The Mysterious Adwords Adventure

So I setup 1 campaign today in a new account. I created adgroups and placed only 1 keyword in each. I place a Max CPC for each keyword of 10 cents

I get on the phone with adwords and said, what should I be bidding and they show me the status area.

And the suggested is around $1 to $3 I nearly fell off my chair.

If I paid that I would be broke in 2 mins

So i said well should I be willing to bid that to get on the 1st page and then once I get say 50 or 100 clicks and $50 or $100 out of pocket then lower my bids

He said, no we lower it for you but I wouldnt lower your bids yourself

But I said, yes but I dont want to pay $1 a click, I want to pay $0.10 at the most $0.30 a click

He said well you can but you might be on page 8 or higher and get no impressions and no clicks

So I said.. So your telling me that for me to advertise with google I have to be willing to pay almost $3 a click.... Your insane!

Like God, is there not a way to WIN this damn Adwords game. Im not looking for gigantic success but I would like to be able to spend some money and get some traffic.

Just im not going to shell out $50 in 1hr when I know that my products are not expensive. I would go broke lol

SO whats the secret? How the heck do you get traffic from adwords without paying $1 or $3 a click?

Do you set your max CPC initially high then lower it the moment you get clicks?

Do you set it low and wait 1 month and hope google decides to have mercy on your soul and give you some 1st page time?

Tips, Hints, Advise from you smart warriors would be appreciated thanks

Also.... Should i be keeping 1 keyword per adgroup even on PLURAL and SINGLE terms ie.

Tennis Racket - 1 adgroup
Tennis Rackets - 1 adgroup

or can i do as the adwords guy said and put 10 keyword tightly related in one adgroup?