Real Money Poker
There is a thick line between real money
and play money when it comes to online poker. Yes, there are a
few advantages to using play money (learning a game you are unfamiliar
with, getting used to a new site’s software, or sharpening
your hand selection and odds skills), but the reality is that
there is no competition in play money. Even when you win a seat
to a real-money prize freeroll that costs you nothing to get in,
you just don’t play as tight because you have nothing invested.
Deposit money
Only when you invest in poker, can you truly improve your skills,
and ultimately win more money. But, before you deposit,
be conscientious and keep in mind that once you have played around
with the funny money and found a site that you like, you shouldn’t
go straight to the cashier. It’s always a good idea to explore
the site and get to know their real money policies. First, you’ll
want to make note of bonus requirements, which are sometimes dependant
on deposit minimums and include withdrawal stipulations. Second,
you’ll want to choose the right deposit option for you.
If you do a little research, you might find one that offers an
additional deposit bonus or requires little to no transaction
fees.
Bank roll
Once you’ve deposited, you’ve got a bank roll.
Now what? Should you go straight to a high limit table or try
out a low limit table first? Do you start off at a ring game or
a tournament? Micro limit tables with blinds for pennies might
be a good place for new-to-real-money players to acclimate themselves
to real money poker, but these tables eventually get just as tired
as play money tables with so little at stake. Micro limit real
money poker players are just about as loose and reckless as they
are with play money.
Once you have graduated from the micro tables, and you are looking
for a game with some action, if you want to play a ring game,
you’ll want to find a table in which the big blind is 1/200
of your bankroll. So, your bankroll should be 200 times the big
blind, and 300 times the big blind if you are new to poker. Having
this cushion in your real money account will be enough to keep
you afloat, should your luck go down for a spell. Additionally,
if you are looking for a tournament to participate in, the buy-in
should not exceed 15% of your bankroll.
Real money bankroll strategy
One real money bankroll building strategy you can try out, which
may come in handy when your poker account is running low, is to
sit around at an online poker room and watch a few tables for
a while. Eventually, you will spot a sucker. A sucker is a player
who repeatedly calls with a hand of nothing. Suckers are also
habitual raisers who will, little by little, give you their money
and slowly transform your chips into more chips. If your sucker
gets up from the table, follow him. These types of players are
easy to spot and are abundant, especially at higher traffic poker
rooms.
Playing with real money or not is ultimately a personal choice.
Some poker players, for whatever reason, do not choose to take
the risk of investing their hard earned money into real money
games or tournaments. Perhaps they are not confident in their
game, or they just don’t have the guts (the one thing you’ve
got to have to play poker anyway). I’ve seen real money
online poker players lose, but I’ve also seen them win…
big. You can’t win if you don’t play!
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