Why Real Money Poker is Different from Play Money Poker

Most new real money players expect to real money poker games to play pretty similarly to the play money games they’ve played before. Unfortunately, they soon realize that there’s a world of difference between play money poker and the much tougher real money games. Real money poker has several important differences when compared to play money games, and knowing these differences is critical to being a successful real money player.

First of all, new real money players need to understand that even the lowest limit real money game is going to be much, much tougher than any play money game they’ve ever been in. When players are fooling around in play money games, the majority don’t even try to use any strategy. They may throw all of their chips in the middle of the table at any time, just to see a big showdown, play every hand they get, and generally decide not to care about winning or losing.

But when real money is on the line, everything changes. Even most of the worst players at the penny tables at your favorite online poker room will be trying their best to win, and not throwing money around without having some reason behind it. This means that it’s much tougher to win. It’s a fundamental rule of poker that long term profit comes from our opponents’ mistakes. When play money players make huge mistakes, it means huge profits for the few players who are trying to play their best. Real money players cut out the worst of these errors, tightening the margin of error for the better players to profit from them. Of course, real money players make pretty of mistakes too, but they will tend to be smaller than those seen in play money games.

Making it even harder for real money players is the rake. In a play money game, if you’re equally as skilled as an opponent, you’ll come out even in the long run by playing heads up against them. But in a real money game, two players of equal skill will actually lose money over time from playing against each other! This difference exists because of the rake. The rake is the small portion of the pot that the poker rook keeps as profit from every real money hand. While in play money, an average player will tend to break even over time, an average real money player will be a loser because of the rake.

A few other minor differences exist in real money poker too. The players tend to be more courteous; they’re concentrating on the game and will take it a little more seriously than play money players do. The games will tend to be a little slower paced, since players will sometimes have to think about their decisions, which they rarely do in play money games. Emotions also tend to play a larger role, since the fact that real money is involved means that players feel the effects of winning and losing more intensely.

In summary, the real difference between real money poker and play money poker is that real money players care much more about the game – and about winning – than their play money counterparts. This shows up in everything from the style of play to the attitude of the players. Real money poker is a much more fun, intense, and…real poker experience than what any play money poker game can offer.

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