A suggestion for beginners

[bweiser8311962]

OK, let me start off by saying I am, monetarily, down significantly since I started playing online poker.
However, I think I have a tip that can help beginners:

When you make your first deposit, through $5 into your deposit and IMMEDIATELY withdraw all but the $5.

Start by playing ONE table at the microlimits - .02/.04 preferably.

The key is to treat it as if it is a $20/$40 table. I think the biggest leak I've seen at the .02/.04 level is that people treat it like play money. I'm sure this is no great observation. After all, what's another .02 to stay in a pot? That's why you have to treat it like it is big money. It will help you learn the discipline you need to profit and to be able to move up.

I've made this decision in the last week and I think it has helped my game tremendously.

I hope it can help yours.

Good luck\.

[Stork]

The thing is, a .02/.04 game plays nothing like a 20/40 game, so if you treat them the same, and thus try and play them the same, you'll get crushed.

[Francis]

It's fine to play at .2/.4 to get your feet wet, but you won't learn too much after a few thousand hands.

It's way way too loose. Yes, you can stay there forever, and have a very goog win rate, but it won't prepare you for moving up to the "real" micro limits.

I'd suggest moving up as bankroll permits, to .25/50, then .5/1, and plan to stay there a bit. I think .5/1 is the level were newbies start to play somewhat seriously, although it's still very soft. But nothing like .2/.4

You'll fool yourself thinking you're playing poker at .2/.4, but you're not, it's still play money to 90% of the table...

Regards,
Francis

[illunious]

I played $0.01/$0.02 for two months, I learned a ton over those 2 months.

I could beat Party .5/1 after that.

The limit shouldn't affect your play once you have reads on the table, just play to win.

[richrf]

Yep, that is pretty much my experiences.

First of all, there is no amount of money that I can win on online poker that is going to significantly change my life. So I decided I'll just play at each level, step-by-step, and when I get bored of one level, I just move up to another. So far I've gone as high as 1/2 but I can enjoy .25/50 just as much. And I learn alot wherever I play. I figure I have lots of time to figure out online poker.

I played for a while at .02/04 until I got really bored. What happened on Paradise, Noble, and Royal Vegas was that at first I was winning lots of hands and playing about 30% of the flops (I was getting great opening hands)and then the floor fell out from under me and I was playing only about 12% of the hands because I wasn't getting any cards at all, day after day after day. Y-a-w-n. (I'll leave it as a homework assignment as to what happened to the "deal". Hint: I didn't deposit any money).

So I just hop around to different sites, enjoying myself at different levels and looking for a site that I really like. So far, there may be a couple but too soon to say.

[Dead]

Don't forget to watch out for the sharks. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Some_Guy]

What will a site need to have/be for you to "really" like it?

JP

[richrf]

Well run and regulated (just like the B&Ms). There are reasons that B&M's are heavily regulated you know. But for the time being, I can play in the "Wild West" saloons - facing the door.