Newbie Question

[ChrisEuph]

I just started playing online 1 week ago. I signed on at FullTilt Poker b/c I reasoned there are alot of known pro's that endorse the site, so the site should be very legit. Well now that I have started to look at all the posts here, I never see the site mentioned. I also read the Building a Bankroll post by Homer and am quite interested in it's ability to work. Since I've started playing I have only played $5 +.50 NL Tournaments and am in the money about 1/3 of the time. Any suggestions from someone w/some experience would be great. Thanks alot.

[pointcount]

Search these forums for whatever else you'd like to know. I don't know exactly what you're looking for but I can tell you Full Tilt poker is legit as far as I'm aware there are just better places to play (worse players meaning more money made for you).

Just follow Homer's "building a bank roll" thread and you'll be fine, I myself have done it as well as hundreds of others.

If you have specific questions ask them here and I'm sure someone will try to help you out.

[kenberman]

what are you looking for?

[ChrisEuph]

I'm not totally sure what I'm looking for. I feel like I have the atributes of a good player, but I bet everyone says that.
I guess I would like to try and build a roll and try to make
a little money. I am not going to be playing 3+hours a day. I read a post at another site that said STT's were the way to go to make money and I also play 2 live STT's per week. So I guess I want good tournaments. Lastly I have already gotten bummed out over the number of suckouts against me at FullTilt so I guess I was wondering if anyone had any complaints.

[crockett]

Hey Welcome to the forums!

If I were you.

1. Immediately drop down to the lowest limit (money wise) of Poker you can stand.

Your doing this because you are a newbie and if you start getting into this site and Poker your going to learn a huge amount of information in the next two months. Unnecessarily risking money is foolish right now. Playing for "fun" or "education" at a lower level is fine.

2. Define your goals.

You need to figure out what you want to do. i.e. Become the best cash limit player in the world, win the WSOP, bonus whore to build a bankroll, go pro, become an all around good Poker player, etc. You obviously don't know what you want to do but this if fine. For now, read these forums to learn about all the different scenarios and in the mean time just keep playing at a low level until you come away with some type of plan and then begin to put that plan in action.

3. Get at least 200 posts without typing the following words: suckout, fixed, badbeat, can't win, etc.

Again, you'll learn this as you read but your comment about getting sucked out a lot at site ABC makes regulars just chuckle everytime they read it. I won't go into detail but you'll learn quickly about this one.

4. Your specific concern: Full Tilt Poker.

I bet we are going to be seeing a lot of "new" posts regarding Full Tilt Poker. I can't answer your question with authority because I have never played there but I can tell you this. I choose the sites I play at based on how it fits into my poker goals. The basic consensus from this forum is that FT falls short on meeting my goals (basically to bonus whore for money to spend on myself and to work my way up through the limits of limit poker). There are other sites availabe that are offering more attractive "perks" to help me meet my goals. For example, Party catches a lot of flack but no one can deny that it offers some of the best bonuses as well as some of the loosest full ring limit games, a perfect fit for me and really a no brainer. Unless other sites like Full Tilt can match these perks you will never get me to move unless I change my goals. On the other hand you may end up with a totally different set of goals. But, once you have these goals then you will be able to ask specific questions about site "ABC" and I guarantee someone here will have an opinion on that site and how it fits into your needs.

[ddollevoet]

I started playing a Full Tilt a couple of months ago. I, too, am trying to build me bankroll. I started at the .05/.10 NL and am now playing the .10/.25 NL. If you play tight aggressive at these levels, I don't think that you'll get sucked out as much as at the tourneys.

I try to play about an hour a day, but cannot always do that due to family responsibilities. I've turned $100 into over $600 in that time. Fult Tilt is legit. The players there are more tight than other sites, but I use it as an opportunity to work on my game while building my roll at the lower levels.

Once I get up to about $2,000 or so, I'll move on to other sites and higher limits.

I won't bore anyone else with details, but if you have anything specific that you want to ask me about Full Tilt, PM me.

[richrf]

Hi,

I'm also a newbie so I enjoyed reading about your success so far. Wish you luck. I may check out Full Tilt. Right now I am getting my feet wet with play money on Poker Stars. They have a no-rake on their micro-limits. How are the rakes on Full Tilt and how much do you play a day? Any recommendations on books that helped you the most? I'm casually reading Gordon's book and Sklansky's Hold'em and it seems like they give a preety good overview of what is happening. Any ideas?

Rich

[playersare]

homer's building a bankroll thread is in regards to maximizing your bonus earnings ability on individual sites.

unfortunately, Full Tilt's bonus earnings ability is virtually nil in comparison to every other major poker site in existence.

people do enjoy playing there because it is relatively fishy, the software is solid and there is the novelty of all the pros who endorse and participate in the live games.

the 100% match bonus up to $600 does SEEM good at first glance, but new players generally don't take into account the actual bonus earnings rate per raked hand in order to clear the bonus itself, and that's how they get trapped on that site for longer than they want to be.

if you want to be a true homer disciple then you need to be more bonus conscious and realize how poor full tilt's structure is.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=1423365

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=1338368

http://forums.cardplayer.com/viewtopic.php?t=5450

[ChrisEuph]

Thank you all for your posts I appreciate it. I would have to say my goal is to become a good solid player that will consistently beat lower limit and Lower buy-in NL Tourneys. Sorry about the poor choice of words, and I know everything is luck, I just haven't had too much of it lately. I feel I set a good foundation for myself to get better, I have read 9 books now and am just fascinated w/the game. Unfortunately the GF doesn't always share my enthusiasm. I will continue to read lots of other posts. But one final question. How much is enough to sit down at a .10/.25 NL game? 100 bb? or more?

Thanks

[richrf]

Hi playersare,

I read the threads you linked to. Thanks for the heads up. It appears that Full Tilts problems are more than just their poor bonus structure. They are having difficulties attracting people to their site - maybe because of the poor bonuses. I feel that bonuses are just one component of a decision. Type of play, ability to play, rakebacks, software being others things to consider. But a poor bonus structure certainly affects the viability of a site.

My guess is that they have a lot more overhead for their site due to the "celebrities" that they are using for their marketing, and this overhead keeps them from providing better bonuses. I'll keep playing at PokerStars for the time being until I understand online poker a bit better. Thanks for sharing your wealth of info with us newbies.

Rich