Made the plunge

Hello all,

First of all, thank you for all the valuable information here. I have been lurking for a couple of weeks, but I finally made my first real money deposit at Pacific Poker, a few days ago. I went with Pacific because there was a promotion to get 3 poker books after making a deposit and playing 50 hands, through a site linked on Amazon.com. Then Pacific gave me 25% of my first deposit (addition $13).

Question set #1: Are these promotions a good way to go?
I will probably play at Pacific until I get a bankroll going, since they have .05/.10 ring games, and $2.50+.25 5 player SNG tournaments. They do not have any NL tables however.
Assuming a yes answer, is there a place to easily find out about the promotions if/when I decide to move to another site?
Can I withdraw the bonus money if/when I decide to move?

The 3 books I chose were: The Theory of Poker, Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players, and Super System.
Question #2: Which book do you think I should start reading first?

Question #3: Should I look into getting PokerTracker and why?

Question #4: Any other advice you might give me?

since you are gonna play limit, i hear lee jones has the best limit book out there, that woulda been a good one to get,

promotions are always good, they do help, but being a winning player is more important than the extra 24$ bonus you might get, there is a site that has bonus information also check the online casino subforum as there is some info on there, as for other tips, just start out at the small limits or tournaments dont go above what your current bankroll can handle. i'm sure you;ll be fine!

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Originally Posted by Jes_Gru

The 3 books I chose were: The Theory of Poker, Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players, and Super System.
Question #2: Which book do you think I should start reading first?

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ToP and HEAP. Super System is outdated, but I'm looking forward to the upcomming Super System 2.

Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller and S&M is the bomb for limit. Well worth the money.

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Originally Posted by Jes_Gru

Question #3: Should I look into getting PokerTracker and why?

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To track your play. It's makes it really easy to mine through hands looking for misplays or to ask big picture questions like "am I a winning player", "am I playing too loose", "how am I doing from my blinds", "am I paying off too many hands", etc.

Besides the books, remeber all the good info right here on our very own FTR. Between the main site and the forums. One can get enough information to fill a bunch of books.

This sounds like an awesome promotion. Do you have a link to it to share?

And does it need to be your first deposit into Pacific? If so, maybe I could make a new account and use it.

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Originally Posted by Fnord

Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Ed Miller and S&M is the bomb for limit. Well worth the money.

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Winning Low Limit Hold'em was written by Lee Jones. Miller's book is entitled Small Stakes Hold'em and has only been out for about two weeks.

I have read neither, but I have read many of Ed Miller's posts on another forum. His advice is why I got back into playing limit at Empire. Using his philosophy, I have booked some huge wins. I plan to order his book very soon.

I have heard that the first edition of WLLH contained many errors. Although the second edition is widely criticized for giving weak-tight advice, Ed Miller did recommend it to beginners.

The second edition is a great book for starting off on the road of limit holdem, however I have heard on the grapevine that Ed Miller's book is superior.

Although I havn't read it I'd go for Small Stakes Holdem as I think it is more aimed at the online world where LJ's is aimed at B&M casinos. LJs is also quite loose for new players, I regularly fold hands LJ's book advises me to call/raise.

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LJs is also quite loose for new players, I regularly fold hands LJ's book advises me to call/raise.

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You might be surprised at what Ed Miller suggests as playable starting hands. :shock:

The key is the number of limpers, whether the pot is raised or not, and your position...

Remember that in the small stakes world, a fair percentage of your opponents will limp with just about any two cards.

I should have mentioned that LJs is too loose in late position than what I play, the early position is probably tighter than what I'd play. He also suggests playing a lot of hands from the SB which is where i prefer to play like a rock as you have the worst position for the rest of the hand.

With 4 or more limpers, I'll play a *wide* range of hands from the SB that I wouldn't normally play from UTG, even though my position is worse than UTG postflop. The difference is that everyone but the BB has already acted preflop, so you can play hands that can flop great draws for cheap with huge preflop odds and implied odds postflop. I try to stick with hands that I can make a decision with on the flop.

For example, you're in the SB and four have limped ahead of you. You're getting 11:1 immediate odds to complete. If the BB isn't overly aggressive, you can play a wide range of suited connectors, suited one and two gappers, and small pocket pairs for 1/2 a small bet relatively often. If you don't flop a draw or your set, you can get away from the hand pretty quickily. If you do flop a draw, with that many limpers, you're probably gonna have pot odds to call a small bet on the flop.

Even if you do complete too often in the small blind, it can't possibly be a huge leak, as you only play from the small blind once every ten hands, and it's only 1/2 a small bet. I think a bigger mistake that people make is raising from the SB with moderately strong hands and forgetting they will be first to act postflop.

I'll play any pocket pair from my SB for 1.5 SB.