Where can I find players to practice against for free?
I started playing poker a few months ago, and I want to get good at it before I play for real money. I watch a lot of youtube videos about poker strategy. I'm consider paying for the intermediate level ($100 per year) of poker snowie, which seemed like the most beginner-friendly poker training software. I also considered Lucid, but it's kind of expensive, and it looks confusing and less beginner-friendly. Which is better?
I started off playing on the pokerstars lite app. I had read that the players on there are terrible, so I felt like I should be able to beat them. I actually didn't win at first. I was trying to play a more GTO strategy (but didn't know GTO well myself). I found out that all I have to do to win the fast fold game is raise any playable hand preflop when folded to, and small cbet almost %100 of the time. They all fold too much in small pots. They aren't bluffing, so I stopped calling big river bets. Now that I know how to win, it's hard to lose. I got to the highest stakes, and all of the players are still bad.
I also play the tournaments on advance poker training. the players on there are better. it's a small group of mostly recreational players who play for real money. I've been able to increase my win rate by remembering who is a bluffer, too passive, tight aggressive, etc. It's definitely helped me improve. according to my win rate on there, I guess I'm about an average player. My return on investment goes up and down, but it's around 0%, not losing but not winning. They don't play cash games often, and I'm more interested in playing cash games right now.
I wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve my game. Where can I find good players to practice against? What poker training software would you recommend? What topics should I be studying? Is anyone interested in playing a practice game with me?
2 Replies
Poker with play money is completely different than with real money. It's simply not worth practicing on any platform that uses play money; you won't improve unless you are literally learning the rules of the game and you may develop bad habits.
Play microstakes online, ie. ignition casino. There should be plenty of threads on 2+2 about it. If you can afford a $100 subscription, you can afford 20 2c/5c buy ins which will teach you far more as a beginner.
If you want to play live poker, I'd suggest just sitting down at a 1-2 table with a minimum buy-in the first time, play tight, and just observe the game flow, the betting amounts, etc. You'll likely realize that you're probably no worse than most of the people at the table.
