Hey, I made a post about finding micro stakes limit games and was pointed this way.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...99/?highlight=

I set aside just $9 to play, and I can't seem to find any micro stakes fixed limit games online. They all seem to require a higher minimum deposit.

Right now I can win at the highest level of limit holdem on pokerstars with play chips, but I'm not sure if this counts for much. I want to get into playing with real money, starting low and slow.

I know limit is not as big as NL, but I prefer the more technical and skill-based nature of the game. I find NL is more luck oriented, but I think playing limit will help me build more skills.

Do you guys know any online tables I can play with just 9 bucks to deposit? Are there freeroll sites I can get into? Any recommendations are much appreciated. Thank you.

Ignition/Bovada has a $10 minimum deposit for cryptocurrency users, if you can handle a bitcoin wallet and can scrounge up another dollar plus some change for transaction fees. They run 6-max games of .05/.10 fixed-limit hold 'em, with a 5% rake. You can usually (but not always) find a game, or get one started if you wait a while at an empty table.

Limit poker is in some ways more luck-based than NL. You have fewer choices to make, and fewer ways to win without the best hand, so your fortunes will swing a lot depending on the cards you draw (at least in larger games—heads-up is a different story). No-limit offers more ways for skilled players to edge out unskilled players even with worse hands. However, I prefer limit poker because I find it more relaxing to play, while still requiring enough thought to keep me interested.

I really appreciate this insight, I think $9 is not enough barring some European sites. Maybe I should make the jump to NL, it is more popular anyways and has free tournaments. I seem to be much better at limit, but I think the skills can transfer over.

There are a lot of options and information for learning the essential NL strategy. I've read that playing the essential ABC strategy in a disciplined manner is enough for low stakes and even 2/5 games. Do you know the best place to start with this? I want to learn it thoroughly but there are so many books/courses/sites that differ from each other. Thanks.

The best books I've seen for beginners at limit poker are still Ed Miller's Getting Started in Hold 'em and Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play. The former covers very basic rules and strategy, while the latter goes much deeper into the theory and application.

The game has changed some since these were written. For example, Miller's books mostly focus on live 10-handed games, while online fixed-limit games are now often 6-handed or smaller. Also, these books don't really cover the modern game-theoretic approach to poker strategy. But they still do a great job of teaching the key concepts and practices.

it counts for nothing, with nothing on the line nobody cares

furthermore, anyone with the smallest bit of skill is playing for real money

so you were playing against people who didn't have any skill nor knowledge of the game and with nothing on the line so they didn't care if they won or lost and thus played far differently than they would if their decisions had real money consequences - they most likely played far too many hands and didn't fold nearly enough as a result because folding is boring and in real money it costs them nothing to play and lose

you weren't playing anything remotely close to real poker, if anything this experience has probably made you develop terrible habits and gave you unreasonable expectations for how others will play

forget everything from your experience with play money - it's like you were playing basketball to improve at soccer

Finding microstakes(.05/.10) limit hold'em (LH) online is very difficult. Bovada/Ignition has it, but I do not recommend that site. It lacks a license. In addition to that, it has a forced-seating policy. In other words, you cannot choose your table, and you will be forced into playing heads-up or on tables with only three or fewer tables.
America's Cardroom often has LH—but rarely at the microstakes. ACR seems to have mostly middle limit LH. Sadly, LH is not very popular these days.
As for the skill element of limit and no-limit(NL), that depends. Deep-stack NL is more complex than limit holdem. But limit holdem is more difficult than short-stack NL. It all depends on your effective stack size.

I was just at America's Cardroom at 11:30 Chicago time on a Friday night. There was exactly ONE full LH table ($3/6). It's time to stick a fork in LH. I realized that later than I should have. But it's not coming back.
My current focus is SnG tourneys, and I suggest the OP also find another poker niche.