beginning to take online poker more serious

[smitts187]

hey, first post, hoping to have lots to come, i have a bankroll of about 10$ on pokerstars, and 60$ on another site, what game play do you think i should play, tournaments? if so, SnG's, or MTT's,

i would like to just focus on increasing my BR, i am reading a lot of posts on here and learning a lot, but any additional tips would be appreciated it, thanks

[thizzSantaCruz]

play ring games, short handed 5nl should work on PS. Grind it up and move up to 10nl at 200 bucks or so.

[smitts187]

with a BR of 10$? and what do u mean 5nl, .02/.05c blinds? or ??

[MuckEm]

On PS you can start with the .01/.02 NLHE games... play as though you just just dropped soap in a federal prison... and you'll be fine

[smitts187]

lol ok thanks

[Stacks]

Play on whichever site you feel most comfortable, although I stand by that PS is the best site I've played on. You definately want to do 2nl at $10 BR. Did you deposit the $50 and then drop or win like a freeroll or have the $10 transferred or what? Just wondering because if you haven't deposited to PS yet, you can deposit the minimum ($50) and get a bonus of $50 after you get enough points (which takes a little while at the microstakes, but helps when it clears).

And yes 5nl = (.02/.05 blinds), as 10nl is (.05/.10 blinds) etc.

[smitts187]

i had my friend transfer me 10$, although earlier this year i deposited 18$ and got 18$in bonus,...did they recently increase the minimum to 50$? i was blowing away my money like a big breeze, and id like to step my game up and increase my skill level...i downloaded the trial of hold'em manager, and am trying to learn the basics of the program

[Outlaw]

First things first, read every stickied post on this entire website within the first month you start playing. Pay close attention to the stickies in the beginner digest (the one on tilt and the starting hands are some of the best imo). Watch the videos here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-videos
Play for a couple of hours, read for a couple of hours, rinse and repeat. You MUST study this game if you want to get good at it. Also read Harrington on Hold'em volume 1 and Low Stakes Hold'em by Sklansky. Let them be your bibles. Experience will teach you a lot, but it needs to be experience with direction or else you are spinning your wheels and hindering your progress.

My advice is to deposit at least 50 bucks on pokerstars and start grinding 2NL. I suggest full ring to start, start out 1 tabling and once you get the hang of it add a table each day until you find your win rate beginning to decline. Feel free to play SNGs and MTTs if that's what you prefer, but as a lot of players find out, the best way to rapidly grow a roll is through cash games. Also the knowledge you gain on pot odds, implied odds, and position will make your MTT/SNG game infinately better.

Read all the posts on BR management. Your schedule should be something along the lines of:

step 1: 2nl till roll = $150
step 2: 5nl till roll = $300
step 3: 10nl till roll = $750
step 4: 25nl till roll = $1,750
step 5: 50nl till roll = $4,000

A rule of thumb is the higher in stakes you go, the deeper you want your BR to be. Also, if you are loose you might want more buy-ins and if you are a nit you can be alright with as few as 25 buy-ins. Never play with less than 25 buy-ins! The best players in the world have 20 buy-in downswings occasionally.

Don't forget to post hands you get confused on (use this: http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews....php#converter .) Get Pokertracker to track your progress, its a must have!

Last of all, don't be in any rush. Poker is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is a lifetime game. Learn to sit back and enjoy the ride.. don't get frustrated, play each hand as if its the only one you will ever play, and you will have a blast.

Tj

[smitts187]

thanks man appreciate that, ive read quite a few of the posts, ill start watching the videos now, another thing is that ive had brutal bad beats in the last like hour or so, not playing anything but the 21 hands mentioned in here http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ce-t71824.html
and ive lost almost 4$ of the 10$ i had, lol im almost dead already!, and i cant afford to put 50$ on right now, gotta wait til the bills slow down

[oskar]

You still have 3 buy-ins for 2 nl. It's really hard to loose 5 in a row, and if you do, chances are it wasn't all bad beats.
If you are that low it's a good idea to just buy in once a day to avoid steaming. Once you are up 1$, cash out and go to a new table. That's not very sportsman like, but you should do everything not to go broke at this point.
Post some of the bigger hands you played (not lost). Don't post bad beats, that's pointless.

[smitts187]

hmm...up til now for .01/.02c, ive been bringing only a dollar to the table, am i supposed to be bringing 2$?

[Stacks]

Hmm. I thought the minimum was $50, although I'm rather unsure. Yea HEM is nice, however, it may be in your best interest to download the free trail of PokerTracker 3. The only reason I say this is because Holem Manager trial only allows you to import I believe 5k hands, while PT3 lets you use it for 60 days and doesn't go by how many hands

[smitts187]

hmm...the holdem manager is actually only 1500 hands for the trial, would it be better to get the pokertracker now so all my stats are together, or should i wait intil i hit my 1500 hands on holdem manager?

[MuckEm]

Poker tracker is frickin awesome.... get it asap

[Outlaw]

Definately play 2NL for a bit.. buy in for $2 and play tighter than a rubber ducky's tookus. People will just hand you their money left and right there. I think I ran 22bb/100 there over 10k hands.

Bad beats happen, that's why BR management is so important. You have to just forget them instantly and move on. Rear this, it may be the most important thing you ever read. http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...-1-t39197.html

An example of a bad day for me: 2 days ago I had my boat lose to quads twice, I lost to set over set 4 straight times, I lost 2 times after flopping the nut flush, had my set cracked by people moving in with flush draws 4 times, and lost with the bottom end of a straight flush once. I did absolutely nothing wrong, I just hit a big spell of variance all in the same day. (I played 7k hands that day and ended up down $230 for the day, not bad all things considered) Yesterday I played 2k hands and was $165 up for the day. So things will even out if you keep getting in with the best of it.

GL with it all and keep us updated!

Tj

[Lucix]

hmm...the holdem manager is actually only 1500 hands for the trial, would it be better to get the pokertracker now so all my stats are together, or should i wait intil i hit my 1500 hands on holdem manager?

HeM is much more stable than PT3 is at the moment, but if your disposable income is very low you will get more use out of the 60 day trial of PT3.

You can easily export all of your hands between the two so if you decide to switch it isn't a big deal.

[MuckEm]

dude smits lost his money... i doubt he'll be back soon

[smitts187]

im still here lol just not on PS, im playing on pokerroomschool, last night i won 16$ in limit .25/.50c

and came 2nd in 2 tourneys winning 4$ in each, im definately starting to learn and i think the biggest advice ive gotten is to not feel pot commited, thanks for every1s help its done wonders for my game

[HubertCumberdale]

Start with .01/.02 BL

GL

[smitts187]

the smallest games on pokerroomschool is .05/.10, n then .10/.20 and the biggest they have is .25/.50, all limit, the only NL games they have is in the tournaments,

[xmax10]

Hey I have read and re-read this post a few times now and am going to start and take this serious myself. I have been playing SNG's and low buy-in MTT's now for around 6 months and have done ok. I play on Party Poker right now and am looking at trying to play some cash games and start to make a profit out of it. I have read through and have now gotten myself Poker Tracker 3 which is a nice tool to have. I have also read Robb's article he wrote over and over and am going to learn the cash game as I know that is where all the money really is. I have $300 in party as we speak and am going to start at the smallest level .02/.04 games. I am friends now with AOK and have him on skype so I am sure if I need a good hand anylizer I can go here or ask him. I will be starting my first session tomorrow.

[bigred]

1) get summer job and deposit a real br (300-500?)
2 ) ?
3) Profit

[MuckEm]

Or... you could start low and work yourself through the Blind levels...

[LuckySlevin]

or you could do what i'm doing and just enter free rolls until you win something.. although I must confess It's been a tough 4 nights and despite getting close I haven't got anything yet!

[smitts187]

i enter pokerstars freerolls regularily, while playing LHE on pokerroom school, and NLHE on absolute poker, and im pleased to say that other then the free rolls im doing pretty good, nothing spectacular, but im up to almost 20$ on the Absolute,(started with a free 10$ no deposit bonus),and im roughly the same on pokerroom school as i havent been playing it as much...due to the fact they have no NLHE
but im definately getting there, learning as i play

[Stacks]

Uhhh.. Look at LuckySlevin's avvy a few posts up. I must admit he resembles Mezza quite a bit.