Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Micro Stakes Poker

How to play micro stakes poker

Since most of our visitors come for poker freebies, free cash bonuses, and freerolls, we have put together this article that takes them to the next step, playing poker for real cash. It's a waste to throw away your free cash not knowing what you should actually do!

Basically there are two types of poker players, i.e. cash game - and tournament players. This article is focused on lower limit cash games, thus it's not about tactics and poker strategies.

Some of the online poker rooms promoted on our website offer free poker money, or instant poker bonuses. 90% of all players that benefit from such a deal waste their free bankrolls within minutes because they are playing above their personal play level, and don't consider bankroll management to be very important. Let me tell you this, those two aspects are key factors to develop a successful poker career. Remember, you're (most probably) looking for free poker money, you aren't a poker professional yet!

The best way a beginner can learn to play profitable poker is to start playing for real money. People tend to play a lot more seriously at a real money table than they do at play money tables. Still, there is no guarantee that you won't find your self in a situation being sucked out by a loose player.

Bankroll management

Since playing poker involves a lot of poker skills, and a bit of luck, there will be times that you simply won't win. This is why your poker bankroll should always be sufficiently large, so that you will survive these those periods of bad luck. The default recommendation for a full table (more than 6 players) is a bankroll of 300 times the big blind. For instance, if you are playing $0.05/$0.10, your bankroll should be at least $30. Your bankroll should be even higher when you're playing tables with 6 or less players.

When you actually start to consider bankroll management, you're definitely on the right track, and it should already be easier to determine your personal level and limits to play.

Knowing your poker skills and level

First of all it's important that you know the basic aspects of poker before you even think about playing for real money. Practicing at the play money tables can be helpful to learn poker rules, and understand some of the game aspects.

When ready, you might want to sign up at VC Poker for their free $10 bonus (using poker bonus code: FreeMoney together with our link). Since your starting bankroll will be only $10, it is wisely that you don't play at any limits higher than $0.02/$0.04, better yet to start playing at a $0.01/$0.02 limit and bring the full buy-in to the table.

Be patient when playing, even though calling an all-in move for just a few bucks looks easy, don't do it if it the odds of winning at poker are not in your favor to make the call. You don't want to waste a proportional percentage of your poker bankroll!

VC Poker will give you another $25 for free if you generate enough Action Points. This can easily be accomplished breaking even, thus don't make any risky moves that might end your game straight away, wasting a possible $35 free. Trust me that you can move up a level without a doubt when you have the additional bonus released. If you can accomplish that, then you're definitely ready to make the switch from micro - to small stakes.

Making your first deposit

Most commonly recommended are of course those online poker rooms that offer some kind of free poker money. Though, if you're ready to make your first deposit we advice you to select a poker room that offers an upfront bonus. A poker bonus relies on the amount of money you'll actually deposit. Therefore you should always ask yourself if you're not going to waste a significant poker bonus when making a minimum deposit, just to get some free cash.

Good luck!