Free online poker (without playing against actual people)

[Riptide McDeath]

After being shown the basics of poker I now want to get good enough that I can start to win!

I was shown texas hold em - and pretty much lost every hand. I really want to get better at it but without losing money... Google search just returns lots of poker rooms where I feel a little out of depth.

I was wondering if there are any free games to download in a similar style to windows solitaire interface where I could practice/play away but without losing money or playing against people?

Any suggestions on software to download or how to get better are welcome - sorry if this thread is a little out of place here... Poker, but as a software seemed to fit here (in my mind anyway).. Cheers!

[I accept the terms of the]

All online poker tables have free sections. I'd go for PokerStars.

Free money games are terrible though, because there's no incentive. People don't play poker on free money tables the way they do in real games.

Play "freeroll" tournaments. These are free to enter but have actual money prizes. People play a bit better there, mostly. A bit. Okay, it's only like 10p usually, but it improves the quality of play. And as a crazy challenge you can see how high a balance you can build from nothing. I got up to around £3 once (through winning 10ps and then playing them in low blind ring games).

Get yourself a book (Harrington on Hold'Em maybe) too. You'll be amazed at how everything you're doing and thinking at the moment is wrong.

[georgetaylor]

I'm too scared to play online, or with real money in case I lose my vast fortune with a pair of tens. But I can recommend poker academy pro if you want to play offline against good AI opponents, I see they have a demo you can try.

www.poker-academy.com

Also give Victoria Corens poker column on the Guardian site a look, and her book (not the porn one) for a veiw of the 'scene' and lifestyle.  Er, search for it yourself.

As for how to get better, just play many many hands. If you don't get any better - give up, you probably don't have what it takes to play poker. You should be able to learn by your mistakes as you gain experiance. Develop your own strategies and test 'em out by playing loads of hands. Don't bother with the how-to books, you're not learning the C++.

[I accept the terms of the]

I just noticed that you said without playing against actual people.

Do they need to be online, then?

[kaprisky]

I currently use Ladbrokes Poker but the best site I used was Poker Room, which I believe was swallowed up by Bwin Poker a few years ago. They used to have these 700 seater tournaments (freeplay) and they were a lot of fun because you had to wait until 8pm UK time and then they would raise the blinds every 15 minutes. I think I finished 33rd or 34th once but unfortunately I was always on the defensive and never had a genuine chance of winning. I have never found a site which matched Poker Room in its 10 seater, no-limit format with decent timing of the blinds being raised and some great banter with the other players.

As for improving your general play, the key to Texas Hold 'em is bluffing. If you get a quiet hand where nobody raises before the flop then put in a raise, esp. if you've got nothing because you will know where you stand. If someone calls, they may have something; if someone re-raises they've definitely got something, and you can fold. Once you get the timing right you should be able to steal a few hands with 2/7 and other such rubbish. Winning those types of hands are more satisfying than winning with pocket aces.

[Uncle TechTip]

If you want to learn, get good and eventually play for real money, then the best way honestly is to start playing for real, for very small stakes, whilst reading about the game and applying what you learn.

Play money is never a proper representation of the game, too many crazy donks are messing around with crazy hands and crazy bets. It's a good way for an absolute beginner to get to know the game, but if you try to learn fundamentals in this arena you'll come away with some very bad habits and wrong ideas. As soon as you feel ready move onto real play and learn bankroll management, which is basically don't play above your means. There are 2cent/pence games available everywhere and you should start there.

I found that sit-n-go tournaments were a good way to learn, and helped with BM, because you can pay 2 or 3 dollars and get an hour or more's play. Cash games are more tricky because it's easy to lose the $3 in one hand and load up straight after.

As for where to play, well there's the UK bookies offerings as described.. I also spent a lot of time at.. ahem.. Sky Poker in the past (did very well as it was not long after they launched, and the players were probably the softest on the net - a lot tougher now though).

The market leaders about three months ago were PokerStars, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet... it's not been huge news here but the market was turned upside down when the US DoJ charged all three with breaking anti-gambling laws over there. All US funds were seized and Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet have essentially closed down, only PokerStars of the three is carrying on... long story but the other two didn't segregate player funds and cannot pay all the US players back. PS were able to pay back very quickly. I play only on PokerStars and I'm still happy despite the shitstorm (I withdrew after the seizures and it processed in normal time)

Anyway that's another story available on the internet to read. Best forum by far is 2+2 , find lots about "Black Friday" and strategy etc.

The Harrington book shout is a good one, both his tournament & cash game books are fairly easy to follow for relative beginners but outline some important strategies and concepts and go into a lot of detail.

If you're serious about only playing for fun, you could do worse than Zynga poker on Facebook. It's as soft as you'd expect for the Farmville lot but people probably take it a little more seriously than play money on a real poker site. That could be a great way to learn but hopefully you'll soon get the urge to do it for real.

Anyone still on Stars and fancies a home game league thing? All for fun, of course... they not long ago launched proper private tables with schedules and reminders and all sorts.

[rudi]

Indeed, you can play for tiny amounts and it's always, always better than playing bots or for no money. people just don't give a crap when playing for nowt; add even a nominal amount and folks at least play LOL NO hands they're dealt.

I'm a PKR man meself; solid, fast, pretty.

[stephenjwz]

Pkr + 32red are good for regular little freerolls - sit out any early insanity and it becomes more or less like proper poker, just don't think about the limited rewards or you'll get bored. Skypoker were doing £10 in free tourney entries just for signing up which is also decent, but in likelihood if you improve you'll probably end up on stars.