Guidelines : Start Playing Online Poker from India

[Hunter 8690]

Hello Friends
Well, I'm new to the poker world & I think I don't know much about the game but I'm serious about learning it & I enjoy playing poker.
I am playing No-Limit Poker (As most of the beginners do) from about 3 months.
Till now I've only played Play Money & Freerolls. Also read some poker books.
Now when I thought of starting real online poker, lot of questions arise like :
1.which site will be better for a beginner
2.how buy chips
3.how much starting money will be better
4.how cash-out
5.which games to play as a beginner
6.start with cash games or tournaments
7.any recommended books that can improve the game etc.
8.is it legal to play online poker in India.
Here at Pokerguru, lot of experience is present to make these points clear. It will help the beginners a lot & that's why I started this thread, to help myself & other beginners who can get all this information from this single thread & start their game.

I personally like Pokerstars because of the better software, UI & no. of players.
I'm thinking of starting with Micro No-limit Hold'em Cash Games.
I have a problem with deposits. I tried depositing at pokerstars with HDFC Visa card but it was not successful. I also tried to deposit through Neteller using the same HDFC Visa, It didn't work too. Is it a problem with my Visa Card or is it the same with all the cards in India.
I can't start playing! Which will be the best option to deposit money & cash-out & the procedure.

Sorry, it was lengthy, but thanks for reading, if you are still reading & Please Help.

Thanks
Rajveer

[danishshaikh]

I think PokerStars is the best or you could also try the second best 888 Poker, if you dont have an 888 account get one here,you could start with 100$ and you can play mtts ranging from 1$ to 2$ and keep a 50 to 100 buy-in roll since mtt's are high variance and talking about legality of poker in India than there is no such rule mentioned in the book of laws whether playing poker is legal or illegal. Mastercard on 888 works smoothly you can try it out or well you can use any of the ewallets Neteller or Entropay all you have to do is fund your ewallet through debit or credit card and than you can deposit on any site of your choice. Well we are also having some promotions on PokerStars which would definitely suite you click here to check it out!

[Hunter 8690]

Thanks for your help, danishshaikh.

Talking about games, I do much better in Cash Games than Tournaments or Sit'n'Go (PlayMoney).
Playing at Zynga etc I had accumulated millions of chips but mostly loose in tournaments.

Will it be alright to start with $.01/$.02 NLHE with $40.

I play freerolls like Poker School & Hubble's at Pokerstars.
Almost everytime I start well, starting with 1500, I play steadily around double the average stack upto 10-15 levels.
Then in every freeroll I give away my chips to a maniac who plays 90% of his hands & every time I have much better starting hand.
Are these freerolls difficult to win ? Please advise any specific strategy about them. Am I doing something wrong ?
If I can't win at these freerolls, will I be able to win at Real Money Online Games ?

[danishshaikh]

Yes you can start with $40 and the freerolls are for sure hard to win since its large field donk fest, do keep us updated about how it goes.

[Hunter 8690]

I'm confused between the rakeback & VIP .
Do I need to register anywhere else like rakebrain.com etc to get the rakeback or VIP benefits (whatever Pokerstars offers) or is it valid by only registering at Pokerstars.
And if I need to register anywhere else also, can I register for an existing account ?
Thanks.

[Poker Guru]

PokerStars does offer a regular VIP program, no rakeback. You will get the full VIP benefits when registering on PokerStars through PokerGuru.

Also, if you're looking for rakeback deals check out Rakeback Guru

[Hunter 8690]

Won almost $1 in $75 freeroll at 888
Its small but my first winning & it was difficult.

[rholmes]

Hello! I'm also quite new to the poker world, this site helped me a lot at the beginning, but I also try to figure out how I can learn more tipps and tricks about the game. It's not easy, because at the moment everything is quite overwhelming for me. I just want to say that I prefer the cash games. It's more fun for me But it's a personal choice I guess.