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1. How to start a poker career for free
Freeroll – free tournaments in which you can win some real money, so you can learn the game and save your game bankroll.
Many participants in such tournaments have only recently learned the rules, which is a good environment to start their poker career. There is a separate section on the Poker University website dedicated to current freerolls. But you need to understand that the game of the field in free tournaments is very different from the money. Therefore, if possible, start your career with cheap CIS and MTSNG tournaments, or play at the lowest limit of cash tables.
Tournaments in small poker rooms are the best solution to start
Large long tournaments are not the best solution for starting a career, since a large number of participants makes the game long, and worthy prizes in tournament poker are concentrated only on the final table. The probability of getting to the final table directly depends on the number of players in the tournament. Playing in big tournaments makes building up a bankroll and training quite exhausting, and puts the player in great dependence on luck. Therefore, the best solution for the start will be to start playing Sit and Go tournaments, or tournaments in small poker rooms. At the beginning of your career, the best solution for you will be to look at small poker rooms: there are fewer players there, and their understanding of the game as a whole is noticeably weaker. It is best to start with tournaments for 100–700 people and move to larger ones when you start steadily improving in small ones.
Advantages of this approach:
- You will learn to play against amateurs. This is the basic skill for getting a high winrate.
- Playing in small tournaments is less dispersive and will allow you to quickly make a full-fledged bankroll for playing in kilopol tournaments (i.e. tournaments where 1000 or more people play). Also, if you set your goal to get into the poker fund, you will rather gain the necessary distance for this.
- You will also gain experience in the pre-final and final stages of the tournament. This is the main skill of a professional tournament poker player.
- The first victories will add motivation to continue playing poker seriously.
- You do not need serious investments to build a bankroll.
Cash game as a start for a poker career
For players who prefer stability and quick decision making, cash poker may be the best choice. Here you are not tied to time: you can sit down at the table and leave at any time, and each hand has its own value. This format is especially suitable for those who want to build a game on a solid foundation of preflop and postflop strategies, without the pressure of tournament stages.
Cache allows you to quickly receive feedback: you see the result of your game immediately, and not after hours, as in tournaments. This makes it possible to find and correct errors faster, accumulating technical skill. It is best to start with low NL2-NL10 limits, especially in soft-field poker rooms where most opponents make obvious mistakes. If you are closer to the idea of stable, conscious growth without big dependence on variance, cash poker can be a great entry point into your career.
2. Additional information for starting a career
It is important for beginners to learn not only the rules and strategies, but also to build discipline correctly: not to jump between formats, not to chase quick wins, and not to give up after the first failures. Poker is a marathon, and at the very beginning it is important to form stable habits: take into account bankroll management, analyze the game, and also look for a strong community or coach who will help you move faster. You've come to the right place, we recommend you go to the following articles on the links at the bottom of this page. And also get acquainted with the program "free training" and "poker school" in the menu of our website.
The best options of rooms for starting a career
Recommended articles and sections of the site
To learn how to correctly draw up a tournament grid and learn, read the following article: How to become a professional in poker part 1.
The poker school section of the site is a place that will allow you to go from beginner to professional consistently and competently.
