I crush 5-10 NL live. I have some free time at work during the week. I'd like to start playing online.

My friends advised me to not waste time at micros. They recommended depositing $6,000 on Ignition and starting at 200 NL. I don't feel very comfortable doing that.

I deposited $100 on Ignition. I'm considering the following strategies—


Strategy 1

-Start at 10 NL. Move down to 5 NL at $50.

-Move up to 25 NL at $250. Move down to 10 NL at $100.

-Move up to 50 NL at $500. Move down to 25 NL at $250.

-Move up to 100 NL at $1,000. Move down to 50 NL at $500.

-Move up to 200 NL at $2,000. Move down to 100 NL at $1,000.


Strategy 2

-Start at 5 NL.

-Move up to 10 NL at $200. Move down to 5 NL at $100.

-Move up to 25 NL at $500. Move down to 10 NL at $200.

-Move up to 50 NL at $1,000. Move down to 25 NL at $500.

-Move up to 100 NL at $2,000. Move down to 50 NL at $1,000.

-Move up to 200 NL at $4,000. Move down to 100 NL at $2,000.


Is Strategy 1 too aggressive?

If you are doing that, then keep doing it, and don't waste time trying to strip the already bare carcass that is online NLHE money

For online, about 30 buyins is generally recommended as a bankroll. You will play many more hands and therefore experience much more variance than you do live. If you want to start at 10NL, therefore I would recommend depositing $300 as an initial roll and move up when you hit 30 buyins at the next level ($750 for 25NL for instance).

If you are willing to deposit more funds if things go badly, though, either of your strategies probably is fine. The 30 buyin recommendation is to minimize risk of losing your bankroll. If you are willing to make more deposits then your bankroll is really not the amount of your original deposit but the total amount you have available for online play. So long as that amount is 30+ buyins you should be fine, assuming you are able to beat the online game you choose.

Lots of Players have issues with the money not mattering online when playing lower than live, thus you deviate from your normal play. As long as you can 'play poker' in a BB sense, then I think you should start out 'lower' but not too low, so to speak.

Are you a 'read' Player live? Playing online may help you become more of a 'spot' thinker, which ultimately should enhance your live game. Whereas 'spots' online are much tighter than live, which may unnecessarily tighten up your live game. GL

I'm being naughty and wanting to play a little online poker at my actual job.

Do I still need 30 buy-ins if I'm willing to drop down in stakes? Let's say I have $2,000. If I lose $1,000 at 200 NL, $500 at 100 NL, $250 at 50 NL, $150 at 25 NL, $50 at 10 NL, and $50 at 5 NL, that's 36 buy-ins.

I feel out others' emotions when playing live. So live information is a big part of my game. But I'm also well-trained in betting situations through 50,000 hands of AI simulation.

I know I need to tighten up online. I'm at 32 VPIP and 23 PFR after my first 5,000 hands.

if you are in fact crushing 5/t you are well over rolled to play in these online games so you can pretty much do what ever u want.

If you are depositing 2k I personally would start @100nl. Bang out some hands and see if you feel like you have edge v the pool - as a crusher u will know what this feels/looks like and will be able to make proper decisions with regards to moving up or down etc

30 buyins really is not a hard and fast rule. It is (given some assumptions about win rates and variance) the bankroll needed to ensure a small probability of going broke (IIRC it is around 1% but I could be wrong). If you start with a lower roll, your probability of busting goes up. If you drop down when you lose, that again lowers your risk of busting.

Short answer- there really is not one hard and fast answer. A lot depends on your tolerance for risk of going broke. The large your roll, the lower the risk.