Financial Planning

When playing online poker, choosing which limit to play at is a vital component. Generally, you should choose which limit based on your personal financial situation, your poker ability, and your aversion to risk.

It is recommended to start out at the lower limit simply because the competition there is easier. Few 'professionals' play at the $1-$2 games, so it is a relatively safe place to begin one's poker career and learn the basics. Even if you are a billionaire, no one will have the faintest clue when you play poker via the internet or think any less of you for playing at a low limit because you can remain anonymous.

When choosing a limit, the foremost choices come when one decides to move up or down a limit. By and large, you should only move up a limit if you think you are at ease playing at that level for at least seven sessions or more. Do not choose a limit so high that it makes you reluctant to play hands. Playing anxiously is a guaranteed recipe for losing. It is also ill-advised for players to just 'go for it' at a higher limit because more is at stake. If you are making a run for it at a higher limit, you probably don’t have the bankroll to survive there for long. Even if you win on two straight sessions, you are likely bust out at some point and have to move down a limit if you are not bankrolled enough at any given limit.

If you take a hit at a higher limit, you should generally move down. However, you shouldn't move down so far that you are totally unmotivated to play. If you move up a level to say, £25-£50 from £10-£20, you shouldn't then fall back to a lowly £1-£2 limit. Once you decide that £25-£50 is too high. While people are inclined to play more despairingly at a higher limit, they also tend to play too loose at a lower limit. Play a limit that motivates you to play, but at which you are not nervous to play, so basically a limit where you can honestly say to your self ‘I feel relaxed’.