Getting Started: Table Selection
One of the great differences between online poker and live games are the stakes offered. There’s a greater variety of stakes to play online, and the amounts available go down much lower than you find in the casino.
So you've opened an account on Betfair Poker and made a deposit, and now you're looking to start playing some cash games. You know how no-limit hold'em is played and perhaps even have some experience in a home game or at a casino, or perhaps you've seen enough poker on television to be intrigued enough to give it a try. Where should you begin?
You'll notice when surveying the lobby and seeing what games are being offered that there a number of different choices. Not surprisingly, most of the active games are no-limit hold'em, but there are tables with players playing fixed-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and some other poker variants, too, like seven-card stud and five-card draw.
Let's say like most you're a no-limit hold'em player. You'll have a lot of tables from which to choose. What sorts of things might you consider before taking a seat?
Different Stakes for Different Folks
One of the great differences between online poker and live games are the stakes offered. There's a greater variety of stakes to play online, and the amounts available go down much lower than you find in the casino. The level of play is quite different online, too.
Let's look at those no-limit hold'em tables. You have games with blinds as low as $0.02/$0.04. Depending on the number of players sitting at the table and the style of the game, the average pot size is probably going to be less than 50 cents. For a lot of first-time players, this is a good place to begin if only to get yourself used to the mechanics of game play without risking too much to start.
Many players on Betfair Poker enjoy the lower-stakes games and spend most of their time on the site playing at those tables. Games at these stakes -- that is, from $0.02/$0.04 on up to $0.15/$0.30 -- are sometimes referred to as "micro-stakes" games or just the "micros."
You'll find complete novices who are brand new to hold'em at these tables as well as some crafty, tough opponents, too. And despite the name "micros," it is possible to build a bankroll at these stakes -- just ask Nathan Williams, author of Crushing the Microstakes whom we interviewed earlier this year.
The $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/1 NLHE games are generally speaking going to include more skilled opponents, as will the medium-stakes games at $1/$2 through $3/$6 and the high-stakes games at $10/$20 and above.
Also worth noting is the fact that as you move up in stakes online games tend to play a lot tougher than live games. As we discussed in an earlier article on "Where to Play Low Stakes Cash in Las Vegas," in casinos a $1/$2 game is often going to be the lowest available.
But the seats at a $1/$2 game online are always going to be filled with tougher players than you'll normally find in the casino. Some experts have suggested that when it comes to the relative skill level of players, a $1/$2 NLHE game online plays more like a $10/$20 NLHE live game. In other words, the micros online is where you'll find an experience that more closely matches lowest-stakes live cash games.
Full-Ring, Six-Max, and Heads-Up
Another decision to make as you get started is whether to play a full-ring game (nine-handed), a short-handed or "six-max" game, or heads-up.
Here you might want to experiment a little to discover which game best suits your playing style. If you're an action-seeker who likes to play lots of hands and doesn't care to fold and watch others play, the short-handed games -- six-max or heads-up -- might be more to your liking. But if you do have patience, which in poker can be a great asset, you might prefer a full-ring, nine-handed game.
In full-ring games you'll be looking to play more hands from late position (the cutoff or the button) than from early and middle position or the blinds. Meanwhile, in the six-max game you'll have to play more hands since the blinds come around so frequently. And, of course, in heads-up there's nowhere to hide -- you'll be playing just about every hand there.
If this is your very first time on the site, I'd suggest joining a nine-handed table and playing a few orbits in order to get familiar with how the software works, including figuring out how to bet, raise, fold, and so forth.
Also, pay attention to the number of players already sitting down at a table before you take your seat. If you are looking for a full-ring game, find a table with just one or two open seats, not one where more than half the seats are empty.
You might also glance at other statistics for each table, including the average pot size and hands per hour. Tables with relatively big average pot sizes are going to be looser and more active, while ones with small average pot sizes will be tighter with more folding. And more hands per hour means just what it sounds like, with some games moving along faster than others. For more on how to use all of these stats before sitting down, see this article describing what you'll find "In the Lobby."
There are other "pregame" issues worth considering, too. We'll get into some of those, as well as some other "Getting Started" strategy tips, in subsequent articles.