Hi my name is Moonliner and I'm a pokerholic.

Anyone else have the same addiction? So far I've primarily stayed with the free games (www.pokerstars.com (http://www.pokerstars.com)) plus a few $3 and $5 tournaments. Won my first one last night.

I have lots of play $$ if anyone needs an enablier for their own poker addiction...

Oh my goodness yes. That's me.

I've got accounts on 5 poker sites, taking advantage of the free money when they offer it. Generally it's a 20% deposit bonus, but you have to do different things to cash out on it.

Poker Stars is defintely the best for tournaments. I play the 2-Table $5+.50 No Limit tournaments there. I'm working my tournament bankroll up to $330 before moving up to the $10+1 tournaments.

My name there is Jedi333. Feel free to drop in and say hi.

My brother plays on Poker Stars quite a bit, but with free money only.

How does the pay tournament work? You submit a credit card and you get credit, right? If you win, do they give you a giant credit on your credit card? How difficult is it to cash out?

My brother plays on Poker Stars quite a bit, but with free money only.

How does the pay tournament work? You submit a credit card and you get credit, right? If you win, do they give you a giant credit on your credit card? How difficult is it to cash out?

For people new to online poker, this is probably the biggest valid concern. Most online gambling is offshore, to avoid US Tax and gaming laws.

When you open an account at any of the various poker sites, there are several ways to fund that account. You can charge it on your credit card, or use a 3rd party system. My advice, DON'T use a credit card. There are headaches associated with the credit cards that you don't want to deal with. I use NetTeller, which is a Canadian based wire service. I previously put $500 in a NetTeller account, and have been using that to fund my poker. Put $500 in an account, win some money, withdraw the $500 to put in a different account, etc.

Cashing out of poker accounts takes 24-72 hours, but I've never had any problems with it. I've also never cashed out more than $500 at a time though. Until you cash out, everything stays in the account. If you're cashing out more money, then they will investigate your account, to make sure there's no money laundering or other potential criminal activity. I haven't heard of a case where they refused to pay though.

The best part are the bonuses. If you're good enough, you can go from poker site to poker site when they offer bonuses. February was a particulalry good month for that sort of thing because of the competition, but since October, I've picked up $1,200 in bonuses from 5 different poker sites.

Anyone wants to talk strategy, I've got helpful hints to offer :)

Thanks, timl33. I may PM you if and when I start doing pay tourneys. My husband and I have been casual poker players forever. I'll have to check out NetTeller. Thanks!

Thanks, timl33. I may PM you if and when I start doing pay tourneys. My husband and I have been casual poker players forever. I'll have to check out NetTeller. Thanks!

No problem. You can find me on Poker Stars (Use the Find a Player feature there) and stop by to watch or chat one of these days. Just be warned, to be a winning player takes LOTS of studying and experience. I feel very comfortable with the micro limit games, but my first move up into the low limit games made me feel a bit overwhelmed. I've dropped back down and now have a set plan for moving up.

What he said!

Plus, I would like to add that playing at the "fun" tables (aka free) is NOT good practice for playing the cash games, even at the micro level. Other than getting used to the interface and learning the basic rules it's a very diffrent game. A good way to get started (on pokerstars) is the "freeroll" tournements that seem to happen each night at ~9:00pm est or 3:00am est.

So true, both of you. People who play those free games don't play the way you really would since it's just free money. You can't really get any good practice that way.

As for having a method to moving up, that's wise. Did you see the Howard Lederer interview last season on WPT where he said he lost for 2 years playing mini games before he moved up?

Father is (still!) obsessed with Paradise Poker (www.paradisepoker.com). He like in the top 5 play money players. :geek:

As for having a method to moving up, that's wise. Did you see the Howard Lederer interview last season on WPT where he said he lost for 2 years playing mini games before he moved up?

I lost about $1,000 last year playing at the local casino, playing $3/$6 limits at Hold Em.

I have since made $2,000 online and at the casinos, playing closer to $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 limits.

Howard Lederer is one of the best in the business, so defintely don't sweat it for now if you're losing.

Here's the moving up plan that I'm using right now. It does require you to keep records of your play.

Start with $50 and play $0.50/$1 limits. When you've made $150, move up to $1/2.

At the 1/2 limits, play until you make $450, them move up to 2/4. If you drop down to $75, return to the 0.50/1 limits and start over.

Similarly at 2/4, move up to 3/6 at $750, move back down at $300.

At 3/6, move up when you hit $1200, move down at $500.

This is just a general idea, but it prevents you from moving up too fast and gives you a little safety net when you have a bad run.