Need some serious help

Hey, So I am very new to playing poker for real money and in the online pokering scene. About a week ago i put in $10 into pokerstars with my first deposit, played the 1cent/2cent tables and had a few up and down runs for a few days, then eventually blew my cool and lost all $10. Soon after i put another $10 in, faced some bad bluffs on my part, moved up to a table where the minimum buy in was 6$ bought in for all my money, tilted it away by stupid play. (Note: I played texas hold em - no limit)


Now as I am able to better think about the situation upon my hands, I see that I'm down $20 in a week from all this. Before i deposit more money, I want to know how much i should first deposit? I personally think i play too many hands preflop and what not, how should i develop my playing style so i can make the most profit? How do i know when I should fold, because right now I sense someone has 3 of a kind or something based on their aggressive play but it becomes very hard for me to fold my top pair of Aces or something.

What are some recommendations on managing my bankroll so that I am able to make profits and make money instead of lose?

Learn the theory + watch some bankroll management videos.

Learn the power of your position, how to read your opponent, etc.
There is no best way for succese but if you learn the theory my tip would be...
NEVER MOVE UP WITH LESS THAN 30BB's
Don't play it if you can't afford losing it.

Well how much should I deposit to have a well enough established bank roll to play in the 1cent/2cent tables? And also are there any really good poker books out there that I should read that can help me improve my game in no limit hold em drastically?

To play 2NL full ring cash games ($2 100 big blind buyin, .01/.02 no limit holdem, 9-seated) you generally need about 20-25 buy ins to prevent from going bust due to bad luck. That means a starting roll of about $50 to protect you from swings.

It sounds to me like you may have an issue with tilt and loss chasing, meaning you move up in table stakes before you should to try to make up for a loss recently incurred. This is dangerous, and something you need to get a handle on. Even with proper bankroll knowledge, it is meaningless unless you have the discipline to adhere to it. You will need to set yourself some strict rules to follow proper bankroll management principles.

You won't be able to know if you are a winning player unless you strictly follow proper bank roll management. If you are able to be very disciplined, and you see your roll SLOWLY increasing over several months and tens of thousands of hands, you are probably beating the game. If, after tens of thousands of hands with strict bankroll management, you have slowly lost almost all your roll, you probably need to learn and practice a bit more to improve your game.

Regarding advice on bettering your actual poker game skills -- try googling for some information on beating the micros. I don't have any specific advice on books for micro cash games, but perhaps someone else has a good one? There is a lot of information available on cardschat and other pokersites already, and you should be able to get started by reading some micro cash game guides.

to beat the micro stakes you have to play VERY tight. to beat these levels you most typically have to show down the best hand. that means two things. 1. play hands that have a good chance to hit the flop hard. like suited connectors or pairs. if you hit on the flop you can take in a good sized pot but if you dont just throw them away. 2. absolutely no bluffing. when people are calling down any betting with bottom pair or worse they are never going to fold your bluff so you are just throwing money away. If you ever get tempted to play sub par hands or to throw out a bluff, just remember that one of the key factors that all good poker players have is discipline. dont get discouraged if your bank roll isnt where you want it to be remember that you will have winning days and you will have losing days and your roll will grow very slowly. as for how much to put in your account, it really depends on what you can afford. you dont need to put more than 10 in, but if you want to cut down the time it takes before you can move up in stakes you could put in 50. I wouldnt suggest moving up to .02 .05 until you have around $100. if you get up there and lose a portion of your roll it is not wrong to move back down.

monkey, thanks for the response, but a question from what you posted, what exactly would be a "proper" bankroll management in your opinion? Or how can i figure out what exactly is a proper bankroll management for me ?

You may want to have a look here:

http://www.chrisferguson.com/article-4

Which basically boils down to:

1. Never buy into a cash game or SnG with more than 5% of your bankroll.

2. Never buy into a MTT with more than 2% of your bankroll.

3. If at any time in a no-limit or pot-limit game the money on the table (in your stack) represents more than 10% of your bankroll, leave the game when the blinds come to you.

People have different guidelines that they set for themselves once they know what type of game and style of game they like to play, but the above is a decent template for just starting out with a small roll of about $50-100 or so.

Anything under $50 and it becomes difficult to stay within the rules since you are so limited in choices.

I am currently doing this right now. I had 15$ (mind u i have busted a 450$ BR bc of tilt :P) In a week i was able to grind it to 32$ Playing 80c 9h Sats (Full tilt game) And 30c Sats to the DAily dollar. (Also fulltilt) Then I did a favor for a friend and he shiped me 50$ so BAM 82$.... Went no a crappy down swing in the 80c games ( lost about 15 buyins) and was around 68$.... But i stuck with my BR managment, and actually moved down played the Dailly Dollar Sats. And won 7 in a row and got my money back on 2 3rd place's.... Then i playd a few tourneys, cashed in them and now my BR is at 92$

I said all that to show u without a Bank roll and strick BR (br=bankroll) managing. your money wil be gone faster than you know. Even if u loose more often, at least it will be at a slower rate and you wont have to deposit as often.

Read the fourm, learn some strategy, find out what you are good at. Get diverse. Play everything until u find your edge, then GRIND it!

Even tho i got an extra 50$ added to my BR, i still stayed at my lower limit game bc now if i lose 10 buy ins, i know i can get it back if i play well. (and im an ok player. Been on a sloooooooow recovery)

GL to ya and btw i usually play .25/.50 HU NL buy in is 50$
I hate grinding a new BR, but if i woulda stayed within my BR managment, i would not be doing this. IT is a lesson im learning all over again.

What would be a realistic goal in your guys' minds for how much I should aim to try and make at the 1cent/2cent tables in per say a month? Saying if i played for 2-3 hours for 5 or so days a weeek?

It will be dependent on how many tables you are playing at the same time, and whether you are actually able to beat the game. In my opinion though, there's really no way to make a goal for yourself until you know what your average profit or loss is at your current skill level.

To start with, I would just play this month however you currently play and focus on keeping track of your profits/losses and number of hands played. This will then tell you what is a realistic goal to set for yourself for the next month. You won't really know if you will be a long-term winner or loser unless you've put in a lot of hands... maybe something like 25,000+ hands at the bare minimum in a single type of game (2NL in your case).

You should try to calculate your win rate by the number of hands you have played, and not by session or measurement of time. Doing this gives you a more accurate portrayal of how you are really doing long term, since sessions can vary in length and each session can have huge swings.

If you calculate your average profit/loss by hands played you have a much better view of your long-term profitability (or lack thereof), and it will also make you less prone to chase your losses.

So for example, track how many hands you are playing each session and track if your bankroll went up or down. Then make some calculations to see how much profit or loss you made per 100 hands. Keep a running total of this to see how you are doing over the course of a month.

Keep your expectations for yourself very low to start with, in fact even telling yourself it is likely you will lose. In all honesty, it IS probably quite likely you will start off losing. But if you are serious about playing poker, you will strive to learn more and become more skilled, and those losses will turn around into gains.

Books would more than likely be a good start for you.I'll let some one else help you with a list because i'm sleepy as hell an can't think right.
GN,Joe