Josh is a former pro, I know him, he's VERY good at poker, and he's absolutely right.
There is no comparison between "free play" and even micro-stakes poker. The skill level goes up exponentially.
I wanted to be a pro years ago and finally came to terms with the fact that I wasn't good enough, and my ROI was better spent learning other things (like marketing).
That being said, I went and played a $1/2 cash game at the casino last night for a few hours, first time I'd played in months.
I grinded along for about an hour and then a drunk guy sat down. He'd play every hand. Raise every pot. He straddled every round. If his straddle was raised he'd push like clockwork. If you checked to him on a flop he'd over bet the pot every time, usually committing over half his stack.
He was the textbook definition of a guy I want to play with.
Once the table had him figured out, we weren't playing each other, we were competing over getting heads up with him in pots.
A hand I remember, I was on the button, he was straddled for $5 UTG. It was folded around to me. I had Q9 offsuit, which is a hand I'd almost never even open from the button with.
I limped in, which is something else I'd never do, but I knew I had a shit hand, I knew he'd re-raise if I raised his straddle, and I knew that if I could connect with a flop I'd get paid off.
I limped, as expected he popped it to $15 on his option. I called. Blinds folded. Flop comes Q27 rainbow. He has about $350 in front and I have him covered. He pushes for ~$350 into a pot of like $33.
I'd throw that hand away without hesitation 99% of the time. I insta-called and as expected he had air.
That was one of a few hands where I exploited his predictable play, and he got lucky a few times, but at the end of the night he donated probably $2k easy to the table, when he left, the entire table broke up 5 minutes later.
That's how I play. I don't want to play against even average players. I want to play against idiots who are easy as shit to exploit.
Poker is all about exploiting weak players.
If you're in the US I'd say poker is a tough grind now. Read, get better, but your best odds of making money is probably home games/finding drunks in casinos and adjusting your game to exploit them.
There is no comparison between "free play" and even micro-stakes poker. The skill level goes up exponentially.
I wanted to be a pro years ago and finally came to terms with the fact that I wasn't good enough, and my ROI was better spent learning other things (like marketing).
That being said, I went and played a $1/2 cash game at the casino last night for a few hours, first time I'd played in months.
I grinded along for about an hour and then a drunk guy sat down. He'd play every hand. Raise every pot. He straddled every round. If his straddle was raised he'd push like clockwork. If you checked to him on a flop he'd over bet the pot every time, usually committing over half his stack.
He was the textbook definition of a guy I want to play with.
Once the table had him figured out, we weren't playing each other, we were competing over getting heads up with him in pots.
A hand I remember, I was on the button, he was straddled for $5 UTG. It was folded around to me. I had Q9 offsuit, which is a hand I'd almost never even open from the button with.
I limped in, which is something else I'd never do, but I knew I had a shit hand, I knew he'd re-raise if I raised his straddle, and I knew that if I could connect with a flop I'd get paid off.
I limped, as expected he popped it to $15 on his option. I called. Blinds folded. Flop comes Q27 rainbow. He has about $350 in front and I have him covered. He pushes for ~$350 into a pot of like $33.
I'd throw that hand away without hesitation 99% of the time. I insta-called and as expected he had air.
That was one of a few hands where I exploited his predictable play, and he got lucky a few times, but at the end of the night he donated probably $2k easy to the table, when he left, the entire table broke up 5 minutes later.
That's how I play. I don't want to play against even average players. I want to play against idiots who are easy as shit to exploit.
Poker is all about exploiting weak players.
If you're in the US I'd say poker is a tough grind now. Read, get better, but your best odds of making money is probably home games/finding drunks in casinos and adjusting your game to exploit them.
