I'm a relatively new player to the game (having picked it up about six months ago), and at some point, I am contemplating possibly playing some online cash games.

I've been mostly playing on PokerStars, with regular success picking up some play money chips at the single table games (mostly at pot limit or fixed limit), and have tried some NL Sit-and-Go tournaments. I've found a decent success rate in the 2000+110 buy-ins, and am slowly doing better in the 10,000+325 games (to the point where I'm prizing up more play money chips than I'm spending over the long haul).

I'm a relatively tight player who is usually decent at keeping composed, even with a short-stack, but I tend to overvalue hands, and don't listen often enough to the nagging instict that I'm beat (especially if the bet size stays smallish compared to the pot). I'm also finding I'm pretty easily chased (maybe too easily?) when I have a solid hand, but clearly not the nuts, and an overbet comes down. I also probably don't bluff as much as I probably need to be able to do to become a better poker player. These are all things that I'm tinkering with, but progress is slow.

I've tried to provide as accurate (though amateurish) a profile of my play as I can, though maybe there are some key things that I'm not listing here. I'm not saying this so that you can take my cash when I do go in (although I presume some of you will). 8)

But I guess my questions in a nutshell come down to these:

How does one determine when they're ready to participate in online cash games? Obviously, there's the "don't wager more than I can afford to lose" type criteria, but I'd also prefer not to go in to a cash game completely overmatched as well.

Along the same lines, if there was one thing you wish you had known before entering your first cash game, what would it have been?

I thank you in advance for your words of wisdom.

1. Play within your bank roll... start at very low limits so if you are losing you won't lose much. and make sure you're a winning player before you move up. This means play A LOT of hands before you move up.

2. Play very very very tight, especially to start. I try not to play hands in low limit games that i can't dominate people such as Ace face or hand that i can flop huge hands with. The only way i'll play A 10 off is if it's folded to me in late position. Don't look for good cards to play... look for good situations to make profit. Wait for monsters and take big pots, try to keep yourself out of awkward situations. This isn't tournament.. you have all the time in the world. the better you get the more you can loosen up your play, but still keep it tight. That's my quick bit of advice for that.

3. People in low limit games with chase you down and they will catch, but you have to stick to your game and this is why you play with a bankroll that covers your limit. Don't give anything away because people at that level don't pick up how tight you are.. they're there to gamble.

4. Never think yuo know enough and always strive for the best. Analyze everything you can and try to play as perfectly as you can, but accept your mistakes and LEARN from them. I'm sure you'll do ok if yuo're disciplined in low-limit games.

that's my little bit of advice, hope someone else has something to add or contradict me with. you'll do fine! :-D

Well I never played much play money, as ive noticed, every person is all in, every hand no matter what. But before I started with real money I tried it... There are a few things that ive done (mind you i'm NO expert, and am not making a living playing poker but I earn a steady rate at lower limit tables, and am slowly climbing the ranks):
1. Watch a few tables in cash games, without sitting to see how real money is played.
- watch how people are betting, and how small pots are won, and how big pots are won. get a feel for how betting works in games that are for REAL money.
2. Start playing at LOW LIMIT tables. Its may be boring playing at .10/.20 tables when you have $100 sitting in your account, and those tables are alot different to .50/1 games But you will get a feel playing with real money.
2. Read about poker, my suggestion, http://www.twoplustwo.com/books.html and go to "Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play" and consider buying the book. It was recommended to me and helps a great deal.
3. Learn about odds if you don't already know here is a site, its cheezy, but its a decent start:
http://www.poker-gaming-zone.com/texasholdemodds.htm
4. Read posts by Smasharoo he doesnt know it yet, but I owe him alot of thanks, he knows what he's talking about (a smart a$$ at times) But his advice can really help you earn a steady profit (Thats Smash by the way!)
5. Always be careful of your bankroll, dont spend more than you can afford, but also dont be afraid to play either, if you cant afford it, dont deposit. But if you are too worried about your money, you wont play as well as you can.
6. KEEP RECORDS! Go to www.pokercharts.com Its free to sign up, you add all of your sessions, and it keeps track of everything, you can really learn alot about your playing when you see your statistics, and correct any errors.

I hope this was able to answer some questions, it seems like alot of work, but if you arent serious about this, its probobly not worth it. Any other questions, feel free to Send me an Instant Message on AIM
Steve93
or send me an email
sgglynn@bloomu.edu
steve93@aol.com (though I dont check this one as much)
Also if you plan to deposit, and would like to help me out by giving me the referal bonus, please contact me, so I can get the credit, I can always use some extra cash!

Good luck!

All the advice givin to you above seemed sound. The only thing I would add is that getting started is alot like learning to swim. I was thrown into a bayou and was told to "Sink or Swim." You just gotta get your feet wet. You seem to analyze your play well. If you keep picking it apart and analyze-analyze-analyze...you will do fine.
Gotta spend money to make money. good luck.

One of the hardest things to do in cash games is to play your same game no matter limit you are playing. That is the one thing I wish I would have known starting out.

Starting out at a .5/1 limit would probably be best. It can be scary at that limit sometimes because as someone mentioned it is more likely people will call will off the wall draws. But if you stick to your game it should work out for you. Then you can move up in levels when you feel comfortable.

It's really hard to base if you're ready by play money results because there's almost no comparison on the levels on play from play to real.

Another thing you should think about is purchasing a poker book. One book that definately worth reading for limit hold'em is Small Stakes Hold'em by Sklanksy. Reading a book can help a lot and open up your eyes to concepts you may have never thought of before.

One of the hardest things to do in cash games is to play your same game no matter limit you are playing. That is the one thing I wish I would have known starting out.


Not sure I understand that. The game I play at .50/$1 and the game I play at 20/40 aren't even vaguely simmilar.

I know that the limits are played totally different. That's because in .5/1 if a pot is capped preflop and you decide you are gonna call four bets cold in late position with 7 6 you are making a play that you definately would not make in a 10/20 game.
What I was trying to say that it is hard to maintain that same level of play throuhout the limits. If you'd lay it down in a 10/20 game you should do the same in a .5/1

I learned this lesson once when I got to the Borgata once really early in the morning. Normally I play 6/12, but when I got there, there was no 6/12 games going. I was anxious to play, so I sat 3/6. When you drop in limits it's easier to want to play even unsuited connectors and do dumb crap like defend your blind with junk you wouldn't in other limits. When you play like this consistently it's just as easy to go broke as it is if you were losing playing at a limit higher.

Sure some people laugh and laugh and say why not call three bets in the small blind with your suited connector in 2/4... it's only $5? But if you are disciplined enough to maintain your level of play you will lay it down. That is what I meant by the statement.

Money is money in whatever limit you play. It may sound like a tight ass statement, but in the long run it's the winning way.

You really need to learn to adjust your strategy based on the amount of people, the limits, and the way the table is playing. You need to be able to shift gears at different tables. Some tables are going to be really loose and some will be tight. 6 person and 10 person are very different, there is increased agression at a 6 person table. and you need to adjust your play acordingly to be succesful.

my advice would be play NL hold em for microlimits to start off. Don't play limit, as most low stake limit games online are no fold em, hold em, which is more like bingo than poker. Playing NL or PL, even for small stakes, will allow you to understand how to maintain a stack, protect a hand, learn to checkraise, and of course bluff.

Also, you are going to get a lot of bad beats, for your whole stack. You are going to lose big pots. Every time you lose a big pot save the hand history, or mentally take note of it. Look for what you might have done differently, and most of all what your opponent(s) did to win your money.

Some of the losses just might be bad beats, and you can't do anything about them, but if you look closely you'll learn that you might have been able to do things differently.

Also, keep track of the kinds of hands you are losing with the most, and then judge whether it's coincidence, or bad play on your part.

Most of this looks pretty good and was exactly the type of insight that I was looking for.

The one thing I was definitely looking at when I was looking at the transition was whether or not I was going to tighten up even further, so I've been making a note about that.

I definitely was planning to start with the lower limits. I know this definitely isn't some kind of a get-rich-quick scheme (although it would be nice if it works out that way). I figured that lower limits would help me not think of things as being so painful when I do misread or suffer a bad beat and will help me adjust to some swings.

I was primarily thinking of playing PL to start. My own expectation if the limits are small is that you're going to get a lot of yahoos going all-in with 9-2 offsuit (or some other ridiculous garbage). Frankly, I have no interest in listening to one of them who makes two pair spout words of intense wisdom such as, "Any hand can win. Remember that." when they crack my aces (which happens often enough to be disturbing). With pot-limit, you usually get an idea when everybody's going crazy on a hand and can bow out.

In one sense, playing with play money has helped me a little bit in learning how to deal with the idiots, because there are a lot of them there. 8)

And DKE_XP120, I have been reading a lot of Smasharoo's posts, and he's definitely a smart ass, but he does seem to know quite a bit, too.

Thanks again for all of your advice, and when I decide to take the plunge, I'll check back in and let you know how things went.

And I did OK in my first session. I did come out down (that didn't surprise me too much), but towards the end of the session, I was finally starting to make up for my own overeagerness.

The biggest mistake I made was a hand I overplayed, and if you don't mind, I'd like to ask some questions of the group:

I was in the BB with A7 suited on the $0.01/$0.02 NL tables, and I'd mostly been staying pretty quiet like a good little newbie. About half the table limps in, and not being particularly wowed by my hand, I checked.

(1) Should I have raised here to try to get some information? My own feeling was that my hand wasn't a great one, but maybe it was the best one on so far...

The flop comes down two A-A-2 rainbow. One player checks to a guy one off the button, who seemed to have been pretty loose, and raises it $0.10. The button and the small blind fold, I call, and the guy UTG folds, leaving just two of us.

(2) I'm really not sure if I like my call here. Yes, I have the set, but I also have the feeling that the other guy has a set, too, and I'm not wowed by my kicker. Since I put him on a set also, I decided not to raise, figuring it would just beef up the pot. Is this the right move? I'm thinking that this call is justified, because I do have the set, and I want to see if he will continue to bet if blanks fire.

The turn is a 4s. There's two spades on the board, but I'm not really overly concerned given the earlier bet, although I never really considered that someone was possibly playing 3-5. The other player in the hand bets $0.20 and I call.

(3) I think this is the earliest place where I might have been able to get out of the hand if I was going to. At this point, I know my kicker HAS to play, so if I'm calling with my belief that he has a set, I'm believing that my 7 kicker is really better than his kicker (and of those five possible kickers, two of them have already made a boat). My feeling is that I should probably fold here. Agree/disagree?

The river is the 6d. No flush possibilities. The other player in the hand bets $0.50 and I call.

(4) Now I think this was just a ridiculously bad call at this point. The pot was only at $0.70, and while I had put in $0.32 of it so far, I think I needed to muck my cards here. I have to believe he has a set here, and there are only two other kickers that I can beat at this point. Calling $0.50 was just throwing good money after bad. Agree/disagree?

So we turn up our cards, and he's indeed holding A-4 for a boat.

If we exclude that wretched hand, I was about even for the rest of the night.