Money Management in Poker Games
So, you want to know how to keep your money from being consumed faster than a rabbit eating a carrot? Managing your money is extremely important in poker, especially for new players who don't know exactly what they're doing.
For new players, you might consider playing with just your friends, and probably just play for fun or nickels and dimes. It's much friendlier, and you might learn something in the process. If you want to "train" yourself, you could consider buying a cheap handheld poker game, which can keep you satisfied until you feel ready to start playing for money. You could also consider playing completely free online poker, but you have to make sure it's actually free and not a way to get your personal information or credit card.
When ready to actually play for real money, you have to make sure you start low. The lowest you can possibly go, because you'll lose less money that way. And yes, I know, you'll gain less money as well, but unless you're extremely rich, it's a great way to get a feel of the game. Internet Poker is your best way to start off, because you're at the comfort of your own home, so there’s a lot less pressure. When starting off, try to pick up the strategies that other players use, so you can keep learning and learning. Remember, you can still lose real money, but so long as it's not a lot, you can't feel too ashamed. Through the course of these small limit-tables, you may feel that you've been getting better and want to increase your bets.
This is where a lot of players can make fatal mistakes. People who play high-limit poker are generally pros at the game and can clean out your pockets before you know it. Make sure that the limit is only raised slightly, and see how it works for you. The higher the limit, the better the players are, generally. For instance, you may find yourself in a very uncomfortable high-limit table; you may just want to back out, to minimize any losses and just keep playing at a smaller limit table. This will help ensure you don't lose too much money by playing a pro. Remember, no matter how good you get, you can still lose a lot of money at the higher tables, so be aware of that.
There are also people who prefer to go to gambling tables at casinos. You ALWAYS want to start at the low-limit ones, because some casinos could have rigged them so chums like you end up losing a lot more than you gain. Although casinos have a lot more features than your house probably does, it creates a ton of pressure since you can see your opponents from across the table. This can be bad, but if you get comfortable after a while, then you might be thinking to move on to higher-limit tables. Wrong! Casinos usually have very intelligent and perceptive pros at those tables, and usually you will end up with a lot of lost money. If you can afford it though, and you can stand the pressure, you could go ahead and try for it.
People who just play for fun should stick at the low limit tables permanently, so it doesn't affect your life too much, just a few dollars lost, or a few gained. Where as if you suddenly lost 300$ due to a fatal mistake, that could affect you dramatically in the course of your life.
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