Play Money Poker Is a Bad Teacher

Free Games Online are not very useful as a learning tool

Online poker rooms and other internet sites will often offer games with fake or ‘play’ money.
These games are completely free, no risk no reward. It may be tempting as a new player to thinkof these games as a nice practice field. Unfortunately, they would not serve that purpose well atall. When playing in these games, it is human nature to play differently when it is free compared to when there is real money at stake. Players will not be afraid to call any bets, they will have no fear of calling raises and they are happy to bluff often. This is not what poker is about at all. The players in a free game do not have anything to lose, and most people will play accordingly. Poker is only poker when there is something at stake, where losing means losing something that has value to the player. Playing in the free games to get an idea of the mechanics of the game is useful, but not as practice for the real money play. It may actually do more harm than good, as you may get the wrong impression of how other players actually play when there is something real at stake.