Should I play Poker for real $ if I always win when playing for fake $?

Question

Has anybody compared the two? I mean, is it inherently easier to win fake money because people are more wreckless with it?

Given enough time, at full table Limit Hold'em, I always win. It seems too easy, and I wonder if I shouldn't try playing for real dough, but I also wonder how different the dynamics are when people's hard-earned money is at stake...

Answer 1

People act totally different when playing for fake money then they do for real money.  If anything, play for low stakes at first and slowly work your way up to bigger stakes.  Don't forget that it's real money, though!

Answer 2

If you want to make the next step, you have to start playing for cash. You are correct, though. Play money poker and real money poker are very different. It is still useful, though, to start with play money poker, since it gets you a feel for the game. Hopefullly, you are winning by playing tight and having good hand selection, because those are probably the most important thing for when you start out playing cash games. Just remember that you want to have a sufficient bankroll for the stakes you are playing. Since you are a limit player, 300 Big Blinds should be enough. I.e., if you are playing $2/4, you need $1200 to have a safe bankroll. Some people recommend a lot less (as little as 100x the BB), so you can use your own best judgment.

If you play online, you may want to look into freerolls. I personallly got started by winning a couple of freerolls and playing micro-limit games until I earned enough to play a tad higher. I'm still working my way up the hard way, but at least it didn't cost me anything out of pocket.

Answer 3

I personaly think that when people play with fake money they play for fun, when you play for real money its always harder because noone will give his money easily. But if you think you are good try.

Answer 4

If you feel that you have a proper grasp of the game, then YES by all means go for it. And by grasp I mean a true understanding of the game and how to play well. You will know in time if you are a good player.

Signs that you are a good player besides just winning:

Reading people well

Making the right folds at the right time

Putting your money in with the best hand alot

Making smart decisions

The best way to find out if you are good enough and ready to step up is to start playing lots of freerolls. These will cost no money to start and you can win a little money in the end. If you are a good player, you should be able to finish in the money once a week if you take them serious throughout and can play often enough. If not, then you're probably not ready. Think of freerolls as a practice facility.

Give it a couple of months of just freerolls and see how much money you can save up. Then use that money to enter cheap tournaments.

A great site for you to try this is Ultimate Bet (no plug).

Its a slow site at the start but makes up for it. They run a freeroll tourny pretty much once an hour. Not alot of sites do anything close to 1 an hour. Top 30 gives entry into another freeroll and top 20 usually pay money. Top prize is around $9 - $30. I'm already up to $30 in a little over a month here. Pokerstars is another great site (better overall).

The more money you play for, the more serious people play. And the more better players you will likely find. This isn't always the case, but for the most part it is. There are still lots of crazy people in the higher limits too. Online play is alot different than live play. I was in a $20 tourney were some guy was going all in every hand. It might as well of been a play money. You should always adapt to your surroundings.

If you do try to play for real money, start at the low stakes. You gotta crawl before you walk. It's much easier not to trip. : )

Or go broke quickly and get frustrated and never want to try again.

Good Luck and Have Fun.

Answer 5

well, with fake cash the house has less of a cause to cheat or play well. The odds in real gambling is nearly impossible. I would try with a limited amount of cash on your first try, just to try it out. If it is still easy still be cautious, but relax a bit.

Answer 6

Playing for money is a whole nuther game.  Playing for a lot of money is no game.  I used to date a professional gambler.  Be very careful what you do.  Games are not always honest nor are the players.  Even if players just partner up on you, it changes the odds of them winning and you losing.   People that gamble for a living or play high stakes are not the same people you are playing with now so you can run into anything in between.  And many people that lose get very mad and do stupid things.  Not to be rude, but you sound naive.  If you have to ask, you have no idea.

Answer 7

Don't even go near it mate. I'm a gambler before you will surely regret the world of gambling. now that you are winning in fake bills, you are tempted to go further, then once you win, you'll keep on playing until you loose everything. Please control your urge before it destroy you. It is really hard to get back standing on your own when you get down the drain.

Answer 8

There is no comparing the 2. Real money poker is very different than play chip poker, both in how your opponents play, and how you play. It's harder to bet, raise and call when there is real money at stake. That said, if you understand the basics of poker you should start playing for real money.

You will lose money in the beginning. I lost $1000 before I could hang onto my money. Since then I've won that money back, plus more. You can lose less than that now because online poker rooms offer lower limits, and sngs and tourneys as cheap as $1 or lower. Full Tilt Poker has cheap cash game tables, sngs and tourneys. It also has the best software in the biz, and lots of pros you can watch, chat and play with.

Answer 9

yes, but "good" with play money means GOOD. I would say if you are in the top 10% of play money players, this only translates into the top 50% of real money players.

Answer 10

NO!! even though im being a hypocrite as i do but i limit myself to $10 a week, luckily ive never had to do that every week as i just use my winnings to keep playing, i have seen people get addict and into all sorts of problems, i play ladbrokes and there are a lot of freerolls on there where you can win real cash without actually betting, try them first as then you'll see how people really play when there is cash to be won.

Answer 11

Playing for real money as oppose to fake money is definitely a different game.  I play on PokerStars.  I started playing with play money and started with the standard $1000 in play money chips.  I had built that up pretty quickly to over $20,000,000 in play money chips a couple of times.  I started playing the play money limit hold em and then no limit hold em and eventually multi-table no limit hold em tournaments.

The people who play with fake money do not care about losing the chips.  They are willing to go all in on inside straight draws or bottom pair, etc..  Playing solidly against these maniacs is easy.  You just sit back and wait on them to give you their chips.

Eventually, I took the play money chips I won and sold them on a couple of sites which buy play money chips.  I got $10-$11 real money per $1,000,000 in play chips.  I took this money and started playing the real money low limit and small buy-in torunaments tables.  Even at the low limit tables you run into a much better caliber of player than you see on the play money tables.

Yes, there are still a lot of donks and maniacs but there are fewer of them.  You now have to think and play a better game and manage your bankroll better.

At the play money tables you get into a habit of not paying too close attention to your opponents or your bankroll.  You can assume (rightly) that your opponents are not as good.  You also know that if you get broke you can get some more free chips from the site.  At the real money tables if you go broke that is real money out of your pocket.

Answer 12

When its fake money, people don't care, so they just go all in with whatever.  It is completely different with real $.

Answer 13

The transaction from playing online poker with play money to real money is similar to the transaction from meeting and talking to the opposite s*x online to doing it real time in person for the first time (at least I imagine, I am old enough to remember the only place to meet the opposite s*x was in a bar or other place).  

The play tends to be different when people are really risking their money.  If you are as really good as you say you are, I would differ from the advice given about playing the smallest limits, I find that micro and small limits tends to be similar to play money, while you are beating the play money games, you really wont improve your play by playing in those small limits.  Poker is like everything else, in order to improve, you have to play folks better than you, that is what makes you a better player. The better way to play poker is to play at the limit that is above your skills (just above) and get good at that limit, it lets you learn real quick that the a/10 in middle possition just aint a hand you wanna play, especially for a raise (that hand probably looses more money than any other in lower limit games).  It is a little more expensive and in the short term you might go through some money, but your learning curve is much faster because you are paying more for the leasons.

Answer 14

If you learn proper bankroll management, and can play to protect your money, then give it a shot!  Just be sure to play within your means at first.  There's a bankroll guide at http://dagus-statistics.com/poker.htm which outlines a good poker BR management system.  It helps to log your wins and losses, as well.  And also be sure to check http://dagus-statistics.com/funding.htm for deposit and withdraw help and http://dagus-statistics.com/reviews.htm for bonus code info.  Hope this helps.