Hi everyone, just signed up 2 days ago and have been studying the beginner/advanced articles extensively, really interesting reads, great info ![]()
Now I've been playing on partypoker.net (play money only) to practice a little and put the newly gained knowledge to good use. Those 2 days of practicing already brought up a few questions:
1) Obviously games on play money tables are vastly different to real money tables, simply due to their nature. However, logically you advice to practice on play money tables first before jumping into the real deal. Now the question is, with such vastly different playtyles, is this actually any good practice? I mean on play money tables you get really whack players, who call things like 64o or re-raise a preflop when holding T5o (things like that happen so often on play money tables its not even funny). Now how do you actually practice reading your opponents and such with so many somewhat stupid decisions of the ppl you play with? Most players there simply call/raise/re-raise unplayable cards, so I'm having problems judging them and acting/reacting accordingly. And not only 1 or 2 players per table, more like 95% of them.
2) I'm playing strict by the SHC and find a lot of streaks where I cant play any hands at all (preflop). And this isnt even a 1 in 5 thing anymore, I'm talking more like playing 1 in 15 hands due to being dealt unplayable cards (as per SHC). Is this just streaky as a whole or am I plain unlucky with dealt cards?
3) Another question which combines the 2 above, since I'm playing strictly by SHC but on play money tables (for now), I find a few points a bit unclear. Lets say I get ATs on UTG+1, obviously I'll call. Now whats the plan when I get raises and re-raises, since those happen a lot on play money tables (even if my opponents have inferior cards preflop)? Whats the plan there as per SHC? Do I call these as indicated on the chart? Fold?
4) How should one play opponents who play aggressively preflop with hands like T9o or T9s? Just recently I had this hand (sorry for sloppy formating, revealing the result and no info on which position called/raised/reraised, dont have pokertracker yet):
AKo on CO (raised/reraised/cap)
Flop: AQJ rainbow (raised)
Turn: 6
River: 8 (called)
Now I played very aggressive here as per SHC. I continued to play very agressive on the flop due to hitting the ace/flopping a gutshot, despite the risk of an opponent having KT (was no indication of this however, my raise was called). Now usually you'd think that an opponent with inferior cards, T9o in this case, would've either folded preflop or played more aggressively on the flop (having a OESD himself). However that was not the case, so I assumed a weak player who maybe hit the Q or J or had a gutshot with a K. I continued to raise the turn, which was called and somewhat "confirmed" my assumption that the player was either unexperienced and calls unplayable cards or hit a pair lower than my ace/holds out to complete the gutshot. On the river I called the raise, the player with T9o called as well (had 3 players on the river). Due to the fact how he played preflop and flop I didnt expect him to hit the lower straight, and I couldnt really read it based on his bets either.
How does one judge these hands/players? Obviously a good player would've folded my preflop cap or raised the flop with T9o, but that wasnt the case here, most likely due to playing on a play money table. Do hands like this one happen on money tables as well? If so, did I make a mistake? What should I have played differently? Again apologies for posting the end result of the hand, but its somewhat important to the question.
Overall I'm gaining money (play money of course since I'm just practicing atm - edit: just had an upswing of 100BB/100, rather insane) quite fast with a tight-aggressive playstyle, but play money tables are so unpredictable due to their nature, so I'm actually asking myself if play money tables are a good indicator of how the real deal plays out and if its really good practice.
Thx in advance for the answers ![]()
edit: engrish