Online poker for money
 

@Objective

any advice for starting? I know some basic strategy, might pick up a book if there's a wicked good one that people recommend, but I figure most of the skill is gonna come from careful experience

not really set on making tons of cash but it'd be nice if I could get to a point where I can grind out a few wins every once in a while

ur in college, get with ur roomates and other coeds and all go to similar tables

swing the odds in ur favor

ull have to split the doe, but can b very profitable

(i dont know if u can still do this though, when i went to school u could...now they might ip check more thoroughly)

First things first; Figure out wether you want to learn cash-game or tournament play. Those two are extremely different and it's a good idea to start out with one of the two. But cash players are just like battlers, battlers conform to topicals (poker tournaments) easier than the other way around. But it takes a shitload more time to learn to be honest and the growing competition in poker makes it extremely difficult to be successful in cashgame play, and it takes longer to learn but once you got it on lock you're fuckin' set and should hit up the live scene.
If you just want to get that fun win every once in a while I'd suggest tournament play, but it's all up to you and how serious you're going to take it. Tournament play can also be extremely confusing and bad beats get to you harder, especially if you're just a few spots away from serious cash. The impossible will happen, you will get bad beats and don't blame the fucking poker client cuz statistically that shit will happen even if the odds were greatly in your favor.

Register on www.pokerstrategy.com. If you manage to do the quiz there you will get 50$ to start with (20$ if you don't make a deposit, but you don't really have to either.) It works and I have done it myself, and what you learn in the quiz is a great way to start out playing poker for money. Listen REAL close on anything about bankroll management. Participate/read the forum and its sub-sections every once in a while. There's a lot of valuable articles to read beside of the forum as well, but I'd suggest the coaching and hand analyzes forum to track your game. Start with the basics and just go from there.

As it goes for books and other shit: Kill Phil and Kill Everyone is decent as fuck. http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Everyone-.../dp/0929712471. Kill Everyone definitely made me a much better tournament and Sit'n'go player.

Late night Poker and High Stakes Poker is decent shows to watch if you want to pick up some great tips here and there. WSOP is mostly glamour and glitter, it's what televized poker is for hiphop and MTV. Pokerstars.net the big game is also kinda like that, but each week a complete unknown loose cannon gets to play against pros. You can observe how they treat him at the table and how they change their gameplan based on chips etc.. Basically, get whatever the fuck you can get your hands on. ANALYZE YOUR HANDS and your play at the end of your sessions, you wont regret it. This will help you to cover flukes and improve your play a lot. The forum on pokerstrategy.com got its own section for hand analyzes, you can pick up some great tips from the better players there.

Your success comes from knowing the theories behind poker and figuring out your odds based on chips in the pot/raises and how many people is in the hand, implied odds etc., patience, keeping your cool and your skill in recognizing patterns and the will to learn more.

So yeah:

Step 1: Register on pokerstrategy, read the articles, do the quiz and get your money. If you sign up for pokerstars through pokerstragy after the quiz you should start with the 10 cent tournaments and 25 cent sit'n'gos. I'm not really that good, but I can play a few sessions with you if you want.

Step 2: Now that you've played a little bit you probably got some questions, why/how, shit didn't work. Read some more articles on pokerstrategy and go over what you already know. A good tip can be to talk to yourself or reason with yourself while playing; ''I'm doing this because A did B and C folded etc.'' This will make you aware of your choices while playing. If it went to hell, go over the hand and figure out what you did wrong at the end of your session.

Step 3: If you still want to get better, read Kill and Phil and Kill Everyone. Participate in discussions, perhaps even start your own pokerblog on pokerstrategy to track your progress and share it with others. Continue to keep up with the bankroll management and improve, read and do whatever you can to improve your game.

Step 4: Up the levels, continue playing and always read up on shit. Continue to analyze your game and improve. There's always something to improve and keep being profitable and try not to focus too much on the downswings except for the things that can improve your game.

Poker is dedication. If you're just a recreational player; Well, fuck it, just watch some videos and check out articles on that site, read some books if you're up for it and that's it. Play tournaments with high guaranteed pots.

EDIT: What Rawn is saying is hard as fuck to do nowadays and you'd be a bitch for doing it. Unless you know wtf you're doing your money in the poker client will eventually get frozen and you'll get banned for life. The regs will pick up on shit like that as well and you wont earn shit at the lower limits for it to be profitable anyways. Forget about it.

@Objective like 5 6 years ago u could do it w ease tho right?

Not with ease, but a whole lot easier for sure.

How do you bet money online in the US? Thought it was just play money.

There's actually a couple of poker clients US residents can play in. Funny how online poker become illegal and then a few years later it's allowed on a limited amount of clients that's US owned or something? Idk, but I find it sketchy. Cake is a poker client you can use, but personally I wouldn't play on it because I don't trust it and when I see people on yahoo talking about them using a bot to play for them... Fuck nah. Then there's another option that uses bitcoins, alltho' I think it's rather shady as fuck it should do the trick.

Play money is fucking ridiculous, if anyone is reading this and want to get better at poker without fucking around never play with fake money, ever. You may learn so many bad habits that might be hard to shake off once you start with real money.

So basically it's play money or shady as fuck sites? Disappointing.

lol i was thinking the same thing...thats some shitty options

Don't bother

Don't leave money sitting in your online account with the site. I lost around $100 that way when full tilt went down, ... I'd had close to $1000 there at one point, lucky I cashed that out

You can't really bank on being able to make money from it if you've never done it before. Just do it for kicks for awhile and if you're good at it then you can consider doing it more seriously

I was about to say.. no trusted sites that allow real money in the US. Fuckin law sucks

Thanks @Objective, I will probably read that book if I can find it at a local bookstore or library

But yeah online poker in the US is real dumb it looks like

u can play on 5dimes I do it often they have $1 tables during the day.

later on the tables raise and there are live dealers all day

you have to check your law for your state to see if gambling online is legal it is in va suprisingly

Maybe.. But you can probably find a .PDF free on the net, that's what I did.
@Dominate: That sucks and it's among the reasons to why I only trust Pokerstars.. They're fucking set in terms of money and earns a shitload already, you'd have to be a fool to fuck up the system they got now. FT fucked up tho', you're lucky you only lost 100$, if I'm not wrong I think there was people who lost 100k n shit. Kinda just waiting for the new ''poker boom'' or lots of newbies to come and play on it again, either that facebook opens up for poker play with real money or online poker gets legal in the US.

yea, but some ppl who frequent those online sites don't see 100k as a loss lol

real talk tho

$100 to me is something where, if its that big of a loss to you, you shouldn't be gambling online

but that's why I suggested 5doimes to ppl who are scared to spend money.

they got $1 and $5 tables for ppl who ain't spending much and you can really find ppl sitting there who don't know what they doin

Is 5dimes secure/reliable?

We have bar room blackjack and pull tabs so I'd guess ND might be a state that allows it

yea you never heard of it? its a full online casino

Sounds dope. Will gamble recklessly after work

i mainly use it for sports betting tho

there is no legal way to play online in the us unless you are in nevada i think.

professional poker players drive over the border to mexico to play ONLINE

im sure there are ways to do it, but i wouldnt trust it.

I play on Carbon as i4BetFoldLOL

I'll play head's up w/ anyone here at any stakes

MA residents can play at offshore sites I think, might be just for sports betting

Losing $100 wasn't a big deal, just annoying bc I didn't really "lose" it to another player, the site just went down and took my money with it.

Yeah @Objective I read about people losing that kind of dough, crazy

I wouldn't use that site anymore if it caused you to lose money for nothing...
you lose enough as is lol