buy in rules for microstakes

[flintyglint]

i'm very new at this and i'm wondering about buy ins and bankroll management. a500lbgorilla recommends 15-30 buyins for NL. i plan on playing nl full ring cash for now.
i play on titan poker now, and the minimum buy in for .01/.02 to .10/.20 tables is $1 for all of them. the next level is .25/.50 and that jumps to $5. so my question is are there rules or suggestions for minimum buyins? should i be buying into a .10/.20 table for more than a .01/.02 table. it seems to make sense that it shouldn't be the same. i want to start a project to get to the next level, but without knowing this info, i don't know what my next level is in terms of bankroll.

thanks

[sil693]

its pretty much standard to buy in with 100 big blinds.

so at .01/.02 - $2 .10/.20 - $20 .25/.50 - $50 etcetcetc

[flintyglint]

thanks sil - that's what i thought, but wanted to make sure

[KeeKoLy]

its pretty much standard to buy in with 100 big blinds.

so at .01/.02 - $2 .10/.20 - $20 .25/.50 - $50 etcetcetc

While this may be considered standard, I find it to be a little low. At Pokerstars .01/.02 you can buy in for up to $5. I find that buying in for anything less than 3 is fairly small.

I don't think it would put you at any sort of a disadvantage to buy in for $2, but you may miss potential profits when playing against bigger stacks. On the flip side, you are proteccting yourself against losing also.

[Kijjo]

try buying in for 100 bb, then overtime, modify it based on your preference. Some people prefer to play a short-stack strategy, buying in for 40 bb or 60 bb. Others will pefer to max out if they'll let you buy in for 250 bb like the micros often do.
I modify mine rarely. I prefer a little shorter than 100bb, but if I see the right fish (or school of fishies), I may max out the buy-in for that table!

[flintyglint]

thanks, kijjo and keekoly. funds are limited now, so i'm most concerned about being conservative and making it last, while i'm learning. opened an account for 65 at titan poker and am down to 59 now playing at $2 NL full ring. i need to do more studying

[Luco]

Umm, I think you got some of those numbers wrong Flintyglint.

On Titan, the min/max buyins are:
$0.02 - $1/$5
$0.04 - $1/$5
$0.10 - $2/$10
$0.20 - $4/$20

With a BR of $60 you're rolled for $0.02, with a Buy-in of $2 or $3 depending on your preference. If you can't win at $0.02, do not move up. You want to stay where the 'learner's tax' (losing money) is low.

I'm on Titan myself and I've seen the $0.02 play. All you need to do is put your money in on the best hand. Don't bluff, don't get fancy, don't slow play your full house. Keep your starting hands tight in the first 5 positions and a bit looser towards the end, eventually just starting with better hands than everyone else will pay off for you. If you flop 3 of a kind, straight, Ace high flush, or better, put half your stack in and the rest on the turn.

And once again, DON'T BLUFF. Save that for the $0.04 tables.

EDIT: I just had an idea. You've already paid $6 in learner's tax, but you can learn for a lot cheaper than that. Check out the sit n go section on Titan, they have full ring sit n go's for $0.10+$0.02. You start with 1500 points in a 10 way bust out tournament, playing 10 of these will be well worth the $1.20 learner's tax, it's a great way to get used to NLHE on the cheap.