Forgive me for this post being so long but I thought some of the newer players to online poker, especially those starting out at the micro limit no limit hold’em cash tables, would find this useful, and that I could get some feedback from those who’ve gone through this process already.

I’ve been playing poker for about 4 years and I’m at best a break even / slightly losing player. When I started playing low limit online I lost about $1500 over my first year of online poker. I play recreational, low limit hold’em, including cash games, tournaments and online, but mostly tournaments. I haven’t kept records of my poker winnings or losses. I started off playing like a rock, and only betting / raising with pocket pairs, AK and AQ etc. (i.e. only playing premium hands)

I read a lot of online poker articles from sites such as flopturnriver.com, learn-texas-holdem.com, Full Tilt Poker, etc. I like to visit the local Chapters sore and read some poker books that I don’t already own. I’ve purchased several poker books including Harrington on Hold’em 1 & 2, Phil Hellmuth, Hold’em for Advanced Players, Theory of Poker, Low Limit Hold’em by Lee Jones, Championship Poker by TJ Cloutier, Small Stakes Hold’em, etc. I find HOH to be very good, and I like his style of play.

I have finished 1st overall in the last 2 tournaments (before the semi’s and final’s that is) at Westside Charlie’s (15 weeks of poker accumulating points, top 32 go to the semis 32 wild cards, top 12 from each location go to the finals). I’ve won a couple tournaments with the largest payday was $500 with a buy-in of $20. Generally I play low buy-in no limit hold’em tournaments $10 - $20 buy-ins with fields ranging from 10 – 40 players.

The live tournament poker I play is very loose and passive, and the blind structures make it tough to beat since it’s more like bingo. You start with 1000 chips and the blinds go up every 20 minutes, starting at 10/20, 20/40, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 300/600,500/1000, 1000/2000. There is a Friday night game as well that’s a little better, with $10 buy-ins starting with 1500 chips, re-buys for the first hour for 1000 chips and an add-on after the buy-in period of $10 for an additional 1500 chips.

Now I’m back online again. In the last 3 months I’ve been playing micro no limit ($10 NL) online hold’em at Party (while still playing those $10 tourneys), starting with a $100 bankroll. I’ve mixed in a few $25 NL tables and $10 NL tournaments, but didn’t take advantage of any bonuses.

I don’t use Poker Tracker. I’m sure there are lots of holes in my game (mostly due to being too passive and not using position enough). When my bankroll gets big enough and I’m playing at stakes that take more strategy to beat that nut peddling, I’ll invest some time and money into such tools. Right now those tools cut into my poker bankroll ($55 USD for Poker Tracker is 15% of my roll).

While I’m out of a hand, I record what hands players show down on the river so I have a general idea of where there play is at. Recently I’m recording more information such as what positions players raise with different hands and what their calling with on the flop, turn river, etc. I use the PartyPoker feature for taking notes.

I’ve built my bankroll from an initial $100 buy-in without using any bonuses up to $360 by playing mostly weak/tight poker (i.e. set miner / nut peddler). For the first 2.5 months I was playing only 1 table at a time. Recently I purchased a 19 inch monitor so now I play up to 4 tables at a time. Occasionally I take stabs at the 25NL.

My short term goal is to move up to 25NL, for which I need a bankroll of 500-750 (20-30 buy-ins) to play optimally. My long term goal is win consistently enough to be able to cash out $500 - $1000 per month (or more).

I’d like to hear what the people who have gone through this process before have to say.

See you at the tables!