Online Poker

[jjones]

I'm bored, well, not really but I've got some free time on my hands and I've wanted to check out one of these online poker places that you can set up an account and play for free.

I like regular 5 card draw and blackjack, never played Texas hold 'em but that sounds fun so I'd like to learn. And is there any such thing as online craps?

For those of you that have played online, please give me some recommendations. The easiest place to get set up and the less crap to download, the better.

 

[esun]

This guy in my suite plays all the time. He can make $50 in a couple of hours of clicking. I was watching him play one time and he basically had 4 windows open to 4 different games and was just blasting away. Anyway, PartyPoker.com has become popular here; I don't know about other ones though.

 

[royaldank]

Pokerstars and Partypoker are 2 of the top sites. Small downloads and I believe both have freeroll tables. Freeroll can waste some time, but don't expect it to really build your skills much further than a basic understanding of the game. They are typically not played the same way money games are played. Most people aren't playing good poker strategy and it's hard to play solid strategies yourself except playing tight.

 

[amoeba]

if you are just playing for free, just look for the sites that have the easiest sign up process and your favorite graphical interface.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: royaldank
Pokerstars and Partypoker are 2 of the top sites. Small downloads and I believe both have freeroll tables. Freeroll can waste some time, but don't expect it to really build your skills much further than a basic understanding of the game. They are typically not played the same way money games are played. Most people aren't playing good poker strategy and it's hard to play solid strategies yourself except playing tight.

True, but playing tight is tough to do and is very good to do.

The other thing that is frustrating about free poker are the number of people who win a hand on the river card. Because they play so loose and call anything, they are still in it when the river card gives them a set to beat my high pair and kicker.

9 times out of 10 in a money game, they would have folded before the flop.

 

[NissanGurl]

Pokerroom is easy to sign up and free. You can also change youra account later if you want to play for real money. No downloads if you don't want to install them. There is one you CAN install, but I usually play through web.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
True, but playing tight is tough to do and is very good to do.

The other thing that is frustrating about free poker are the number of people who win a hand on the river card. Because they play so loose and call anything, they are still in it when the river card gives them a set to beat my high pair and kicker.

9 times out of 10 in a money game, they would have folded before the flop.

So, you are saying you would rather play against a solid poker player who will fail to pay you off then against a poor player drawing to a six outer on the river, who will pay tou off big over the long run? Besides, depending on your betting and the pot size, perhaps they had proper odds to call?

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: DBL

So, you are saying you would rather play against a solid poker player who will fail to pay you off then against a poor player drawing to a six outer on the river, who will pay tou off big over the long run? Besides, depending on your betting and the pot size, perhaps they had proper odds to call?

Yes and no.

I am playing the free sites to improve on my skills and my ability to make decisions. So in this case, I would much rather be against a solid player making the right decisions: it would help me learn a ton more.

If I were playing for money, then obviously I would much rather have the novice player making mistakes so I could separate them from their money.

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
True, but playing tight is tough to do and is very good to do.

The other thing that is frustrating about free poker are the number of people who win a hand on the river card. Because they play so loose and call anything, they are still in it when the river card gives them a set to beat my high pair and kicker.

9 times out of 10 in a money game, they would have folded before the flop.

So, you are saying you would rather play against a solid poker player who will fail to pay you off then against a poor player drawing to a six outer on the river, who will pay tou off big over the long run? Besides, depending on your betting and the pot size, perhaps they had proper odds to call?

What you encounter on these sites at the free tables is an endless stream of folks that will chase, make bad calls, etc. In a real life game, you don't have people sitting down constantly throwing money around. What you're saying isn't incorrect, it's just that online you are up against an endless stream of those players. It's becomes best cards and not who raised, etc. In real life, those players hang in there till they finally succumb to the odds and then leave. Online, there is someone waiting behind them to make the same dumb calls.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: royaldank
What you encounter on these sites at the free tables is an endless stream of folks that will chase, make bad calls, etc. In a real life game, you don't have people sitting down constantly throwing money around. What you're saying isn't incorrect, it's just that online you are up against an endless stream of those players. It's becomes best cards and not who raised, etc. In real life, those players hang in there till they finally succumb to the odds and then leave. Online, there is someone waiting behind them to make the same dumb calls.

Who cares? It's still the same game played by the same rules and math. You just adjust your play accordingly, while also noting that w/ limit, you will suffer some large swings when you have a lot of loose competition. Just open up your play a bit. When the competition improves (or you move to real money), you can tighten up. It's relatively easy to make an unlimited amount at the play money tables for the very reasons you seem to be bitching about.

 

[NissanGurl]

I also suggest playing in some tournament games for fake money. If you are one of the last 3-4 at the table the play tightens up.

 

[jjones]

Thanks for the suggestions. I was just looking at that PokerRoom site and they have craps, my favorite game, so I'm going to start there.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: DBL
Who cares? It's still the same game played by the same rules and math. You just adjust your play accordingly, while also noting that w/ limit, you will suffer some large swings when you have a lot of loose competition. Just open up your play a bit. When the competition improves (or you move to real money), you can tighten up. It's relatively easy to make an unlimited amount at the play money tables for the very reasons you seem to be bitching about.

Totally agree. However, poker is not only about numbers and cards. It is also about player's tendancies. Sometimes it makes sense to make an agressive bet that doesn't make sense mathematically if you know your opponent has a tendency to fold towards aggression.

It is very difficult to sharpen your abilities in that realm when everyone either raises to the maximum or folds.

 

[Kev]

if you want to play seriously and for free try pacificpoker, i believe they give you $10 real money just for signing up & you don't need to make a deposit.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Kev
if you want to play seriously and for free try pacificpoker, i believe they give you $10 real money just for signing up & you don't need to make a deposit.

Really. I just signed up for the free poker and did not see anything about free $10.

 

[Murphy Durphy]

Pacific Poker is where its at. Thats where I play (for real money). Tournament play weeds out the care-less and loose players.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Totally agree. However, poker is not only about numbers and cards. It is also about player's tendancies. Sometimes it makes sense to make an agressive bet that doesn't make sense mathematically if you know your opponent has a tendency to fold towards aggression.

Well, you would be correct to try and factor a person?s propensity to fold to an aggressive bet into your calculations. Also, you need to realize the huge danger of making this a regular part of your game (In say NL) when you have a hand w/ little chance of winning. The small amount won will not usually make up for the occasional call by your competition.

It is very difficult to sharpen your abilities in that realm when everyone either raises to the maximum or folds.

You only need to understand that your poker play must, in part be determined by your competition. For instance, you can make a lot of play money quickly by seeing 40% of the flops. On the flip-side, you can lose a lot of real money quickly by seeing 40% of the flops at .5-1.NL.