Starting out in cash games

coyotegal

coyotegal

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Im considering trying out the cash game... I'm thinking about starting out at 25c/50c, 9max table...
I hear people talk about grinding. If I play 8 hours a day, min. at a table with those stakes, how much reasonably, could I expect to earn, (assuming I play a tight agressive style)...
 
acky100

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Have you ever played cash games before online? If you've not played online cash games before i expect you will not make any money playing these limits.

How many tables are you going to play at once? There is no way you will make any money playing 1 table unfortunately if that was your idea also, even a good winning player playing 1 table for 8 hours can probably only expect to make like $2.50 an hour i'd guess.
 
coyotegal

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Have you ever played cash games before online? If you've not played online cash games before i expect you will not make any money playing these limits.

How many tables are you going to play at once? There is no way you will make any money playing 1 table unfortunately if that was your idea also, even a good winning player playing 1 table for 8 hours can probably only expect to make like $2.50 an hour i'd guess.
Hmmm...lol .. I don't think that would be very good...No, I have not played cash games online or off...just for small stakes a little bit at a time.... so where would be a good place to start as far as limits... and I prefer nl... though I am willing to try limit.
 
WVHillbilly

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If you're going to play nl don't start at 50nl. Go to the lowest limits your site of choice offers and start there. Start with 1 or 2 tables and learn. Add tables as you feel comfortable and move up in stakes only when you're sure you're ready.
 
coyotegal

coyotegal

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If you're going to play nl don't start at 50nl. Go to the lowest limits your site of choice offers and start there. Start with 1 or 2 tables and learn. Add tables as you feel comfortable and move up in stakes only when you're sure you're ready.
Like at merge they start at .02/.04 but there are alot of bullies there that will push you all in almost every hand... to me thats kinda like a crap shoot... of course if you sit and wait for your hands and position you can get a little back but they know thats what your doing and just fold to your bid.... Thats the only stakes Ive played and I usually sit it out, win a couple pots, double up then leave before the bullies get it back.... hmmmmm....
 
tenbob

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Like at merge they start at .02/.04 but there are alot of bullies there that will push you all in almost every hand... to me thats kinda like a crap shoot... of course if you sit and wait for your hands and position you can get a little back but they know thats what your doing and just fold to your bid.... Thats the only stakes Ive played and I usually sit it out, win a couple pots, double up then leave before the bullies get it back.... hmmmmm....

God if nl$50 was like that I'd quit my job. Seriously.

If you cannot beat 2c/4c then you have no hope playing higher, stay where you are until you are confident about your game, and more importanly are beating it over a decent size sample, then move up to the next level.
 
youregoodmate

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Like at merge they start at .02/.04 but there are alot of bullies there that will push you all in almost every hand... to me thats kinda like a crap shoot... of course if you sit and wait for your hands and position you can get a little back but they know thats what your doing and just fold to your bid.... Thats the only stakes Ive played and I usually sit it out, win a couple pots, double up then leave before the bullies get it back.... hmmmmm....

Pick your spots then let the 'bullies' bluff away their stack. This is far better than a nitty table.
 
WVHillbilly

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Like at merge they start at .02/.04 but there are alot of bullies there that will push you all in almost every hand... to me thats kinda like a crap shoot... of course if you sit and wait for your hands and position you can get a little back but they know thats what your doing and just fold to your bid.... Thats the only stakes Ive played and I usually sit it out, win a couple pots, double up then leave before the bullies get it back.... hmmmmm....
Bullies? I think you mean horrible players. And yes there are lots of horrible players at 4nl that's why it's so easy to beat. Start there and work up.
 
coyotegal

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God if nl$50 was like that I'd quit my job. Seriously.

If you cannot beat 2c/4c then you have no hope playing higher, stay where you are until you are confident about your game, and more importanly are beating it over a decent size sample, then move up to the next level.
how many hands are a decent size???
 
coyotegal

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teehee...think ill stick with tournaments! lol thanks all!
 
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Hi,
I'm quite new to cash games myself, but the advice I'm finding useful is to buy in at a 25th of your deposit stack with about a hundred blinds. So I mean if your deposit is $200 then a 25th of your stack is $8.00 and you would play 0.04/0.08 tables. As your cash grows so does your table buy in and your limits grow too. The same works if you lose too. This way you don't risk a substantial loss and your winnings are steady.
Mat
 
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ProphetEyes

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coyote... it's really easy money at the .02/.04 NL game on carbon. give it a shot! just play ABC poker. I hope to see you there!
 
coyotegal

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Ok...back to the idea of trying out the cash tables....gonna take all the advice and start at
NL 2/4 soon...

I am still reading and studying and trying to figure out how to play cash games as tournament poker is so, so different than cash, lol, and that's pretty much all I've played since I started as a brand new player, a little over two years ago.
I'm a fair player in tournaments, but I have yet to become profitable. I can get a couple of bucks on there and play for weeks sometimes, and have actually cashed once for two hundred , leaving myself a BR of around a hundred, after only depositing 20.00 (which I cashed two for one with a friend because I desperately needed the money after the purchase of our new home, and my boyfriend was giving me a hard time about it saying it wasn't real money unless it was cash in hand...so I proved him wrong and screwed myself out a fairly decent bankroll that could have got me going...then again, maybe not because as I'm reading and learning, the consensus seems to be that it takes a bigger bankroll to be able to become profitable as a tournament player..correct me if I am wrong there.....).

Here are my player stats at offical poker rankings, and it says I play at carbon poker under this name, but it is actually Feltstars. (I play there because I have a friend whom I do player transfers with for micro amounts of cash, like 10 or 20 bucks, instead of having to do the western union thing for 100.00 at a time, but as soon as I become profitable, I plan on playing at Carbon because I can never get ahold of support at FeltStars and that makes me uncomfortable....)
http://www.officialpokerrankings.co...ngs/1D7F448E06FE4F37A14A2BB8E7AFE4C3.html?t=3

This one is my Black Chip:
http://www.officialpokerrankings.co...ngs/05ED0B7C76CE4CE9A4F6086C5BC62F6A.html?t=3
and my actual name for Carbon Poker (CoyoteGal666) doesn't show any stats because I haven't had any cash there since pre Black friday.

I still have a BR of 30.00 which I am saving until I feel I am ready to try the cash tables in earnest, since I've tried at the cash tables a little lately (very little...lol, cause I know I suck at it...).

I'll admit it, I AM the biggest donk in the world (a fish out of the water so to speak) at the cash tables lol!!!

So I am looking for all the help I can get because I really, really want to learn how to become profitable and stay that way playing the game I love so much!@@
 
AugustWest

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I'm a 4NL player on Carbon and what helped me was BlackRain79's
"Crushing the Microstakes". Very well written and easy to grasp the concepts.
 
Arjonius

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It can be helpful to regard your poker money differently from cash in hand if thinking of it as cash influences you to play less than your A game because you're "scared money".

Some people find this easier to do than others, and in my case at least, I can be better or worse at it depending on my mood.

As for tips, my top one is to play pretty straightforward ABC TAG poker until you feel comfortable playing cash. One difference compared to tournaments is it will be affordable to set mine more often because the stack to blind ratio doesn't decrease, which means you'll have implied odds more often.

While you can also use the same basic reasoning to play other speculative hands like suited connectors, I lean toward working them into your game as you get more familiar and comfortable with cash play.
 
MadMaddie

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So I am looking for all the help I can get because I really, really want to learn how to become profitable and stay that way playing the game I love so much!@@
There are lots of good threads here on Cardschat that you might want to take a look at.

Here is one you might like - https://www.cardschat.com/f49/special-1k-post-so-you-want-128262/

and another here - https://www.cardschat.com/forum/cash-games-11/

and another - https://www.cardschat.com/f49/10k-post-micro-stakes-full-ring-112836/
 
otari

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If you are going to play for 8 hours a day -- and want to make some decent money -- might i suggest playing multiple tables at once. 1 table could get boring and frustrating.
 
Arjonius

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If you are going to play for 8 hours a day -- and want to make some decent money -- might i suggest playing multiple tables at once. 1 table could get boring and frustrating.
While this is appropriate for some people, what makes you think this is good advice for someone who is just at the stage of "considering trying out the cash game"?
 
Nathan Williams

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Starting at the lowest stakes sounds like the best plan for someone in your situation. Your learning curve will be faster at higher limits but you will almost certainly lose. NL50 is not a walk in the park these days. What you could earn is based on your winrate, volume and rakeback. Since we don't know any of these variables tossing a number out there would just be pure speculation.
 
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