When a new poker player begins the process of becoming serious, learning the game and taking it as a real avenue to making money, he or she must first know to start at the bottom. To different people, this means different things. But to any poker online player, it must consist of a few basics.
First, tailor your competition. You can’t go from learning what the hand hierarchy is to taking a stab at a game where the players have five, 10, 20 years experience on you. You’ll be crushed. My advice is to find beginner’s rooms online that allow you to play for free. Yes, it’s a rare occurrence that I recommend anybody take time playing free games because people definitely don’t make real poker moves, but if your goal is just to get comfortable with a poker setting, and not yet hone your decision-making process, playing for free is the safest way to go. From there, you can progress to small money games, mini-tournaments and even some online or real casino play.
Second, structure your climb up the pockerstars tournament ladder. What this means is you have to understand they type of play required for low limit, mid-limit and no-limit tournaments, not to mention freeroll, etc. It’s not advised to go from small cash games to a no-limit tournament without taking a few steps in-between. Some US Poker Room players are naturally gifted, but for the majority of enthusiasts and aspiring professionals, taking the step up to a low-limit game to get the feel for a tournament format, raising blinds, etc…, is the smart move. Being put to a decision for all your money when you’re still too green to know what that means or how to assess the situation (putting someone on a range, knowing your betting position, etc..) will almost always yield negative results.
And finally, figure how much you wan to/need to play with. If you’re playing a tournament, the buy-in will be set for you, but you don’t want to start off in a tournament with a huge buy-in. For one, it will give you an idea of the type of competition you’ll face. A strong player isn’t going to waste his time playing in a $20 tournament. Likewise, green players shouldn’t play a $500 PockerStars.com buy-in unless they know they’re ready for it. In cash games, I’ve heard the recommended amount you come to the table with is anywhere between 100 to 200 times the starting big blind. If you have the money, give yourself more opportunities here, which might mean more mistakes, but it should also mean more chances to learn from them for next time.