I've never played with real money before this. EVER! This will be an interesting experiment in how much can you really learn from play money. I'll be playing on PokerStars as that's where I played in play money.

GOAL: Turn 50$ into 1000$ for a computer
Honestly, to me, someone who has never played for real money before, this ain't an operation, it's an experiment, and it's not a goal, it's a dream.

PROGRESS 11/5: If my goal is a dream, then these are my "real" goals
Win a small SnG............................................... .............Incomplete
Win a big SnG............................................... ................Incomplete
Profit 300$ from $5NL.............................................. .....-10%
Profit 150$ from $4NL.............................................. .....0%
Profit 50$ from $2NL.............................................. .......40%
Watch All of Tight Poker's Videos..................................10%
Complete FTP's Poker Academy (Bronze).....................100%
Read entire Beginner's Digest......................................100%
Unlock All-In (see note #3)..........................................100%
Make the cash in an SnG..............................................Complete
Understand Entire Poker Glossary...............................100%

Bankroll Growth............................................ ................224% (-28)

Note-to-Self: Re-read notes every time before you start playing and before a big hand
  • Note-to-Self #26: Let the game come to you (tight) instead of chasing after the game (loose)
  • Note-to-Self #25: The better your hand is, the more you should protect it, the more you should bet
  • Note-to-Self #24: When cbetting, put the board texture into the context of your opponent. Who would call this call this cbet? Would anyone call this cbet?
  • Note-to-Self #23: Maintain perspective in the immediate moment. Don't think about what you did wrong after the hand, think about it during the hand
  • Note-to-Self #22: Always look up opponent's stats and notes when in a confrontation


ABOUT ME: I'm a gamer. I probably wouldn't be playing poker if my gaming computer hadn't broke. I love all games, from chess to Half-Life to the Sims to Desktop Tower Defense to poker to monopoly. Games are awesome.

POKER EXPERIENCE: Mediocre
I started poker a year ago after becoming addicted to watching it on TV and have been playing play money for about 6 months, every other day, for a couple hours, and solely SnGs and tournies.

ON PLAY MONEY:
Since my poker background consists entirely from play money poker, I feel the need to divulge in this. Feel free to skip this!

Play money is a simulation of poker. How much you learn from this simulation depends on how seriously you take it. You need to care about your chips and play against other people who care about their chips. The higher the stakes, the more likely people will care their chips (kind of), and the longer they're playing in the tournies/SnG, the more likely people are playing seriously (kind of).

I say kind of because it's still just play money. Sometimes the longer they're playing, the more likely they'll just throw away their chips because they're tired of playing and sometimes the higher the stakes, the more likely people will become throw away their chips in a chance to win big. To read people on play money, that's all you have to understand. People won't bet with nothing because there's nothing to gain.

Soon after I realized I could read people was when I realized there is a crystal clear limit of play money. You are risking nothing, they're still just meaningless points. Play money cannot simulate the feeling of playing with real money.

But if since I understand that, I think I learned a LOT, play money or not. It's still the same game, it's still poker, just a child's version of it. That's why I have a lot of confidence in my poker skills. Time to find out if my confidence is misplaced!