There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing poker for free online. Depending upon where you are standing on the planet, this may be the only way you can experience the joys of internet poker. It is important to realize that this is a good way to get introduced to the nuts and bolts of the game, but is a very poor way to prepare for a life of real money games.
A huge chunk of the world's population is familiar with the game "The Sims". Basically in this video game a player creates a character, and lives a life that can be as volatile and strange as real life. The thing is that there is no real risk involved. If your sim gets fired from their job as an engineer, or gets their little graphic girlfriend pregnant, then there is no impact of this on the player's real life. The same goes for those who play online poker: losing your fortune of credits will not impact your actual bank account.
In a game where no real money is on the line, people will not behave the same as if their hard earned cash is sitting on the table. When you're bluffing, they are more likely to call you because there are no real consequences to their actions. This does not prepare a player to deal with the real world nuances of the game.
This is not to take anything away from websites that provide free play and freeroll tournaments. People can win some truly impressive prizes playing for free on some sites, but be aware that the game is a good bit different when real money is sitting in the middle of the table instead of fictional credits.
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