How Play Money Games Can Improve Your Play

As many know, play money games can be "All In Fests". But, they also can be a great place to hone skills and learn more about YOUR game.
I am by no means a pro, but in the past year I have really become a fairly good poker player. When I do not have a live bankroll I play a lot of play money games at Poker Stars. Of course, the play is very loose and over aggressive at times, but at the higher chip levels, you do get some more realistic play. I will tend to call more bets at the river, just to see if I am reading the player right.
WARNING: I will liken this to reading a poker book. Whenever I read a poker book I learn more about the game, but then I play different after the read and lose a lot. This will happen when you transition from play money to real money, so take it slow. Play the low limits (.01/.02 ring games & $5 SNGs). As you adjust, move up. When you move up, you will need to take it slow and adjust again.
Play money will ruin your game if you play it passed a complete rookie level. It is a complete different game. It really can only help you understand how often you get hands, how play works, and what its like to be bad beat.
That is straight from a very good and respected all around poker player. He tought me how to play.
Play moneys fun to learn with but ,theres hands you will never see played on a real money level or bets you will never see made.You get people going all in on a whim or raising cuz they have to leave.But when real money on the line its a different story,a great way to become more accquainted with the game,get used to the hands ,the betting and etc.So it definitely will help you in certain aspects.I still play on them with my friends on occasion.
I only play NL Holdem. Omaha gives me a headache.
I do agree that play money is very different and that is why I placed the warning. But I still think for a newcomer to the game it can be a very usefull learning tool.
I am coming to terms that once you reach a certain level you can't go back down and be successful, without making extreme adjustments. I guess this could be said about playmoney as well.
There have been times where I watched a 5/10 dollar real money table play like a Play Money table. Really. It was terrible how this group was playing. Of course it was to often the bad hand that one. That is always a bad thing to see.
If you are tired of Play Money craziness I would suggest stepping up 1/2 or 2/4 Penny games. Many sites offer them. Some of the ones here listed do. They play can still be pretty bad. But, it does a better job at mirroring a real poker game than play money.
Unfortunately, for some of us, there's no alternative to play money. I used to have a decent bankroll on Pokerstars, but I wasn't good enough to handle it and blew it all. Right now, I have no job, so money's pretty tight. I'll put some money on PS when I start work in late May. I'm well aware of the fact that play money is not an accurate reflection of real money poker, and can either help my game minimally or hurt me severely, but I feel it is better to stay sharp by playing some poker than it is to not play at all until I have money to play with.
If you want to experience real poker and you dont have much money, and cant afford to deposit, then freerolls are definately for you. The play style in a freeroll, and be a bit aggressive at the start, and many loose players call with anything, this is why i would suggest not playing at pokerstars. Play at Jetset or PokerHost, Play in the private freerolls held at this site and others. The standard of play in therse tournaments is a much better reflection on "real" money games than play money, and if you can survive the early loose play by many weirdos you can actually get a good game of poker going, especially as you approach the "money zone".