Starting online NL

[RevToby]

I've been playing Limit online for a little more than a year and made $16,000, but I can't seem to beat the game at same rate as before, especially in the last few months. A lot of my friends have been suggesting switching to NL, particularly the $100NL ring games, and the higher tournaments.

Is there anything I should know about online NL games as opposed to limit strategy, and is there anything I should read? I know that Cloutier's book is the definitive NL text, but I wonder how much value it has with online games, which may be a different environment. I've essentially been told to call raises with suited connectors and big pairs to try to bust people out in ring games, and to sit back in tournaments until there are six people left, and then get super aggressive.

[PokerFink]

NL is a different world. The idea of playing suited connectors is something that you should do sometimes when the stacks are deep, but it is not a rule. Really, there are no rules in NL. Everything is not only player dependent, but stack-size dependent (something that is generally unimportant in limit).

I would suggest starting at a lower NL game (.25-.50 blinds tops) and seeing how it goes for a few days. Read posts on the smaller NL forum as well as this one, and remember that some of the posts on this forum are very, very advanced and cannot be applied to a low limits.

PokerStars runs MTT NLHE events for as low as $1. Good practice for tournaments.

[kagame]

read ciaffonne if you ever move up into deeper stacks

[Lawrence Ng]

TJ's book is ok..

Ciaffone's and Reuben's is great.

Super System/SS 2 is a good read too.

Don't forget Theory of Poker. A lot of concepts in there apply to limit, but can also be applied to NL as well.

Dan Harrington's book is good too.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Lawrence