SS to supplement income?

[bryan4967]

I am a 23 year old college student living in the Northern Virginia area. I've been playing poker seriously for about two and a half years now, and I wish to set up an account online to play 2-4, 3-6, and 5-10 limits about 20-30 hours a week. I do well at these limits in B&M casinos, and i also do well at the $100-200 buy-in NL games that can be found in my area. I am a serious student of the game, spend alot of time on this website as well as reading books from 2+2 publishing. Could anyone with experience please give me a few pointers as to which site to choose, what kind of stake to deposit, and what kind of return i can expect on my investment with solid, tight, agressive play?

[Catt]

I don't have any real experience at B&M games, but I am confident that most here (who do have experience) will point you to .50/1 or maybe 1/2 to start. Online games are considered much tougher and much more aggressive than B&M games by and large. I've seen online 2/4 or 3/6 compared to a typical 10/20 B&M game.

As for other questions - spend about a wekk or two reading everything on this site (I've only visited once, but I'm guessing the relatively new Internet Bonuses forum could provide some insights into where and how to set up an online account).

Good luck.

[ebranig]

do not sign up without a rakeback account, period. Shop around EXTENSIVELY for a REPUTABLE one, do NOT sign up on a whim.

Party & skins (empire, eurobet) will be your best bet, hands down.

Online play is more difficult than B&M (ie. 5/10 online plays like 20-40 B&M according to many here) so I reccomend starting low, 2/4 sounds about right.

You'll also want to buy pokertracker (pokertracker.com) and I highly reccomend using poker ace with it (pokeracehud.com).

Welcome to the grind.

[ QUOTE ]
do not sign up without a rakeback account, period. Shop around EXTENSIVELY for a REPUTABLE one, do NOT sign up on a whim.

Welcome to the grind.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please forgive my stupidity, but what are rakebacks, how do they work and how do I get involved.

Thanks,
-David

YOu can get a % of your rake back, up to 30% at certain sites. Look in the classified section. Usually you can only do it if you don't already have an account for the site.

You want to play on the Party Skins I think b/c the players are the weakest. 20-30 hours a week is a lot, especially if you plan to multitable, so you will be putting in a lot of hands. I would recommend getting a rakeback deal at Empire Poker, one of the party skins, you can get up to 30% rake back depending on how much you play. I think the consensus is that you need at least 300-400 BB for the limit you are playing so you can handle the swings. I would take it slow at first though, the games online are much tougher than B&M games at similar limits. GL, I'm sure others will give you more and better advice

[sy_or_bust]

Start at 2/4 online. If this game plays unusual for you (i.e. too tight, too aggressive), drop down to 1/2 or .5/1 to get some experience for a couple thousand hands. You may do well in your B&M games, but in SS online you might be a net loser (or a huge winner, of course) - it is good to be careful when starting out.

[Harv72b]

I don't have a link handy, but with some searching you should be able to find a very good post on bankroll building which was up on the micros forum a month or so ago. It basically gives a step by step way to maximize your bankroll growth over the typically tough first couple months, including which sites to start out with & what bonuses/offers to use.

As was already said, you will most likely end up on the Party skins, which are notorious for poor overall play. And you should start out at a lower stake than you play in the B&M games--probably .50/1 (or maybe even lower if you start out on a site that offers lower limits). If your bankroll allows it, you can probably cut your teeth at 1/2, however.

If you decide to chase some of the initial deposit bonuses to start with, then don't deposit more than you have to in order to get the max bonus (i.e., a 25% bonus with a cap of $100, there's no point in depositing more than $400 to start with). This will allow you to keep comfortably playing your local games while getting started online. Once you've settled in on a primary site, then you want at least 300 BBs for the game you intend to play (limit-wise; the NL folks can tell you how much you need in terms of buy-ins).

As for your return on investment, with good play and a tight/aggressive style, you should probably be able to beat microlimit games for at least 2 BB/100 hands once you make the adjustments to online vs. B&M play. How much that is per hour depends on how many tables you end up playing at a time.

By eventually 4-tabling 2/4, an earn rate of around $15-$25/hr is certainly acheivable, with a little bit thrown on top for your rakeback deal.

[peterchi]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't have a link handy, but with some searching you should be able to find a very good post on bankroll building which was up on the micros forum a month or so ago. It basically gives a step by step way to maximize your bankroll growth over the typically tough first couple months, including which sites to start out with & what bonuses/offers to use.


[/ QUOTE ]

This might be it.

[TheHip41]

If you haven't played online before, I'd consider starting lower than you think you should. This way, you get lots of experience before moving up. A good majority of the people playing 3-6 and up are decent. Some are very good.

From my experience, the BM to online games are like this
at Party


BM Online

2/4 .50/1.00
3/6


5/10 .50/1.00 if it's passive
1/2 if it's more aggressive


10/20 2/4



15/30 2/4 or 3/6



20/40 3/6


Other regular posters, please correct me if I'm wrong.