Whether it’s playing poker online or in person, it’s important for new players who are about to wager their hard-earned money to understand how different poker stakes work before they place their initial stake in poker. This is because each category of poker stakes is home to a different type of player, which affects how people wager and how they approach the game.
With this in mind, it’s important to learn how to choose a starting stake in both offline and online poker games.
Understanding Poker Stake Categories
It doesn’t matter if players are playing live or online poker, before they decide on their starting stake, it’s important to know the answer to the basic question, “What are stakes in poker?” A stake is simply the amount of money a poker player needs to wager in order to participate in a game. There are five categories, divided according to bet sizes, each with different starting stakes.
1. Micro-Stakes Poker Games
This is the lowest stakes category, with blinds starting from as little as $0.01. Since most people play micro-stakes games purely for fun or to learn the game, there are few competitive players in this category. Since the starting bet in this poker category is so low, games have high variance. This is because players will make risky plays since a loss won’t significantly impact their bankroll.
2. Low-Stakes Poker Games
Low- or small-stakes poker is the second-lowest stakes category, with blinds beginning at about $0.25. This is where poker players start to show more than a surface-level understanding of the game and will start making skilled plays, such as raising preflop when they have a strong hand or folding after the flop if they don’t have anything (where they previously might have tried to hold on until the river.)
3. Mid-Stakes Poker Games
As the name indicates, mid-stakes poker sits in the middle of all the poker stakes categories, with blinds starting from roughly $1.00. Despite the name of the category, this is where players start to get serious and try to play game-theory optimal (GTO) poker. Players need to put significant time (and perhaps even money) into studying the game to engage other players at this level since semi-pros or pros may be playing in these games.
4. High-Stakes Poker Games
High-stakes poker is the big league in the poker world, with blinds coming in at around $5.00 and higher. Once players get into this category of poker games there’s no room for error because this is where they start encountering real poker pros.
5. Nosebleed Poker Games
Nosebleed poker is the category where the best-of-the-best and extremely wealthy people (some of whom have more money than poker skills) can be found. Blinds typically cost hundreds of dollars, with pots worth tens of thousands at stake.
How To Choose Your Starting Stake
Before players choose their starting stake, there are questions they may want to ask to get a better idea of where they should start. Here are a few questions that players should keep in mind so they know how to choose their starting offline and online poker bet in any game.
Is This Player Casual or Aspiring Professional?
Whether a person is a casual or aspiring professional poker player will affect which category they choose. Depending on their budgets, casual players will want to start in the micro- or low-stakes games, while aspiring poker professionals will probably want to start with low- or mid-stakes poker games. These are the stakes where players begin to demonstrate some basic to moderate understanding of the game.
So, even though players might lose more often than in micro-stakes games, they won’t pick up as many bad habits by playing in these categories against more skilled poker players.
How Experienced Is This Poker Player?
A person’s level of poker experience will also affect the category they start in. If they’ve never played poker before, they’re best off beginning with micro-stakes games since they’ll be able to stretch their bankroll while learning the basics of the game.
On the other hand, if they’ve played poker before but this is just the first time they’re putting real money on the line, they may want to consider starting in low-stakes games.
Growing a Bankroll?
If a player’s goal is to grow their bankroll, they may want to start in a category where they’ll be able to minimize losses and maximize wins. Even if this means accepting smaller wins (because they require more time to grow their bankroll to its desired value), it’s better than starting in a category where they may win more but also lose more money.
Does a Player Want To Bankroll a Minimum Number of Games?
If a player wants to play a minimum number of games each day, week, or month, they’ll need to pick a stakes category where they can afford to lose every single game while still enjoying that number of games.
Is a Player Trying To Learn More About the Game?
While some players may feel confident because they’re already familiar with the history of the game, the fact remains that if they’re trying to grow as poker player they should consider starting in one of the lower-stake categories. This will give them time to learn the basics of the game while testing their new poker skills without risking large amounts of their bankroll. While they grow as poker player and become more comfortable with the game, they can work their way up the different stakes categories so that they can continue facing off against better players and sharpening their poker skills.
Tips for Different Categories of Poker Stakes
Now that players understand the different stake categories and have a better understanding of how they want to approach the game, here are some tips to take advantage of in each category.
How To Approach Micro-Stakes Games
Micro-stakes games have very high variance because new or inexperienced players often play mediocre or weak hands until the river or showdown. This means hands that more skilled players would typically fold can yield positive results in rare situations. Playing solid, tight poker will result in positive outcomes in the long run.
How To Approach Low-Stakes Games
If someone is playing low-stakes games, here is where they must start ramping up their aggression preflop to take advantage of high-value hands and avoid slow playing. Aggression doesn’t mean bluffing, though, as even this game category will contain players who will call more often than not. Aggressive play will also allow people to make quick work of any weak players in their games.
How To Approach Mid-Stakes Games
Here is where players need to embrace playing GTO poker. They’ll need to learn how to read their outs and opponents’ ranges, use bluffs effectively, make use of different betting strategies to optimize their value, and deploy other high-level strategies.
How To Approach High-Stakes Games
High-stakes games are the games in which players will start encountering poker pros and start seeing the same high-level players again and again. If players haven’t already committed their time and money to some kind of formal poker education, here’s where they’ll want to consider getting poker coaching from highly experienced players to help them address any weaknesses in their game. If they can, they’ll also want to scout tables to avoid ending up in games against some of the best players in the game.
How To Approach Nosebleed Games
There isn’t much strategy to getting an edge in nosebleed games. People either have the money to buy in, or they don’t — and if they also have the skills to play in this category, they’ll make short work of the whales (weak players) who have deep pockets but little by way of poker skills. Players should only consider this category of poker stakes games if they can confidently afford to lose tens of thousands of dollars.