So, you're interested in online poker, but you don't want to risk too much money just yet. Where's the best place to play small stakes online poker for real money?

Micro-stakes poker ranges from lowly $0.01/$0.02 up to $0.10/$.25. This is usually either a place for recreational players to splash around or a proving ground for ambitious players who want to move up as soon as possible. The games are typically characterized by looseness pre-flop with lots of limping and passive post-flop play. Wisdom Begins with Wonder - Socrates. Alton is an educator, poker coach, self-published & best-selling author, and full-time IT and Business professional. He is also the founder of MicroGrinder Poker School, an online poker school dedicated to micro stakes poker players, where he provides a wide array of free and low-cost poker resources and poker training, included poker strategy articles. This is the poker strategy book that has now helped tens of thousands of people turn around their results at the lower stakes. And the reason why is because as the author, I have some of the highest winnings in online poker history at the micro stakes. A bar chart made Nathan “BlackRain79” Williams famous.Neatly organized by the stakes he was playing, the table — which went viral in the poker world around 2009 — catalogs his online poker.

Below is a table of what I think are the best sites for low limit online poker.

Best small stakes poker rooms.

Note: The SNG column indicates the lowest stakes single-table (STT), non-turbo SNGs on offer.

How I've rated these sites.

These poker rooms have primarily been ranked based on players looking to play no limit Texas Hold'em poker online for small stakes, whether that be in cash games or tournaments (i.e. SNGs and MTTs).

Here are the 4 main factors I took in to account when ranking these sites:

1. The lowest stakes games on offer.
2. The number of players frequently active at these limits.
3. How bad the players at these stakes are.
4. The general overall quality of the poker room based on software, traffic and support.

Clearly the level of the absolute lowest stakes cash games and SNGs on offer at a poker room is one of the biggest factors. It's not much use signing up to a poker room that doesn't offer SNG games under $5, or cash games under $10NL if you have a $30 bankroll. Even if you intend on playing at slightly higher limits anyway, it's always good to have the flexibility there to move down if needs be.

I've also taken in to account the quality of the competition. The softer the competition, the more money you will win – it's as simple as that. Therefore, I've included my rating of the 'softness' of the poker sites in the table to help you make the best choice.

Lastly, player traffic and my rating of the poker room overall has been considered. I'm sure I don't need to explain why on those two counts.

Summary of the smallest stakes games on offer.

Here's a quick summary of the most common limits of micro stakes games available at the majority of online poker sites.

• 1c/2c (this is the absolutely lowest level available online)
• 2c/5c
• 5c/10c
• 10c/25c (you can occasionally find 10c/20c games at places like the iPoker network)
• 25c/50c

• $1 + 20c
• $2 + 25c
• $5 + 50c
• $10 + $1

Playing micro limit online poker for the first time?

We've all played low stakes online poker; even the best players had to start somewhere. It all starts with grinding it out in the micro stakes cash games or low level tournaments, building a bankroll and moving up to higher limits when you get the chance.

There are two key things to remember:

1. Take your time and play within your limits.
2. Keep playing and learning.

1) Take your time and play within your limits.

Good bankroll management is essential. And no, I don't mean that in the 'flossing is essential' or 'remembering your relatives' birthdays is essential' way. I mean it as in 'not turning the gas cooker off before you go to sleep is essential' and 'not starting fights with bears is essential'.

Seriously, treat your bankroll with ultimate respect. Without it, you can't play poker and you can't win money. Don't get careless and fritter your earnings away because you're on tilt.

Here are the basic rules of bankroll management that you should always stick to:

• Cash games - always have at least 20 buy-ins for the stakes you're playing at.
• SNGs - always have at least 40 buy-ins (including fees) for the level you want to play at.

If Chris ferguson can do it, so can you.

2) Keep playing and learning.

The more you play and the more you learn, the better you will get. The better you get, the more money you'll win. It's the cycle that every successful poker player has taken and continues to take.

Read strategy articles, read books, watch strategy videos, join a training site.

The information on how to win money from poker is out there, it's just up to you whether or not you take advantage of it.

How the stakes of online poker are categorized.

Technically, $50NL cash games and lower are referred to as the 'micro stakes' and not 'small stakes'. Seems quite strange considering that I'd hardly call $50 (or even $10 for that matter) a micro amount of money. But that's just how it is.

I decided to go ahead and call this page a guide to the best 'small stakes sites' anyway as I know that's what most people are searching for when they use that phrase.

For the sake of education and being thorough, here's how the different levels/limits of NLHE cash games and SNGs are categorized:

Note: I've used shorthand for the cash game levels in the table above. Stakes written like $50NL indicate the standard maximum 100bb buy-in for that level. So for example, $50NL is the same as writing 25c/50c, and $400NL is the same as writing $2/$4.
This is a common way of writing the varying limits in NLHE cash games. The cool thing about this notation is that it saves you having to try and type that pesky forward slash.

You may also notice that the term 'low limit' or 'low stakes' poker hasn't been used here. That term is more commonly used when referring to playing live poker in casinos, with anything up to $3/$5 being considered low limit (crazy I know). It's just another one of those things in poker.

A few extra tips.

• Use good bankroll management. I've told you about this before, but it's so important it's worth mentioning at least one more time.
• Don't get too fancy against micro stakes players. You only need to think one level above a poker player to beat them, and small stakes Texas Hold'em players are thinking on a low level for the most part.
• Avoid paying more than 10% in tournament fees. Paying 20% in fees for SNGs is just going to kill your winrate. 10% fees are standard at most levels, but in the micro levels at some rooms the fees are bumped up. Either avoid these rooms, or play at a slightly higher level where the fees are more friendly.
• Take your time. It's not about doubling your bankroll in each session. Poker is a marathon, not a sprint. If you want quick and easy winnings, play roulette.

After that, it's all about time, effort and persistence. Just make sure you give me a shout out when you win your first WSOP main event.

Useful links.

Go back to the Texas Hold'em rooms.

Micro Stakes poker, the lowest rung on the online poker ladder but also the most important one to conquer. This is where some of the best poker players started and it is an excellent place to start creating good habits that will carry over once you move on to higher stakes.

With the micro stake Elemental Daily Series finally being introduced, let’s take a look at how you can maximize your chance of success.

1. Start really small

Many are surprised by the quality of play in $25 and $50 games online. They shouldn’t be though, those players have spent a lot of time studying and improving their game. This is why it’s best to start small by playing poker online.

Now, it can be tough getting used to playing for small amounts of money when the entire pot size amounts to less than the cost of a cup of coffee. It can be difficult to focus on making the best play.

Crush Micro Stakes Online Poker

But learning to focus despite having minimum impact on your bankroll is one of the most valuable lessons you can learn as a poker player. The idea is that your decision-making process should be not be affected by how much money you’ll win or lose—i.e., to become less prone to make emotional decisions.

In contrast, immediately jumping into the $100 games leaves you open to many solid players—some of whom are full-time pros—who have vast amounts of playing experience reinforcing every decision that they make. And every one of those players are keen to pounce on less-experienced newcomers like you.

This advice applies even if you have the theoretical skills to win at higher stakes. The fact is there are many other things to consider when moving up, such as the speed of online poker, and trends that are unique to certain player pools and game types specifically.

The best way to acclimate yourself with these factors is to gain playing experience at lower stakes, and to move up gradually. And I do mean gradually. Remember that getting to the top in poker is a journey, not a sprint.

The overall advantage to starting small with online poker is that you get to move up the limits at a comfortable pace, and develop a foundational skill-set that will help you achieve greater success at higher limits.

Another advantage is that you’ll be able to gauge the state of your game. Start at the lowest stake, NL2, and play for a week or two. If you are absolutely crushing that game, then move up to the next limit, NL5, and so on. Eventually you’ll discover the limits of your game: strategies that no longer produce the desired results, leaks you probably didn’t know you had, etc.

Even our very own Team Hot started small. So, develop a world-class understanding of the fundamental principles of the game and your transition to mid, high and nosebleed stakes will be much smoother.

2. Find your foundation

The micros are the ideal stakes to build your foundational knowledge of the game. And what this really means at the micro stakes is mastering the art of tight and aggressive play, also known as ‘TAG’.

Here’s the thing about the lower limits: They are normally filled with beginner-level players who don’t have a solid understanding of the game, and don’t know why they make certain plays.

In fact, many of the players you will encounter at the micros make decisions based on their gut instinct, or a random “hunch,” rather than on mathematics or logic. This means that you are going to see some of the craziest plays on earth all the time, such as players cold-calling a 3-bet out of position with a small suited connector.

Micro Stakes Online Poker Strategy

You would never expect someone to have a 4 in their hand in a 3-bet pot when the flop comes K44. But they can and sometimes will at the micros!

This is why it is important, when you are first starting out, to keep everything as simple as possible and to be very selective about what hands you play.

Online Poker Micro Stakes .05/.1 Win Rates

What does this actually mean in practice?

Well, if you are playing in a 6-max game, it would be advisable that you play no more than the top 20% of your hands unless you’re on the button or in the blinds.

Here is a visual idea of what the top 20% of hands might look like:By keeping your standards high like this you will prevent yourself from getting into too many difficult marginal situations against unpredictable players.

Furthermore, it is important to play these hands aggressively. This means that you should be entering the pot with a raise, and sometimes re-raising with the top end of these ranges.

After the flop, you should be betting for value frequently, and making plenty of semi-bluffs if you catch any piece of the board.

Generally, by playing a solid TAG strategy you will give yourself the best chance of success at the lower limits while keeping yourself out of awkward and potentially tilting situations.

3. Keep it simple and profit more

One of the biggest mistakes players make in these games is over-thinking common situations. They even have a name for this: “fancy play syndrome” (FPS). And it means death for your win-rate at the micros.

You have to remember that most of your opponents at these stakes are relatively new to the game. Some of them are just recreational players–aka “fun players”–who have little rhyme or reason for the decisions they make.

Micro Stakes Online Poker

If you try some advanced river check/raise bluff against one of these fun players because you saw a high stakes pro do it on TV, you are setting yourself up for disaster.

The problem is that most of the time, your high-level fancy play is going to go right over their heads, and they are just going to call you down with their middle or top pair, anyway.

You also need to remember that at micro stakes, you are playing for amounts of money that doesn’t really matter that much to most people. This is especially true at the $10 and below games.

It is really hard to raise somebody the price of a Big Mac and make them lay a decent hand down. It’s just not scary enough to them. They are going to get curious and look you up.

So, one of the best things you can do at the micros is just keep everything as stupidly and mind-numbingly simple as possible.

And yes, it can be boring when you haven’t made a hand in an hour and you just want to make something happen.

But save it for the higher limit games, especially where the money is actually meaningful to most people. The only way to crush the cheeseburger stakes is by keeping everything as simple as possible.

4. Fast-play most of your strong hands

The overwhelming majority of micro-stakes players are way too passive. This means you won’t win a big pot by trying to trap them—you have to build the pot yourself.

So, when you pick up your over pair, top pair, or any other strong hand, you need to keep betting at the pot until you have a clear reason to slow down.

The key thing to remember about the passive, recreational players is that they hate folding and love calling. In fact, one of the greatest thrills for recreational players is to catch you in a big bluff.

They are also highly superstitious players who hold a deep belief that everyone is always trying to bluff them.

So how do you profitably counter someone who thinks like this? Answer: You bet big, and frequently, with all of your good hands. And you lay off on the big bluffs in all but the best of spots.

Final Thoughts on the Micro Stakes

Don’t be so serious.The last and most important way to start crushing the micros is to remember why you started playing poker in the first place: to have fun!

Many often tend to get way too serious at the poker tables especially when things aren’t going their way. It is important to remember that at the end of the day this is just a game. The whole point is to enjoy yourself.

Micro stakes games in particular are pure madness. As mentioned earlier, this is where you are going to find some of the craziest players on earth.

You are going to face a countless and never-ending amount of bad beats at these stakes. But these crazy players play so bad, this is also why your win-rates can be so insanely high at these stakes. In fact at the very lowest limits variance can almost be removed from the game.

One of the best things that you can do for your game is to learn to start simply laughing it off more often and quit obsessing over your day to day results.

If you choose to get frustrated or angry over every ridiculous river card that they hit, then you are simply going to be miserable most of the time, and probably tilt and play bad too.

This in turn will make you less likely to want to grind hard and improve your game, which are both absolutely crucial to your success.

You simply have to embrace the madness that is micro stakes poker.

The vast world of micro stakes poker tournament is where you are going to develop the fundamentals and work ethic necessary to take you to the very pinnacle of this game.

Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy

Breathe in the bad beats and exhale them with a smile.

And the bottom line is that if you consistently use a solid strategy against bad poker players, the chips are all coming your way in the end anyways.

Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy

Natural8 offers a whole variety of Micro-Stakes tournaments through the Elemental Daily Series. Buy-ins start from $0.30 and tournaments are scheduled to run every 30 minutes. This would be a good place to start your Micro-stakes journey.

Related: Understanding Tournament Overlays