Where To Start?

Hey guys, new to the site.

I decided to post this in the beginners circle basically because its about beginning something. I am not however, a beginner of poker. I have been playing poker for about 4 years now, and I am constantly reading poker books, magazines, watching videos, and playing poker.

I am not however, making any money through poker other than at my local home games!

The reason for this is because I am scared. I am in university right now and I really don't have the money to make up even a couple hundred dollar bank roll. basically all of my money goes towards school tuition.

My question to you all is, should I just continue learning poker and playing free online games and the odd local 10 or 20 dollar sit-n-go's, or should I take a shot with a hundred or so dollars online to try and build up a micro bank roll? What would you recommend I try? Sit n gos, or cash games?

thanks guys.
~GK

You can always hop on a site that will stake you $10 or so just for joining up and then try to grind from there (there are several). Check the room reviews.

Grinding a decent roll can take a long time but you will learn tons along the way.

if you wanna make money from poker I'd say take a shot

Keep learning the game while you play, deposit at least 75$ on a poker site and grind it up (and btw if you go broke don't get super frustrated, just wait until you're ready to try again... I've gone broke 3x and it's possible i'll still go broke... I'm also starting out btw)

Don't play with scared money though... It will affect your game, playing poker through your emotions is a recipe for disaster

Use proper bankroll management, and you should be fine

as for which gametype it's all your choice... do what you prefer, some prefer cash games, some prefer STT/MTTs, some prefer omaha, others prefer NLHE

Don't play with scared money though... It will affect your game, playing poker through your emotions is a recipe for disaster

that's EXACTLY what i'm afraid is going to happen.

Ponyboy, can you give me the names of a few sites that offer this? That way I can play them a bit, gain some confidence in my online real money ability, then deposit and take it from there!

I've built up a bankroll from freerolls on a couple of sites. I usually made it to around 100$ - go up and down and eventually go broke.
Some newer/unknown poker sites usually have attractive freerolls or will even give you free money - redstarpoker is an excample. I don't know if they still do it though.
T6 had the big freerolls. I went busto there so I don't know if this is still the case.
A 50$ deposit should be pretty hard to bust at 5NL if you don't donk off your money at a record pace. But expect to loose. 5NL or 2NL has terribly weak players, but it's probably harder to beat than your homegame.

Welcome to FTR! Taking a shot is one thing but if you don't have much money to re-load, it's my opinion that you should deposit $50-100 into a site and grind away for a few months. Online poker is not like playing at your home games. You might be able to find a table here and there that slightly resembles these home games, but believe me, it's not the same. But like I said, if you have the money to re-load if you go broke, then take a shot by all means. If not, don't. Playing with scared money will KILL your game. Good luck!

Originally Posted by NODGrindKing

Don't play with scared money though... It will affect your game, playing poker through your emotions is a recipe for disaster

that's EXACTLY what i'm afraid is going to happen.

You should play as low that you can easily shrug off a 3-buy in downswing - and if it's 2NL.
There are not too many sites that offer 2nl though I think.

I'm about a break-even player at this point and I've invested a lot of time into this game. I remeber a statement by I don't know who that I think is very true: All the money on a poker table will eventually end up at a small percentage of the top players.
A very good visualization of this is a card casino when the action is bad and the 500 and 1000 NL regulars sit at the 200NL table. I regularly see 1000€+ stacks at the 200€ max buy-in tables.
I notice the same thing in the microstakes range. If I'm running bad at the higher games, I made it a habit to go down to avoid steaming and just as a general bankroll preserving tactic. It's not unusual for me to end a 1 hour session at 5NL with a 20$+ stack after taking down someone who has been playing really solid but then he overplays top pair or an overpair to protect his hand and the money ends up in my bankroll which I then blow at 25NL.

maybe i'll just bite the bullet, load up, and grind out some 5/10 cent or something for a few months.....

thanks guys

The best advice I can give you is load up $50 on Stars (or the site of your choice). I perfer stars because it has 2nl, which I know isn't an option at FullTilt. You say you don't have a ton of money to take a shot with. $50 isn't that much. And by starting at 2nl (which $50 is def adequate roll for) you will learn a whole lot of things other than just how to play poker. You will learn proper bankroll manegement (if you follow a plan) by you moving up/down when need be, you will learn about online play and the site with minimal cost, and you will begin to cope with variance. Also while 2nl sounds like it's uber small (and it is), if you are a decent player and put in a good volume of play you can go from 2nl to 10nl+ in a month or two, gaining valubale experience in the process.

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

The best advice I can give you is load up $50 on Stars (or the site of your choice). I perfer stars because it has 2nl, which I know isn't an option at FullTilt. You say you don't have a ton of money to take a shot with. $50 isn't that much. And by starting at 2nl (which $50 is def adequate roll for) you will learn a whole lot of things other than just how to play poker. You will learn proper bankroll manegement (if you follow a plan) by you moving up/down when need be, you will learn about online play and the site with minimal cost, and you will begin to cope with variance. Also while 2nl sounds like it's uber small (and it is), if you are a decent player and put in a good volume of play you can go from 2nl to 10nl+ in a month or two, gaining valubale experience in the process.

so 50 dollars is enough to play 2$ NL cash games? How would you suggest to play? Obviously I know I need to change things up, but should I focus more on a tight style or aggresive?

can you suggest any reading material to help me in this type of game? For now, I've just been getting comfortable with 5/10 cent and i've basically doubled my initial 10$ that I started with tonight.

should I focus more on a tight style or aggresive?

Dude, please don't take this the wrong way, but this is exactly the type of question a TRUE beginner would ask. In your OP, you said you didn't consider yourself a beginner. It's one thing to be confident but it's another to be foolish. That's not to say you aren't asking good questions, because you are, just make sure you're open to criticism afterwards.

Getting back to your question, you shouldn't focus on any one style and stick to it. You must be able to adapt to the table environment and exploit any weaknesses you might find. In general terms, this means play tight vs the weak and vice versa, but ALWAYS be aggressive.

Go read Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones. After you can comprehend and put it into practice, then move on to the more in-depth books like HOH and NLHT&P.

Originally Posted by Mezza Morta

should I focus more on a tight style or aggresive?

Dude, please don't take this the wrong way, but this is exactly the type of question a TRUE beginner would ask. In your OP, you said you didn't consider yourself a beginner. It's one thing to be confident but it's another to be foolish. That's not to say you aren't asking good questions, because you are, just make sure you're open to criticism afterwards.

Getting back to your question, you shouldn't focus on any one style and stick to it. You must be able to adapt to the table environment and exploit any weaknesses you might find. In general terms, this means play tight vs the weak and vice versa, but ALWAYS be aggressive.

Go read Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones. After you can comprehend and put it into practice, then move on to the more in-depth books like HOH and NLHT&P.

i am totally open to criticism and thank you for being honest..but i DID SAY

Obviously I know I need to change things up

because I know that it is dependant on the table. I know if the table is weak and passive then I need to raise the aggression level. and if the table is nothing but calling machines than i need to tone it down a lot more.

I guess it came out wrong. What I was asking was whether or not a super-aggresive or super-tight strategy was appropriate for these low limit NL games. At such low levels, it seems that people are very up to calling with gutshots and draws.

Ok then. Tight is usually right at the low micros. If you only play the top 24 hands or so, you're going to be ahead of your opponents range a good % of the time. 3-betting like a spider monkey can also do wonders. Just be super-aggressive post-flop when you think you're ahead and you should be fine. Are you playing FR or 6max?

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

Start with about 20 buyins at 2nl or 5nl. This means either $40 or $100. Now, don't put anymore money into your poker account ever. Instead, grind through the limits and get good at poker. Then, the higher you get, take a slightly higher bankroll requirement than the stakes previous so that you better protect your poker bankroll.

When you have $100, play 5nl. (20 buy-ins)
When you have $250, play 10nl. (25 buy-ins)
When you have $750, play 25nl. (30 buy-ins)
When you have $1750, play 50nl. (35 buy-ins)
When you have $4000, play 100nl. (40 buy-ins)
When you have $10000, play 200nl. (50 buy-ins)

If you follow this and regularly play and work on your game, you'll be making a lot of money in less than two years imo.