The games online are definitely much much tougher then in a real casino. You could also say since you get twice as many hands on line a on-line 5-10 game should be about equal to Brick and Mortar 10-20. Plus you can play two games at once......So maybe it makes sense for the games to play like B&M games 4 times the size. As for the bigger games (20/40) people are definitely colluding. For sure. How do i know? Simply because it is so easy to do and people will do dishonest things to win money especially if they know they cant be beat up or thrown in jail (and the chance of there account funds being frozen is very minimal). This doesn't mean you cant win however. not at all. It just means that your profits are going to be reduced by the amount their collusion costs. That plus the quality of the play means that I have no realistic chance. One sign that means the game is bad that i noticed on line but rarely in real life is that you can be in a game where pretty much nobody limps. To beat a game like that you have to be really great.
I appreciate all your advice. Although some of it I might not fully understand. When you say nobody limps, does that mean they don't play poorly, or that they don't pause too long between plays? There are so many poker sites, and I'm sure some are better than others.
It means that nobody comes in for the minimum. So is a 10/20 game nobody comes in before the flop for 10. They either raise or fold. A game like this is generally quite bad. As for sites I only played on paradise poker and planet poker. My friends like pokerstars though.
What's to prevent me from scraping the html screen and creating a bot to play poker on these sites? I take it these sites are graphical oriented which would make the bot inoperable without human data entry. Still you'd think there are people with poker machines helping them play just like there are on the chess sites.
Yeah, I'd figure someone good at programming ought to be able to create an automatic system of some sort. I think the limping you are talking about is the way I play. Usually I either fold if I don't like the cards, or if I like them I just raise right from the start. It makes the pot bigger! When I win it's more fun. So far I've only played on pokerroom.com
Hmmm.. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I first ran a play money stake from 1000 to 3000 before trying with real money. I feel it's almost impossible not to win at the play money tables, if you are following basic strategy. But again, the play money tables provide no indication of what things will be like at the real money tables. Your sense of my level of poker knowledge is right on - I have been playing Hold-Em for a grand total of 2 months, intermittently, so I am a raw beginner. I entirely agree that anyone wanting to try this with real money should acquaint themselves with basic strategy before playing, as I have done. I believe I made this clear in the very first post on this thread. Once you learn it, I wouldn't have a problem recommending that you 'jump right in', mainly because the amounts of money involved are very small compared to the amounts we are deploying in the markets. Beginners could get started at the .05/.10 tables with (very conservatively) $25. If you buy into the notion that this might help you develop good discipline for trading, it's a cheap lesson.
I play the 2/4 tables @ pokerparadise. When I go up to the 3/6 tables, I don't do nearly as well. You can argue that is because there are more better players at this level or this is where the collusion starts. However, this weekend I'll be making an infrequent visit to Atlantic City. I'll play at the 3/6 tables as a minimum and depending on how things are going might go as high as 10/20. I would never do that online. Everyone just starting playing poker needs to read and absorb Winning Low Limit Poker---by Lee Jones All of your competition has done so. kempo P.S.--reading that someone raises because it is more fun, warms my soul!
I can't find where you mentioned having played play money from 1000 to 3000. Anyhow, if you've been playing for two months then you're eight times as experienced as I am. I have not yet played for real money, except that on my third day they gave me $10.00 real money promotion to play with. It lasted 4 hands. The first two hands I got up to about $22. then lost it on the next two. I'll see next week if I can actually do as well as I hope when I put my money where my mouth is. I'm trying to think of what some good screennames for the poker tables might be. Any suggestions?
i totally agree with your point on the entry analogy. however 21 is analagous as well in that you must stay disciplined i.e. hitting that 2 vs a 2 or a 6 vs. 10 even though you emotinally dont want to b/c of the bust potential maybe like holding onto a position through a shakeout that looksk scary but you know its the right thing to do. yo umust stay focused and count the cards acurately like reading the tape. you must stay disciplined in your betting spread i.e. i have seen many players steam and tilt and bet more and more on bad beats to try and make it up quicky sometimes placing htere whole stack in hte middle, similar to a rookie trader who adds to losers hoping it will go his way to break even. and btw when i talk 21 i am assuming a card count and zt least basic strategy so you have an edge. you may win 50% of the hands or less but you bet more when you have an edge in hands your more likely to win or hit BJ and get paid 3/2 i.e. cutting your losers and letting winners run you can make money trading and have a losing record of trades. i like 21 better than poker b/c you just stick to your rules and the play is, i guess more static, where in poker esp. at the higher limits as discussed it becomes a mindfu** i think he thinks etc... so youalways have to compete against a possible bigger fish whereas in 21 you ALWAYS have your edge no matter how much money u put out there; of course you get floor personell than but thats a different story. you can def. make good money at hold em though as high as 3/6 4/8 and not worry too much if your an above avereage player, i htink 6/12 is where you see the biggest jump in talent. IMO.