Building a Bankroll

[Kurn]

Meh. $20 is 50% of an adequate bankroll for $0.01/$0.02 NL and about 75% of an adequate bankroll for $0.04/$0.08 limit. It is also a short bankroll for $1 SNGs. That 's the bad news. The good news is there is no substitute for playing within your means. If you're underrolled you run the risk of 2 essential mistakes. 1) gambling on coinflips, or 2) playing scared and not making correct, but risky moves.

If you're going to play NL, read Miller/Sklansky's "Getting Started in Hold'em" If you choose limit, read Miller/Sklansky's "Small Stakes Hold'em." If it is SNGs, read Moshman's new SNG book.

Pick one game and focus on that. Before you choose (limit, NL, or SNG) ask yourself *why* you are making that selection.

NL is primarilty a game of implied odds and trapping with big hands, controlling pot size with TP type hands, and being able to fold a reasonably good hand late to pressure.

Limit is a game of pure aggression (fundamentally a much more aggro game than NL), pure pot odds where making "big" folds on the river will cost you tons of money in the long run.

SNGs are pure math. Play insanely weak-tight early, ICM (if you don't know what this is, Google "Independent Chip Model)" pushbot late, and in the middle, well, it's shallow stack NL there.

Forget about "laying a basis for you style." Since you're starting at the lowest levels, play good hands, rarely bluff (almost NEVER bluff at limit), and make money by letting your opponents make mistakes.

In fact, until you make it to the rarefied lavels where guys like JD and Storm play, you don't make money by making great plays, you make money by not making mistakes and letting your opponents make the mistakes.

Post hands, post hands, post hands. If you choose limit and/or SNGs, also at least read those specific strategy sections on 2p2. There's some awesome NL cash game advice here, and most of the folks here can think straight when talking about limit (well, you'll get at least one "raise more on the flop" answer every 2 limit hands you post ), and generally decent SNG advice, but the other site has special sections for those games, so you might get a wider variety of feedback there.

Play well and don't go on tilt.