Online Poker

June 10, 2004 8:07 AM

[BoredAtWorkthoughselfemployedFilter] Ok, this poker thing: everybody's doing it, so why ain't I? I'd like to learn how to play a little poker, online, for free, no cash (otherwise we'll have an AddictionFilter question soon), newbie-friendly environment.
posted by NekulturnY to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

Try Ultimate Bet. I started out there and it's pretty fun, and easy to get into a game.
posted by pizzasub at 8:18 AM on June 10, 2004

Yeah, most the reputable play-for-money places also have free games, Party Poker does as well, though there's often a bit of a wait for the free games. There's also some really low-limit games if you end up getting into it and being any good.
posted by dagnyscott at 8:52 AM on June 10, 2004

I've found Poker Room to be quite excellent (and Java-based, useful for OS X users since most of the other sites I've seen require a Windows download), and the level of play won't kill you if you're just starting out. There's always some open tables, and you can always get more play money.
posted by Remy at 8:58 AM on June 10, 2004

I second pokerroom.com, which I just got started with and consider quite excellent. I had AskedMeFi recently about any standalone poker games for OS X and was tipped off to pokerroom; it's certainly better than anything I could download (because apparently the AI available on the different Mac games sucks, whereas the real people you play with are much more reasonably irrational).
posted by blueshammer at 9:04 AM on June 10, 2004

You might also look at Full Tilt Poker. It's in (rather extended) beta right now, but is working fine. It's owned by several pro players, who also play regularly (ie several different pros a day) on the site.
The level of play can't be that high, since I'm up a lot since I started.
posted by sinical at 9:43 AM on June 10, 2004

The problem with the free rooms (at least on Ultimate Bet, I haven't tried anywhere else) is that people play a lot differently with play money than in even the lowest limit real money games.
So if you get good a playing in the play money style, and start thinking you're a badass, you'll get rooked at the real money tables.
posted by Capn at 9:54 AM on June 10, 2004

Try Hoyle Casino.
posted by brent at 10:13 AM on June 10, 2004

I second cap'n. People who are playing for play money will bet on any damn thing. Remember that good players play only very good hands, and those only come around something like 10-20% of the time, sometimes less. I have found that when I lose sight of this, I lose.

I play on pokerroom, because I am on a Mac, but my impression is that Party Poker and the like are much bigger and spread a lot more games.
posted by lackutrol at 11:48 AM on June 10, 2004

The free tables on UltimateBet with higher blinds, like 100-200, are closer to real money tables in the .01-.02 to .10 to .25 range. However, I have seen some fairly stupid betting even on the $25-$50 real money tables.
posted by mischief at 8:49 PM on June 10, 2004