From Fictitious Chips to Real Money: When and Where to Start Playing for Real

Apart from Replay Poker, do you play on other sites with fictitious chips or even real money? I want to start putting real money on the table, but I don’t know when the right moment or place would be, like my local casino or an online poker site

@antonhy I’ve been playing, off and on, in all 3 scenarios (live, online real money, and online play chips) for years. The ratio of playtime between each usually depends on real-money bankroll but could be different for you.

You mentioned “what moment” do you start putting down real money … IMO, if you are profitable in high stakes Replay poker, you can be profitable in low stakes online real money.

I would begin by asking yourself the following questions (when and where are a bit dependent on the answers) before putting hard-earned money on the felt or into a crypto exchange:

*1) What are you looking to achieve, or what are you hoping to take away (big picture) from playing in a real-money scenario? (Importance of this first question is connected to your mindset every time you get online or step into a cardroom)

Doesn’t matter, just gambling? Make enough to keep playing weekends, pay a few bills, maybe for a story to tell at the office? Profit is usually the idea but how much profit? Enough to quit your day job?

Imagine not knowing the answer to this question, and getting felted very 1st hand, live, so about $200-$300, on the classic cooler KK vs. AA. Then losing another buy-in 3 hours later. …

Being results-oriented can affect your game in different ways (mostly negative), but some type of bankroll strategy will dictate your stakes AND your ability to play with financial comfort at the table.(percentage of your weekly pay, savings allotted for poker) Don’t play with money you need in hopes of winning more than you need. Failure will befall you in some way or another.

**$1/2 or $1/3 and $2/5 are the typical starting/low stakes in live cardrooms and casinos (NL and PL) with buy-ins ranging from 40 to 100 BB. Local cardroom tourneys can be $10 or $1000 (casino cardrooms are another story for MTT). Gambling laws in your area can also change your player field sizes and opponent skill levels.

**2) “How good am I at poker?” is an important question? … Then ask yourself “How good am I, really?” :thinking:

If you’ve never played live, or read a poker book, play online first! The options to match your specific skill level are plentiful online. I would play one stake lower than you can handle and play there 80% of the time until your game has CLEARLY improved …until you’re profiting consistently over nice big sample size). The vast number of available stakes, game formats, and player fields, for online play make proper game selection paramount to your success. I saw that you are in Spain, so Pokerstars.com is the big site to explore first. Then there’s a site called pokerscout.com that can direct you to other sites operating near you and in Europe. Sometimes making a trip to a farther cardroom is a more profitable move, again, depending on laws in your area and population density too. A small town with a cardroom will play much differently than a cardroom in a big city. Guaranteed.

3) Finally, how good is your poker face?

By that, I mean, what kind of table presence do you believe you will have in a live game (relaxed, talkative, shaky) AND how good are you at assessing other people, in addition to your observations of their playing tendencies (tight, loose, passive, aggressive).

“If you can spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.” -Rounders

Are they drinking? Are they still in work clothing? Are they regulars with skill or just have a lot of money?
I can tell you right now that regulars will spot you as a newbie without a hand being dealt. The way you stack chips, the way you sit, how much you talk (or don’t talk) how much you buy in for, if you fold out of turn or dont seem to follow live table dynamics…It’s likely you were already aware of half of this information, but I hope i could help anyway @antonhy

These 3 questions are a good start. I certainly wish someone with experience and degenerative behavior gave me a few quick tips. Good luck, have fun, keep learning, and please let us know how it goes!

-Dom aka ChinoD