You've read some books, subscribed to a couple of online E-zines, participated in forum discussions, even joined a few sites and played in the freeroll tournaments.

You've studied the game, you've practiced your moves, and you're ready to hit the "big time". The Real Money Games. But, are you really?

Once you make the decision to take the plunge and start playing for actual money you need to decide if it's worth your time. This isn't as flippant a question as it may at first seem. You need to take an honest look at your bankroll and your poker skills. Both are likely to be rather low if you're just starting out.

So, the first question to ask is, "Can I afford to play at these stakes?" If the cost to buy into a tournament is more than 15 percent of your bankroll, it's easy. NO. If the cost for a seat in a ring game is more than 20 percent of your bankroll (cash games usually require min 100 BB's), NO. Money management is crucial to both online and live play. I know of no faster way to go broke than to over-play your bankroll.

Next question is, re-buy or freezeout? A freezeout simply means that you pay a one-time fee to enter and get a fixed amount of chips. When your stack is gone, so are you. In a re-buy, you can "go broke" and buy your way back in. There are usually some kind of limits on the re-buys. ie: Only allowed to rebuy below a certain stack level, limited number of re-buys allowed per player, re-buys only allowed before first break, etc.

If you're playing a freezeout, the 15 percent rule applies. If your bankroll is $100, the biggest game you should get into is a $15 buy. If you're playing a re-buy, you need to decide how many "buys" you will allow yourself. Keep in mind that re-buy tournaments also have an "add-on" at the end of the first round. The total of all buy-ins and add-ons should not exceed 15 percent of your bankroll. If you don't want to spend any more than the initial buy-in, stay away from re-buy tournaments.

Why? Because you will be putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage to the others in the field.

If you only take a single buy-in and the rest of the field averages 3 buy-ins, you've started out giving everyone else a 3 to 1 chip advantage. Playing winning poker is tough enough, do you really want to give them that kind of additional advantage?

Finally, is it worth your time? Is the prize you hope to win big enough, in relation to the cost of playing and the time it will take to play out the event, worth it? For example: some of the lower buy-in tournaments ($5-$15 buy) online could have hundreds, even thousands of players. Check out the prize ladder. Most tournaments pay out to the top 20 percent. However, spreading the money out that far means that the bottom tiers cover a large percentage of the pay-out field. This means that any real money to be won will be had much later in the tournament. Usually in the final 2 or 3 tables.

You need to decide whether you have the skills to compete at these stakes, and the time available to reach the money. It's a waste of time and money to start a tournament you don't have time enough to finish.

Managing your bankroll and your time effectively is critical to your eventual success.