You'll also need a soundcard to interface between your laptop and the mixer. I've got an m-audio fast track pro usb- most people don't like it, but I've never had problems- and it's something cheap to get started with. I don't really have much for other suggestions for soundcards, but you usually get what you pay for in that department.

If you want a solid mixer pioneers are great (anything above this would be overkill for starting out). The djm 350 is the new 2 channel one. You could also look for a used djm 400, which is the discontinued 2 channel one. If you want something cheaper but still solid, Numarks are good (this one is dece and half the price of the aforementioned pioneers: http://www.djdeals.com/numarkX6.htm ).

Overall beat matching is a pretty basic concept. Set the cue on the first kick beat (traktor has snap points for this- kicks are the loudest part of a track so it'll be obvious when you look at the waveform), then start it when the track that's playing on the master starts a new phrase. There's tons of resources online for this- I'm sure there's a bunch of youtube videos that should explain it well. The hard part is making a set of flowing tracks that tell a story and don't sound like crap when mixed together. I'd just start putting some similar sounding stuff in a folder and work on mixing those together. My first few mixes were terrible, but thanks to people like machi and derek, I got tons of good advice posting them on here. It all just takes lots of practice and time, so keep at it. Learn the basics first, then expand from there.

Good advice. Ill need pointers on equipement for sures. I have spun vinyl in my day so Im sorta used to the beatmatching thing. I used to do a lot of that with break beats and regular trance.

As far as track selection and picking out my music, I've been getting alll that ready for the past 6 years now and Ive got QUITE the story to tell believe me on that. Shitty thing is that I had all my music jacked when my PS3 got stolen. I had like 60 gigs worth of stuff so I gotta start all over. I did replace some of it, but a lot of my really good music that Ive taken years picking out is gone. But Ive got SOME good tunes now, always wanting to get more though.

I've prlly got about 12 sets picked out already ranging from gnarly progressive to crunchy morning and twilight to a couple awesome tech house and minimal sets. I cant fucking wait to play them