Wow,
Yes I have ventured onto playing for real money online.
Let me warn you by saying I have a highly addictive personality.
Soo here's my story. I have a neteller account. If you want to do any online gambling get one. But let me warn you again, it makes it way too easy to suck moneyout of your checking account into the neteller acct and ultimately into the gambling site.
So in I go with $100. This is a reasonable limit I place on myself. So I logon to the web version first. Played some .25 - .50 limit. It was alright pretty loose since it's soo cheap.
But what I like about online vs in a real card room around the bay area is that they have NO LIMIT! It brings the intense factor up 10x. So I started playing .25-.50 No Limit. I did alright. You can only buy in with $25 at first which is a good fair limit. After a few hours I was up to $47. Then a few more hours I was down to about $7. So lesson # 1. Don't play if you can't focus. Lesson #2 it is hard to play 2 tables at a time. It is important to pay attention to how people are betting. Over multiple hands. I caught this one guy who, when in a good last position say dealer or 1 behind dealer, if a lot of people were in for .25 or .50 he would raise to $3 or so. I had a decent hand one round KK so I called. Sure enough he folded after the flop. I learned a lot about betting and what cards are weak and quickly distinguished between who is a good player and who isn't. Along with when to fold them. You have to tell your self "gimmea good reason to fold." Try to deduce what they can possibly have and what/how many cards can help you out. Also factor in how much is already in the pot. If you are holding pocket Tens and the board flops 8 2 A, and someone raises. YOU CAN'T call that. So after day 1 I went through $75 or so. Day 2 I put in another $50 and downloaded their windows version program. The program was a lot faster. But so was the game. It takes a little adjusting to but it was well worth it. Wiped all that money out and Day 3 I added another $50. So now I am $200 in the hole for poker. But I've gotten a lot better. And have been doing well so far +$75 on a $25 buy in. Be prepared to have $20 swing sometimes. Also play with your head, not emotions. Good luck.