Does fake-money gambling give you the same enjoyment?

Well, February was not a good month for me, gambling-wise. Busted out completely on trips to Detroit, AC, and my own local casinos. Looks like I'll be avoiding making gambling trips altogether until I go back to work in a few weeks (save for WOVCon East, which is on March 12 in Pittsburgh--shameless plug).

In the meantime, though, I've found that "practice" gambling, with various online and download games, is actually a pretty decent substitute--some of the time. For blackjack, I like the game over at blackjackinfo.com--it has a lot of options for customization, so it's fun to experiment with different rules and scenarios.

Craps, of course, is a game that's heavily dependent on atmosphere and the fun of getting to throw the dice yourself--so clicking on virtual dice isn't nearly the same. But I still enjoy WinCraps, again for its ability to experiment with different betting strategies (which we know of course don't actually win in the long run, but it's still interesting to see which ones will last the longest).

It's not perfect, but it is acceptable when I feel like making a quick jaunt down to my local casino--and then think better of it. Do you enjoy gambling with fake-money as well, or is the atmosphere of a real casino, real cards, real money the only acceptable thing to you?

For me, having something at stake, even very small stakes, makes wagering decisions, and the rush of winning or losing a totally different experience. It is hard to play poker against players with "play" money. Bluffing, calling and raising all have significantly different meanings when there is something of value to be won or lost.

Good for you.

For me it's ok for practice, and I do enjoy it. But not the same way I enjoy a real casino with real money. the thrill of a virtual fake money royal is nothing compared to even three of a kind in JoB with real money. Not to mention any big score on virtual land comes with a large pang of "If only this had been for real!"

I sense that fake money poker is probably bad for you. When there is no downside to a call 'to see what you have', then your ability to bluff is compromised when compared to a real money game. Also, opponents can go all in foolishly for the simple reason that they are no longer interested in playing at that time, not even close to what would happen with real money. I sometimes play LOW stakes poker with some friends/acquaintances, and in 7 card hi-low I am the only one who will ever go out after the initial 3 cards. The quarter does not deter the others from seeing that 4th card no matter how bad their first 3 are. I am often chided by the others during the play, but I always walk out with 30 or 40 dollars more than I came with, and to me that is more fun than seeing that useless 4th card. I know if we were playing even dollar ante the game would be far different.

It has the same allure as playing free cell.

Quote: Mosca

It has the same allure as playing free cell.

I play free cell a lot. What are you implying :P

I got into the habit while waiting for pages to load on a 19,200 bps "high speed" modem.

I need real money for the thrill even though I'm a low stakes gambler.

That said I do have the Reel Deal Casino computer game that is fun to play around with. I make sure I know the strategies and things are working as I expect, but it's not the same.

I play for real money, but low stakes at bodog.ca, but again it's just not the same.

I like the rush of real wagering.. but i like the practice that you get from not playing for real money... lets me work on basic strategy.

Plus when im doing bad in virtual play... i tend to stay away from the real table

Quote: Nareed

I play free cell a lot. What are you implying :P

I got into the habit while waiting for pages to load on a 19,200 bps "high speed" modem.

Oh, I play free cell, spider, and hearts incessantly, and sometimes minesweeper. And I spend a lot of time playing table games for free at Bodog. It just passes the time, I don't track any of it. I play every game of hearts to try and shoot the moon, I try to build up streaks in free cell and spider. Once I lose, I reset the stats (or exit hearts) and start over. At Bodog, I start by playing the max bet, $500, and seeing how high I can go. But it all just passes the time at work while I'm waiting for the real stuff to happen.

To me, its all about the thrill one gets that can only come from taking on the casino with real money. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but I always find it exciting to play.

When explaining the appeal of VP to people, I often say it's like playing Free Cell with free drinks.
Playing online with fake money isn't nearly as fun, but is mildly enjoyable. I play craps on my phone during boring meetings a lot. Blackjack on my phone seems less fun for some reason.

There's some nice video slots on roxypalace.com that are free.

But they aren't competing with Vegas in my mind, they are competing with Free Cell or Angry Birds.

Quote: Mosca

Oh, I play free cell, spider, and hearts incessantly, and sometimes minesweeper.

Geez, no one implies anything anymore...

I've never gotten minesweeper.

Anyway, I don't reset the stats in free cell, but I don't pay them any attention. My brother wanted to transfer his when he first upgraded Windows :)

Playing with fake money doesn't pay the bills. I've never played freecell and haven't played minesweeper in years but I've been known to enjoy Angry Birds. Haven't figured out how to make money on it yet though...

As far as gaming goes, gambling with fake money is pretty lame. But I do it a lot anyway and do get some amount of enjoyment out of it from a pure gaming angle.

I only get a little satisfaction from fake-money gambling. The practice games at Bodog & other sites keep me amused for a little while, but then I get bored.

I do like the Wizard's VP trainer. i found it a few months back, and realized that my version of JOB basic strategy wasn't that close to real basic strategy. Since then I've had much better success. More winning sessions and lower loss amounts for losing sessions. So I've gotten value out of that fake money game.

I also enjoy playing fake money Texas Hold'Em via Zynga's game on Facebook. It's been a decent way to learn the game at no cost. But there is something missing as I know that even if I'm betting $500,000, it doesn't really matter if I win or lose. But if I'm in a live game and win a $50 pot, that excites me more since I can translate that into a tank of gas or dinner with the wife!

Depends on the game. If it's slots, I'll much better satisfy my curiosity with a fake-money game. I know all too well that slots are only there to suck your money to seriously contemplate winning. Most players hope to give Lady Luck a chance to bestow what's due upon them, but I know that if Lady Luck decided to smile on me, it would give me a bad beat jackpot, or an extra-hot shoe in blackjack with no heat.

Playing poker for imaginary money is only good for training. Blackjack, I know I can beat it, so real money adds that extra anticipation of win. Carnival games, variants, or as mentioned slots, fake money all the way.

I do try out a few new being "ideas" when I do the "fake money" gambling but it really doesn't do much for me...

I did learn it to know the payouts a little better on the craps layout. The dealers at my local casino always seem confused about "off and on" payouts when I have most (or all) numbers covered with come/odds bets. I dissected the last trip and I am pretty sure even the box was telling the dealer the wrong payout on one of my numbers. I can only be "pretty sure" because it only happened on one roll, it wasn't obvious (off by a dollar or two) and I had been enjoying the cocktails for a few hours.

I've also used it to work my basic strategy for blackjack. I am not really good at memorizing those tables so I have switched to the Wizard's simple strategy for the most part. I have printed it out in a size my age-challenged eyes can see easily so that I don't have to hold the darned card two inches from my face and hold up the whole table.

Using fake money does not give me any more or less confidence in the results...it just helps me think out how I want to play in certain situations. If I hit the craps table with $100 and turn it into $200 pretty quick, I will be aggressive with the $100 I am ahead. If I am down, it shows me how being aggressive to catch up can really screw things up...

Fake is fake...not the same excitement. I'd rather have $1 in real action than a $1,000,000 in fake action. I know because I had $7,500,000 on the iPhone "Aw Craps" app and it just didn't do much for me...

Quote: P90

Playing poker for imaginary money is only good for training.

I could not disagree more. When your opponents do not fear losing money, bluffing is different compared to a real game, and calling is different, too. I do play no money games for mindless entertainment. I was recently called by a player who missed his straight draw but just wanted to see my cards. He was just playing the board. This did not simulate a real money game. I would also surmise the frequency of 'all ins' is substantially higher in no money games than real games.

Quote: SOOPOO

I could not disagree more. When your opponents do not fear losing money, bluffing is different compared to a real game, and calling is different, too.

Oh, yes. This is one of the reasons it's good for some forms of training. LAG players can be some of the most annoying in real games.
You only have to avoid "booster" games, where noobs go all-in on any hand, reset the bankroll, and come back. Freerolls are a better venue. You still see tons of LAGs, but learn how to grab money from them without sweating, and that translates into the times you see one IRL.
Another good thing to practice with game money is multitabling. It's not as much about deep strategy as just developing reliable multiple table tracking.

But otherwise note I said "only good", not "good".