transitioning to real money poker - advice?

A

aceaceaceace

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Hi everyone, I'm looking to start playing for real money online for the first time and interested in your advice. I've been playing since I was a kid, not too seriously at first but started playing more and studying poker strategy in high school (am 21 now). I played close to 30,000 hands on the wsop play money App, growing my bankroll steadily with mostly ABC poker and good bankroll management. I play mostly Hold em cash games and SNGs, but recently picked up PLO and found a lot of success with it.

Are freerolls worth it, or should I just start with microstakes? I have $100 set aside to start my bankroll so I can play cash games at up to $10 buy in. I'm comfortable playing up to about 100BB deep, or 50BB and below against opponents with similar or smaller stacks. I figure this means I can play NL2 50 BB deep.

How do sign-up bonuses work? I'm thinking of saving up some more money first so I can take advantage of it and also manage my bankroll better.

What site should I play? I saw that ignition is the highest-rated but intertops has a bigger sign-up bonus. I live in the US.

Finally, what else should I know about real money poker? Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Robmrjet

Robmrjet

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Hi everyone, I'm looking to start playing for real money online for the first time and interested in your advice. I've been playing since I was a kid, not too seriously at first but started playing more and studying poker strategy in high school (am 21 now). I played close to 30,000 hands on the WSOP play money app, growing my bankroll steadily with mostly ABC poker and good bankroll management. I play mostly Hold em cash games and SNGs, but recently picked up PLO and found a lot of success with it.

Are freerolls worth it, or should I just start with microstakes? I have $100 set aside to start my bankroll so I can play cash games at up to $10 buy in. I'm comfortable playing up to about 100BB deep, or 50BB and below against opponents with similar or smaller stacks. I figure this means I can play NL2 50 BB deep.

How do sign-up bonuses work? I'm thinking of saving up some more money first so I can take advantage of it and also manage my bankroll better.

What site should I play? I saw that Ignition is the highest-rated but Intertops has a bigger sign-up bonus. I live in the US.

Finally, what else should I know about real money poker? Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance!

It sounds like you are not playing on ANY of the poker sites yet.
Is that right or wrong?

I'll bow out to brighter minds on giving you any suggestions other than this....
if you are not yet playing on ANY online site that offers Cash Payout Games,
then before you make ANY deposit, download a Poker Client of your own choice
and start playing on the play money tables to get use to the site first.
THEN...if you like playing the tournaments, get hooked up here on CardsChat to find out where the best Freerolls are that pay out cash money.
I WOULD HIGHLY SUGGEST ..that. AND..that you play around on the sights to get use to the scene before EVER making the Deposit.

I just got back online myself in January this year. I played for about 7 weeks before I EVER MADE the 1st deposit. I played in a couple of the Cash Payout Freerolls, made sure I was comfortable...and then made my deposit.
I can only tell you that I was extremely comfortable in playing at that point.
I was also studying CardsChat's Forum Threads and reading,reading,reading...about the views of everyone on all the sights at the same time.
I actually read CardsChat for about 4 or 5 weeks before I ever signed up as a member here. But I like the knowedge I was reading.

That's my sole advice to you, my opinon on what you should do to start off with, IF..you're brand new to the online poker scene and haven't even played on one of the sites yet. If you have...PLEASE DISREGARD ALL THE AFOREMENTIONED DRIBBLE.
:captain::captain::captain::captain::captain::captain::captain::captain::captain:
:rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock:
:girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit::girlshit:

I'll bow to the rest of the people here to give you INFORMED advice on everything,
that's just how I got back online. It's worked out great for me.
I like being...comfortable.

OH..OH...one more thing I would suggest.....

make your OBJECTIVE.......INFINITY!! AND BEYOND!!
(it's proven to help me alot on here....i got quite comfortable quite fast because of it)

(and that...is always something to be thankful for!)


good luck at the tables
Robert.
 
N

NBB

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Hi and welcome to the forum.

First question, I thought you mentioned you had good bankroll management?
Having a $100 bankroll and thinking you can play in games up till $10……… Seriously..... you need to reread the section on money management again.... lol

My honest suggestion for you is to first start off playing only freerolls for the first couple of months on real money tables, than if you are having any success I would jump into maybe some $0.010 360 player tournaments on poker stars.

Your $100 bankroll will not last you very long if you jump into any higher stakes at your stage.

Also, I would not recommend for you to play on cash tables, there are players there that specialize in cash games, and your bankroll could be decimated in a matter of minutes.

You do not have to take my honest advice of course, but I have been where you are and my advice is solid if you wish to preserve your bankroll until you get a solid feel of playing for real money in the wild wild west of online Real Money games
 
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vov4ik

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It's great that you decided to switch to playing for real money, if you do not want to lose your bankroll, then play in the tournament with a small buy-in of 0.10 cents and a little more, and if you can play well then you can play in tournaments 0.50 cents and more or in cash games with rates of 0.02-0.05 or go to larger bets, choose a site in which you will receive a good bonus when replenishing and which is suitable in your country USA, try to play less on bad cards and do not lose your bankroll, good luck to you!
 
bekel285

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U need to be playing the smallest stakes sngs available on the site u choose. 0.50 buy in or less to start with and also play in any freerolls you can as well.
 
es530

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Do not just think about making money, have fun. Take control of your bank, read on. Start the right path, so you do not have to stop out of frustration. because most will eventually blame poker sites. and they will just have a head to recognize what's with their games. Have fun and study. Good luck!
 
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hochido

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Real Money

For Poker only, no casino temptations, I recommend globalpoker

Freerolls are definitely worth playing to gain tourney experience


I would forego cash games and work the SnGs
 
bellykiller

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If I can throw in 2 cents ignition will not be good option for you if you are thinking about playing cash games... If you're trying to start from 100 dollars you need room that offers smallest stakes that be 0.01/0.02. From my knowledge those are not available at ignition... they start at 0.02/0.05 and most tables are 6 handed if you opt to play fast tables. Which is another blow into your edge and smaller BB bankroll :( acr has them but I'd not trust acr from a lot of experience and many friends doing multiple research on the platform. Winning poker network is all rigged and allows bots and collusion and was proven to do so. Either start ignition tournament play or just increase bankroll to 200-300 range. Btw play money and real cash games 2 different stories. You want to be comfortable on 100 buyins to adjust to play and have comfortable pillow under butt for that period.
 
TeUnit

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Think you should play freerolls and micros if your roll supports it, there is a huge difference between play money and real money games so take your time getting acclimated.
 
A

aceaceaceace

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Thanks everyone, sounds like I should start playing freerolls and small SNGs for the experience while I save some more money to start a bigger bankroll. I can't play pokerstars since I'm in the states, but I'm trying out Intertops right now to familiarize myself with the site, doing some play money and checking out what games they have - looks like plenty of micro stakes available here. I'll be watching the games to get a feel for what the action is like.
 
bellykiller

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Be wary ACR and Intertops is owned operated by same people on the same winning poker network. Very shady business recently a lot of websites even stopped promoting those rooms after bot/collusion was proven.
 
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aceaceaceace

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Be wary ACR and Intertops is owned operated by same people on the same winning poker network. Very shady business recently a lot of websites even stopped promoting those rooms after bot/collusion was proven.
So what sites do you recommend for US players?
 
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wilywiles

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Start playing in the freeroll tournments. Although the players are alittle wild, its good practice that will pay off with the experience. If you want to be practical about it, you can't lose if you only play freerolls. And once you start getting good enough to build a bankroll with the freerolls you can take your skills to live play. Thats what im trying to do anyways lol
 
Vuske111

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You should probably deposit 100$ but still play some frerolls,if you can play there i suggest you pokerstars because they have a lot of games that you can play and im sure you can find one thats best for you,good luck at the tables :D
 
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