Best Place to Begin Playing?

[LuckyStrike]

Hey everyone, I'm new to poker and was wondering what the best place for a new player to start off is. I'm going to buy and read Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em and then start off with $50 and play micro limits and work my way up. I've heard Party Poker has the softest games but I've heard troubling things about their software and support. Conversely, Poker Stars seems to have great support but tough games. What do you people recommend I do? Thanks for any input.

[benkath1]

I just signed up at pacific poker and got $10 just for signing up a real money account. If you want to start really cheap, like me, try it. Then you don't have to worry about the deposit mess.

[rayrns]

If you are going to start with a bankroll of $50 do not start by playing at Party. The .50/$1 game requires a higher bankroll.

Poker Stars games in the micro limits are a good place to learn as well as other sites that have a micro game. Check out some of the sites to see which software you prefer. Use the play money games to do this.

Then when you have a site where you enjoy the software and has micro limits starting at .02/.04 or something in that vicinity, open a real money account. Play at this limit for a bit and then move up to .05/.10, .25/.50 and .50/$1 as you get the correct bankroll for each level.

Good luck,
Ray

[steamboatin]

I sent you a Private message also. How does that free money work, do you have to make a deposit first or do they just give $10 to get you started?

[Hiding]

Pacific Poker gave me 20 bucks just for signing up, no deposit or anything.(I assume they are still doing this, it was about 2 months ago) Just create an account (I filled out everything, just as though I was going to set up a real money account) and wait about 7 days, you should get an email that says they deposited 20 bucks for you to try their sight. I don't care for the sight, but 20 bucks is 20 bucks, and its a free way to play some poker for real money

[deacsoft]

I hate pacific now but still have all of my friends start there. The site is super loose and is great for beginners. They offer many different micro limit games. What I hate about them is that it is super slow and you cannot multi table. However this is perfect for a beginning player because you will have plenty of time to plan the play of your hand and to absorb everything that is going on.

[LuckyStrike]

Thanks a lot for the advice, guys. I didn't even know Party's lowest game was .50/$1, so I definitely won't be starting there as I know I'll lose my pants pretty quickly. Phew. The Pacific Poker deal sounds intriguing, thanks again.

[Greg J]

i play at paradise. they have 2c/4c games and 5c/10c games. this is a great place to get your feet wet and to build up a bankroll slowly but surely. you should be able to beat this game is you read jones. it has improved my game a lot. but then i have not played pokerstars... but paradise has nice loose nano limit tables.

[ctv1116]

Step 1: Use the $50 to casino whore (just go to BonusWhores.com and follow their directions)

Step 2: Once you have your $2000, now you can start playing 0.5/1 at Party.

[Greg J]

I thought his might be a more relevant thread to post this (this is also on thread about crawling up from micro and nano limts).

If anyone has descriptions of other pokers sites and/or other limits then please do so.

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Ahhh... nano limits. the slums of the poker world. This is what it looks/looked like to me at paradise

$.02/.04: Very loose game, with a mix of aggressive and passive players. Some people will constantly hit the raise button without thought to thier cards until they have no outs (ie they will see every river). There do tend to be more passive players than aggressive ones. This is where i learned to deal with maniacs as well as calling stations. I think playing here was invaluable for me learning to handle the mentally ill chronic raiser (loose agressive on pcp) as well as how to take money away from loose passive players. Percent of flops seen typically approaches 70% -- and sometimes even higher. Since the maniacs arent always at every table though, often one bet will get you to see any flop ... RESIST THIS TEMPTATION!!!!

Advise on what to focus on: practice tight agressive play style here. learn to be selective preflop. learn how not to get sucked in to hands you should not be in.

$.05/.10: THis is actually better in my opinion than .02/.04 in two respects: 1) you win more money becuase of the higher limits and 2) the players are slightly better, so you get better. I still suggest STARTING at the .02/.04 level, simply becuase the fundamental poker lessons are cheaper, and swings do happen even at this level. You should be pushing those guys round at .02/.04 before moving here, but if you dont its not disasterous -- just my advise.

Typically players are still very loose here, but not quite AS loose. Flops seen % is usually around 50%, sometimes lower and sometimes higher. Today I played at a table with 35% flops, but that is unusually tight for this level. You will still catch an occasional maniac, but they are not as common, as they tend to bust out playing stupid.

Advise on what to focus on: position!!! you should have an idea of its importance by now certainly, but before you leave here you should master it. learn the free card play. it works, and makes you a lot of money with AXs. Fix all leaks in preflop play. if you think you should fold you probably should. when in doubt post your fold on the 2+2 micro limit board and ask if it was a good one.

Anyone have any additional thoughts?

[dlebowski]

GregJ: thanks for posting this. I began with my $2 at Paradise on April 17th and worked it to $30 this past Friday, 6/11. That's the good news (for me, anyway.) The bad news is that I lost some money this weekend - $4 - when I began my 300 bb's at the .05/.10 tables. Though I have read others say that they occasionally have trouble when they move up a level, I didn't want to just rationalize the weekend away like that. Having read your post, I will probably go back to .02/04 and work on my game some more. Thanks, lebowski