Free Online Poker: Pitfalls, Problems and Polishing Up Your Game
by Dougie Goguen | Jan 2 2012
When you play free online poker, you need to change your game and your expectations.
"Play money" or free online poker games are very, very popular and for good reason. These are, of course, games where no real money is wagered and players use virtual "chips" for various denominations. On most sites, you're going to find far, far more free players than real-money players because they consider poker just a form of entertainment. That's fine; poker is a great way to pass the time!
Sign up to play free online poker at Bodog!However, it's time to be frank: free online poker games are not the way to learn how to play poker beyond the basics. They're very limited in how they can help a player improve their skills and are generally only useful to help a player understand the rules of the game (or any variants) and help them get used to a particular site's online poker software.
Because there's no money on the line, play-money poker players tend to go in on pretty much any hand dealt to them; there's no real consequence if they lose a lot of "play money" when they can generally reload at-will and in this environment, winning is much easier for a player with any sense of how the game "should" be played. You can see the flop with a lot of hands and hope to hit a solid hand. Since you will definitely be paid off if you can build a decent hand after the flop, it pays to play extremely loose preflop in a play-money game, provided you use some sense during your postflop play.
In real-money online poker games, people are just not as aggressive and silly as they are in free games. If you're on a real-money hand in which the board reads AhKh5h and you go all-in, very rarely does anyone holding off-suit, low-ended connectors call you, but in play money games? It will happen all the time.
If you want to be a successful play-money player, you should be loose in the pre-flop stage and then tighten up greatly after the flop. Being successful in real money games often involves the opposite: picking premium hands to play and then being aggressive with them based on the flop itself and whether or not you've made a good hand with it. Understanding the difference in play is one of the best things you can do to compete against your peers in lower-stakes poker game
Play in freeroll online poker tournaments at Bodog and get more money without touching your bankroll!Don't let your success at play-money online poker games give you false confidence. Winning at free online poker games is no guarantee that you'll win at real-money poker games, just like playing Call of Duty doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to hold your own on the battlefield.
