Tips For A Beginner - $10

So, I have never played for real money on a site, but had a $10 gift card laying around, so I deposited it into my Full Tilt account. I know $10 isn't a lot of money at all, but I wasn't doing anything with the card so I decided to give it a go.

Any advice for what I should do with it? Sit at the 0.01/0.02 tables and grind it out? Look for some .10 cent buy-ins? What would the CC people do with $10?

really a matter of preference. I think they used to have .10 Sit n Goes but havent played tilt in forever.

Do you feel more comfortable playing cash or tourney structures? Personally I like cash.

More importantly how much have you read? If I were you I would start by reading as much as possible before using the money. Especially if you cant redeposit easily.

I've read enough to know the ins and outs...and not feel overwhelmed by the game. I've played plenty of poker before, just never for money online.

Personally, I prefer tournament games. Not so much of a cash person, but then again, I haven't had much cash game experience.

SNG's (the smallest you can find)

$10 isntenough to play 0.01/0.02 (2NL) as you need 20 buyins to be properly bankrolled for 2NL this would be $40

PersonallyI would put $100 into your account and crack on with 5NL

Isn't 20 big blinds at a 0.01/0.02 table the equivalent of .40 cents?

He said buy-ins, not Big blinds. ($2 buy in)

Yes it is, but that's neither here nor there.

In a cash game you need 100bb to buy in full (do not buy in short) meaning that at 0.01/0.02 (2NL) you would need $2.

Bankroll management dictates that you must have 20 buyins to be considered bankrolled for that level.

This means that in order to play 2NL you must have a BR of $40

Oh okay, my fault for reading through too quickly.

There is no level lower then 2nl so if u deposit 10$ your not gonna be using BRM.

Also BRM doesnt dictates u need 20bi, its just a nice litle number used as a ball park figure, some people could be fine with 10 and others need atleast a 100.
Also if OP is a new players chances are he isnt a winning player and if he isnt a winning player no BRM plan will stop him from going broke.



I would play the 1$ 9man STTs since they are the easiest format learn and should give u the best shoot of not going broke imo...

LOL

So from my origional post

Yes and i agreed with u, i was simply pointing out the fact that the 20bi rule isnt some golden rule that if u break means you will go broke imitiatly.

No, thats very true.

The reason I pointed out the BRM issue with cash games is that although 0.01/0.02 seems very low, $10 is only 5 buyins (which isnt that much at all)

The SNG's are $1 so he will be able to buy into more of them than the cash games.

As a beginner he is bound to lose money, but will lose it quicker in the cash games than the SNG's just because f the amount required to buyin.

Whatever you do, just play to have fun. If you like tournaments more, go into some low buy-in tournaments or Sit N' Gos.. if you like cash games more, go into some micro cash games. Just have fun.

he doesnt have to buy in for 2$ when playing 1/2c

sngs are high variance and i rather play with 5 buys at cash than 10 buys at sngs (not even 10, 8 due to 25c rake)

If I were you and had only $10 to play with... Personally I would play the Daily Dollar ($10K prizepool, usually around 7,500 entrants.. runs each day at 20:15 est). Also The Ferguson at 01:30 (it has a 15% payout structure.. usually Top 154 paid with field-size of between 900-1100 approx.).
For Sng's I'd play the $1.80 buyin 'SuperSatellite to the DoubleDeuce' where the Top 3 of 9 players get paid $5 (then 'unreg.' from the $5 satellite and keep the win in T$'s... then play it again).
Being that these have a flat payout structure there is a definite strategy to follow that is somewhat different from your typical Sng (ie. as 1st pays no more than 3rd). Many players in these make a ton of mistakes but generally you'll find the play a bit tighter than your typical $1 & $2 Sng on Fulltilt (which can be awful.. ie. early position 4x raises getting flat called by 3 or 4 players).

Another SatelliteSng that is very easy to beat is the MidnightMadness Satellite Sng ($3 buyin Top 2 win $11,.. 3rd gets $5). I've played these a bunch before and at one point cashed in 8 of 10 I'd played. I'm pretty sure I have a negative ROI in the $1 & $2 9plyr.-Sngs but in these M.M.Sat.Sng's it is probably ROI +50%+. They have some regulars in them but also many noobs and lots of players who way overplay their hands.
Both of the above mentioned Sng's are 'Turbos'... so you really should be familiar with the format prior to playing (ie. in a Turbo Sng I play even tighter than usual in early levels... cuz basically you only get 1 or 2 shots at playing a hand.. ie. you raise preflop.. fire a c-bet and if you have to fold you're not going to be in the greatest of shape... so basically to compensate in these super micro turbos, I'm usually not entering a pot from early-mid. position unless I pretty much have a hand I figure I'm going to be able to go all the way with.
Try to maintain a decent enough stack as you approach late level (bubble play) so that you will have some fold equity. Then you're in shove/fold mode, with biggest mistake being allowing yourself to get blinded out.

Another super micro buyin Sng that I've found I've actually been able to run with a positive ROI is the 6-plyr. Turbo Sng's.

Good Luck in whatever you do decide to play. It'll be tough to make a go with it on $10 but you never know. My first night on Fulltilt I took 2nd place in 'The Ferguson' and won $114 which was a nice bonus to get started out with (although I did have a couple hundred in my account as a first deposit... .found out later that even that wasn't enough to be rolled decently enough to play in decent games on Fulltilt..... the play in the micros is generally speaking - real bad... many, many players overvaluing their hands... making way too many stupid bluffs).

Weeeee.. my new avatar pic. did work afterall.

<<< that's me holding a $1,000 chip after taking 1st place in a 9-player live Sng with Brad Booth, Gavin Smith, Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle, Bryan Devonshire, Dennis Phillips and some others.

He kind of does!!

The rake will obliterate him playing SS at micro stakes.

it wont, rake at 1c/2c is really negligable

its 7BB/100 and it stays like that until 50NL

well yeah 1c for every 15c in the pot is kinda bad but remember how aweful the play is, im sure someone can easily run at 15-20bb/100 after rake playing abc poker

I think I would maybe play some low stakes LIMIT cash games and maybe some micro NL SNG's.
Have fun and good luck.

How can any of you justify even talking BRM to a guy who only has Ten dollars. Get real please. What i suggest is the daily dollar the one without rebuys. play tight conservative but aggressive poker and you can make the money on most days.

Thanks for all of the advince. Since turning the $10 into a large sum of money isn't a goal in this I am thankful for all of the different input.

I am going to stick with tournaments, I think. I like the idea of the Sit-N-Gos, as well as the Daily Dollar. Should I try to satellite into the Daily Dollar? Or just directly buy-in?

There is a freeroll to the Daily Dollar, but you start with 300 in chips, there are always the 7500 max players, and top 200 get an entry into the Daily Dollar which starts at around 8:15 PM (EST). IMO, you have to get very, very lucky to make the top 200.

So, it's probably best to put the $1 in and directly buy in.

One thing to bear in mind is that buying in SS will reduce a players winrate in terms of BB/100

When you couple this with the high rake at micro stakes, it points towards buying in for the full amount.

Of course a beginner is expected to lose money anyway so ..... I dont know maybe he should buy in SS.

pretty sure you can beat 2nl for a decent winrate so i'd do that for now. you probably wont lose 5 buyins there in a row

I never heard if you play at ftp or ps.If ftp they have a .10 rebuy i would play that if i was you AN TO NOT REBUY(bad thing about that one i think it's just one time a day).Maybe a daily dollar or so,i wouldn't o because has a newbe your tring to see the most hands possible for the least amount of money. If ps they have some mtt .10 and .50 frezze outs were they add money to the pool with no rake.

If it was me I would use my moneys to buy in to single table sng tourneys. I started with the same amount and got a pretty nice roll going on. Good luck with what ever you choose.

Well since you said you didnt care about the money and its not that big a deal then hell go for it play a big 5 to 10 dollar mtt and see if you can cash. It will give you a few hours of play if you can last and a shot at a real bankroll. Then if you do cash you have a real bankroll to start and can then go back to playing fundamentally correct. If you lose oh well you didnt expect to win anything any way so I say go for it.

$10 is hardly a bankroll, but if you wanna make it last as long as poss, i'd recommend the $0.25+0.05 daily dollar sat. which pays top 2. These only pay $1 but are easy to cash. Should turn your $10 into $20+ with these if you have the patience to grind them. Hard to take them seriously though for the cash involved.
Your other option is the Matrix games. Far less varience but not as high rewards obviously. These might be a good option if you want to take advantage of Tilts 5x points promo on sunday. Works out to 10 points per game and you should easily break even in them.