improve and that is not the best way to gauge your game; I did not disagree with this. I disagreed with allin's point that play money is less like real poker than .05/.10 poker is. I think that these super low limit games are just as bad as playing for play money. There are just as many fish and recreational players.

[MrConceit 0]

I agree that play money is not a very good way to improve and that is not the best way to gauge your game; I did not disagree with this. I disagreed with allin's point that play money is less like real poker than .05/.10 poker is. I think that these super low limit games are just as bad as playing for play money. There are just as many fish and recreational players.

They're basically right dude. Your point that .05./10 isn't totally real poker has _some_ small validity in how it plays. But it's still 10-20 times what play money tables are. And fish and recreational players are a ton of what poker is about. That's what you want to play with anyway. .05./.10 teaches you to play in uber-loose/passive tables. You could try to say the same thing with play money, but the people don't just call trying to hit their garbage draws, they raise and cap because that's action play and they're having fun.

[StackOSociety 0]

You're probably gambling illegally with people your age anyway...As American's, by playing online we are technically breaking the law by wagering over telephone lines across state borders, Federal Wire Act or something like that, the law was passed to thwart the mafia with illegal bookies and stuff, no one envisioned online gambling, or the internet, for that matter.By playing in the play money games and against friends your age who probably picked up on poker recently, you are probably doing yourself a disservice by not breaking the law and playing in real money games online. All these easy games that you're playing will most likely inflate your ego, and/or convince you that you're pretty damn good, and you won't work as hard on your game. You'll hit eighteen one day, and walk into a card room, or play online, and you're going to get creamed. Trust me on this, open a bank account, deposit 25 bucks, and get that money into a poker room online. Click on the box that say's you're legal, use a fake name, whatever, and play. They're won't be any complications on their end, they'll take your word for it, and the cops won't be raiding your pad. The only problem is if your parents find out, then you'll be in trouble with them. Now, take that 25 bucks, start at the .01/.02 NL tables, and work that up. Don't withdraw money till you're 18, just play, play, and play. Also, sign up at a site like www.pokercharts.com and log every session faithfully. All the data you log will be very helpfull in a few years. This period of time will teach you bankroll management, a skill with which you must have. Discipline with money is one of the most important aspects of a poker player, and learning this at a young age will not only help you with your poker career, but in real life as well. By the time you're 18, you'll have a decent roll, and you'll know where you stand with your poker skills. Heck, you might even have enough money to buy yourself a starter car, I'm sure your parents won't be too terribly angry at the fact you bought yourself your own car, with money that you earned. Even if it was playing poker. They'll get over it. Your argument that play money is full of prodigous poker players who are too young to be able to gamble legally is quite the stretch. I could just as easily say your right, but the nickel dime players, hoo boy, those are filled with awesome college players who are poor, but grinding out beer money. Since beer is a better motivator than, say, points which mean next to nothing, unless your comparing fake bank rolls with other elite play money players, your average beer player is going to crush your average point player. Oh, and calling out people who rub you the wrong way online to a heads up match is like, sooooooooooo Tilt it's not even funny. Not only Tilt the tv show, but "tilt". Allin got to you dreed, and you stooped down and fired right back. If you both were sitting at a poker table, my money'd be on allin because he seems to be able to upset you, and you DO NOT want to play poker with emotional attachments. See, this is something real money players do to you that a play money player won't. You'll never get upset at a play money player taunting you after they suckout, and take like, 10,000 of your points. You'll probably just laugh it off and say so what? But some guy that just rocked you outta a decent pot for real money, well, that's gonna get under your skin. Especially after they tell you to go to the welfare office and get some mo' money so they can take it offa ya. See, but you CAN'T let it get to you, you HAVE to have discipline, MATURITY, and thick skin to play for real money. Your heads up match call out, correcting other people's grammer, etc, all reek of an undisciplined, immature brat who's gonna get the money stomped right out of his pockets when he steps up to the big leagues. You've got to be the better man, otherwise your gonna lose tons of cash due to a hot temper. Break your friends of their $, break the law, play with real cash, learn discipline, money management skills, piss off your parents in the process, and learn stuff all the while about yourself that you would not of learned if you played it straight. In the end, you will thank me for it, a la Tyler Durden's speech when he's frying Ed Norton's hand with acid. Go for rock bottom, young one, rock bottom. StackOSociety

[ddudley 0]

Stack has some good advice there. You should read it twice.BTW- You need to be playing for real money, but if you can't work it for some reason you need to get over to PokerSchoolOnline.com. I've heard that is the only place where you can play fo free with others who take it seriously.