How to test out poker concepts

I have been doing a lot of reading lately in an effort to improve my poker playing at the cash ring games online. One of the ways I found that I could test out these concepts was to play at the very low micro levels – .02/.04 and .05/.10.

While the playing is very loose at these levels, it did allow me to test out some plays involving defending the blinds and also stealing the blinds when in the position of the cutoff or the button.

I tired using these ideas last night but the results were not what I expected. In one case I was defending the small blind without having a  reasonable enough hand to do so. At least three times I defended the big blinds by capping off the pre-flop betting and calling down a small holding of bottom or middle pair. I checked called all the way to the river only to find that the “stealer” had AK all three times. This happened three times in a row when I was the big blind. The odds of that occurring? And all three times he hit either the Ace or King, or the flush, when they were suited to win the pot.

While I did not get the success from using these ideas that I had hoped for, I will incorporate them into my game play as they will work most of the time. It is also good to have knowledge of the player you are against before making those plays.

How do you test out new ideas? Do you test them in the cash games or play money games? What have been your results?