1. When you start playing at a table online or at a casino, you’re in the red. After all, you have to pay the blinds. So how long does it usually take you to get in the black (have more money than you started with)? How long does it take you to double your money? The speed of online rooms and casinos is different, so let me know which one you’re talking about.
2. I just started poker about a month ago, so I’ve been playing very low limit or even micro limit tables. However, sometimes I look at my profits and think “Damn, if I had been playing at a higher stakes table I’d have 10x more money right now.” But I’m wary of doing that because I assume that the higher the stakes, the higher the level. How much different is there between the different stakes tables? If I were to go from, say, a $1/$2 table to a $2/$4 table, would it change much? How about from a micro limit to a low limit, or a low limit table to a middle limit table?
3. When you play, what’s your main objective: to play well, or to make money? I mean, would you prefer to play well but only make a 50% profit due to some bad beats, or would you prefer to play marginally well, get lucky a few times and make a 200% profit?
Yup, talking about hold em! But I also enjoy 7 card stud and 5 card draw, so any advice in regards to those games I’d appreciate!
Benjamin
1. You’re not necessarily in the red when you start playing. When you’re at a cash table, you get to choose how much money you start with. If you’re talking about starting on tournaments, everyone is in the same position- their blinds are being taken too. I stay away from cash tables because people play so carelessly there, and bad beats are a frequent occurrence. I’m referring to online rooms mostly, but cash tables have the same problem.
2. I don’t think it’s that risky to move from a $1/$2 table to a 3/4 dollar table. I think the skill level will go up a bit, though. The higher the money, the more serious the players… When you’re talking about real money, the skill level is definitely going to change when you go to higher stake tables.
3. Well sometimes you really have to gamble during poker. (Are we talking about Texas Hold ‘Em, by the way? That makes a huge difference…) But I think you always have to play well. The thing about playing stupidly and getting lucky is that even though bad beats happen a lot, the odds aren’t in your favor if you are just going on luck. If you play badly and get lucky, more power to you. But it’s better to play safe and smart because even if you win less, the chances aren’t as likely that you’ll get screwed over.
1. there is no set amount of time that i look for when i play to have a certain number of chips, each hand is individual in and of itself…i don’t go in saying “i want to be up by this time” or “i want to have doubled up by this time”, sometimes you just can’t help it but to lose…in general, i find that setting goals is counterproductive because you spend your time trying to reach your goal as opposed to playing well
2. there isn’t much difference between $1-2 and $2-4 limit, i think the change starts to be noticeable between $1-2 limit and say, $5-10 limit, that’s when the game starts getting more serious
3. my goal is absolutely to play well, and if they get lucky on me there is always next time…all you can do in poker is put your money in with the best hand, and what happens after that you have no control over…of course you come in looking to try to make money, but you only have control over the decisions you make
I like to see poker as a long term game, so I would definitely want to play well and deal with the bad beats at they come. I recommend you read a book like ‘The theory of poker’ by David Sklansky (think that’s spelt right). It really takes your game to the next level, not only do you start making more money but but get more satisfaction from knowing you’ve done a good job, even if you walk away from the table down for the night. Lots of pros look at the game long term (they say you need to play 100,000 hands before you even know if you’re good or not) so if you’re playing well and analysing what you have done, even if you’re on a losing run you know in the long run you’ll be up - poker is a game of mathematics and odds at the end of the day.
As for moving up levels, this is where most players lose the most amount of money. You have a few good nights and then think you must be a great player, you move up a level and then blow your whole bankroll in one night. One piece of advice someone told me that has helped me is to see your poker money as separate and as a ‘bankroll’. You need 100 times the big blind in bankroll to play at a level (to see you through bad runs). Once your bankroll can sustain it move up a level, once your bankroll drops below the 100 big blinds, drop down a level. The level of play does improve as you move up the levels so as you’re still learning be prepared to move around the levels to find your current comfort zone (all within your bankroll).
Another good piece of advice for online play is to choose your table carefully. Look at the player / flop percentage in the lobby, the higher the percentage the easier the game, it can make a big difference to your bankroll if you take some time to choose correctly. Also, if you don’t like the way things are going on a table get up and move to another table (that’s the beauty of online play), it’s amazing how much better I did when someone told me that - it seems obvious, but it amazing how many players don’t pick and choose their table.
If you want to give your online bankroll a boost, check out the sign-up bonuses at , a little bit of free cash never did anyone any harm, lol.
Good luck!
First of you should never play over your head, and you should never have a set time frame to double up, sometimes you will pick up big hands right away and you can double up right away, and yet at other times you can be there all day and still be even for the day or even down some. Your not going to make profit every time you play, but over a month or two you should be on the winning side for the most part. But i have had runs where i was down for weeks on end, mostly because i was chasing to make up money i had lost the week prior. But of course if you step up to a bigger game like a 4-8 game or even a 1-2 no limit table you will of course see bigger pots, but you are also risking more as well. So when you feel your bankroll can take the next step, and you are beating smaller games go ahead and try. But never jump up past your comfort zone, i have made this mistake before and it cost me a large chunk of my bankroll, just build your roll very slow and steady. If your having a bad day don’t be shy to quit and come back when you feel better about things, poker is all about the long run, and when i say long-run i mean 1-2 years. So Go slow and learn as much as you can, and when you are ready take on bigger games.