Free give you a feel for the interface. Nothing clears the baffles like winning or losing real money.

You can learn the basics for free only if you ignore whether you win or lose and just play a hand how you're supposed to play it.

But, it's not as effective as playing for money, and not as rewarding. Lessons learned losing or winning real money are lessons well learned.

I've said this before and I like it:
play money is to poker as monopoly is to real estate investing. Fun, but not the same.

The chance you stand is directly related to whether you've learned poker basics yet. Do you know how to fold? And do you know how to fold? Have you learned the art of folding? Then you stand a chance.