Where to start for money

Hold'em is a tricky game, and it's really difficult to gauge whether you're playing well, or not, simply because it has that "any crap hand can win" luck factor.

On the subject of bonuses, there are differences between say, Pacific Poker Bones, which tend to encourage you to play at higher limits (bonuses are usually worked out on the amount you stake) and the Inter/Will Hill/Empire/Party which are paid on either the number of hours you play, or the number of hands completed. Clearly, as a novice, you need the latter.

There's also a subtle, currency related difference in bonuses. If you play at William Hill's GBё site, you get ё5 an hour, but at the us$ site it's $5 an hour. This is a significant difference with the ё approaching $1.90

It's might be worth noting that the wager logic sites often email you re additional bonus on certain days of the month, like say, an extra $10 for pocket queens. They also give bad beat bones and royal flush hand-outs. It's unlikely that you'll ever get a royal, (I did once, but Murphy's law had me at another site that didn't pay the damn bonus.) Anyway, the best thing to do, is be patient, and wait until they're paying these special, date specific bonuses, and only play whilst you're getting your ё5 per hour, and only play at the $1/$2 tables. This technique should ensure that you don't loose too much at hold'em, and you might win a bit, even if you're a novice. BTW, I don't follow my own advice. But it would be the most logical thing to do.

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"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something." -Jackie Mason
"Big bet" means the larger bet in a fixed limit game... in a $10/$20 game, the big bet is $20.

How much you can make of course depends on the "quality" of the competition, and how you win pots -- win several pots beating one opponent in a tight game, win one pot in a loose game against many opponents. In lower limit Los Angeles games you might only be dealt 20 hands an hour, with everybody playing ever hand. If you are playing right, you won't play very many (meaning you wouldn't win very many too) but when you win you win huge pots. In higher limit online games, it's not uncommon to face one opponent, where what you both basically do is split up the blinds. These different roads might even lead to the same profit an hour.

Personally I never think about money wagered as long as I stay within my bankroll. Then you just decide which game is most profitable to you, or has other reasons to play (most player's brains and stomachs would be better off making $40.05 an hour in a passive game than $40.06 an hour in a wild game).