I started with $10 free from Royal Vegas and Pacific. Have never put a dime of my own into it. I worked my way up from the .5/.10 limit tables. It can be done.

Welcome to BTP. Good fortune.

CJ

I'm another who started at the .01/.02 No Limit tables on UltimateBet and Pokerstars. Cheap way to learn poker the hard way(?)

You could use $55 of that to buy PokerTracker if you haven't already.

With $100 I would probably play $2 SnG's to get the hang of them, then $5 SnG's until my roll was $200 or so, then buy PokerTracker and PAHUD (about $80 or so I think) and switch over to $5 Ring..

Seems like I should be off to the penny tables. Are there any tricks to playing well at these levels? I know I should play ABC poker, but I'm afraid I might have trouble considering the (lack of) money at stake. I suppose I should just make sure to stay disciplined.

Also, the way I've read about it I need raked hands to get bonuses right? Do the rakes at these small tables count? Also, is the rake proportional, or is it going to be huge compared to the table sizes.

Right now I'm still leaning toward the SNG route, just perhaps some 1+.1's and 2+.2's to get my feet wet, but if there are bonuses to be won...I suppose I may as well chase them!


Also, are there any more deals such as the Royal Vegas 10 dollar type thing. Seems like they're probably all snatched up by now, but worth a shot right?

When you say play ABC poker play ABC poker don't bluff or try even anything remotely close to a fancy play most players at that limit can't spell fancy.

Pacific have low stakes tables and you can immediately play with the bonus, and before anyone else say it, the software is poor, which is a very good thing because the good players on this forum won't go near it and it has the worst players ever.

Regarding concentration levels about playing micro stakes, look at bets in terms of BB, not as money.This also helps when you move up to higher levels, personally I'm less intimidated by the increased stakes and still concerned about making the correct decisions.



Molina

Agreed: look at BBs instead of $$$. Very important.
Play smart for the stakes and you'll win.
Getting paid even $1 or $2 per hour is definitely worthwhile if you're learning at the same time.

I started with a free $10 from Pacific Poker and progressed up from .02/04 to 2/4 limit hold'em. My bankroll now is several thousand dollars. I only play limit, but I believe several sites have micro-limit no limit including Pokerstars. Bonus rules are different at the various sites, so you need to check with the sites to find out what the rules are.

Welcome and good luck.