Basically, bankroll management helps with the variance that happens in poker. Even though poker is a game of skill, there is chance involved. It is important to minimize the potential for losses if one desires to make money playing poker; after all, the cards don't always fall your way, and if they happen to fall the other way too many times in a row, you can go broke rather quickly if you are playing outside your limits. It is also important to note that bankroll management will only help minimize losses for winning players. If you are not a good poker player, you will most certainly not make money by managing your bankroll. It seems like an obvious statement, but to turn a profit, you must win more than you lose.
The example of worthwhile bankroll management that I will give is for NLHE (No Limit Hold 'Em) as it is my personal game of choice. The reason it is my game of choice was best expressed by the legendary Doyle Brunson in his milestone book Super System when he labeled it as "the Cadillac of poker." It is the poker game at which it takes the most skill to be successful because there is so much to consider in each hand, and every hand has the possibility of being for all of your chips. I enjoy Limit Hold 'Em and (especially) Stud, but they are much more mechanical. They are a bit more mathematical, and it seems easier to play those games correctly. NLHE is just right up my alley as the most cerebral and difficult of its kind. How could I seek to master any other game?
There are some variations of bankroll management for the many different varieties of poker, but the general rules are basically the same even if the numbers aren't exactly the same. For NLHE, there are different management guidelines depending on the type of game you play: cash or tournament. This makes sense when one considers the differing play styles and expected winnings of the two games.
For cash games, you never want to have more than 5% of your bankroll on the table at any given time. If you go to a casino and play the game with the lowest-level blinds, 1-2 or 1-3 depending on the casino, you will want to have twenty times the maximum buy-in for that game in your bankroll. This would come to $4000 for a 1-2 game and $6000 for a 1-3 game.
For tournament play, even one-table tournaments such as 9-ring or 6-max SNGs (Sit-'n'-Go), it is also important not to play above your bankroll level. When practicing good bankroll management, you should never buy into a tournament for more than 2.5% of your bankroll. In other words, you should have at least forty tournament entries in your bankroll. It is also important to remember the fees involved when entering a tournament (usually no more than 10% of the entry). You have to factor those into your management as well. If you want to play in a tournament that requires a $5 entry, you might think it okay if you have $200 in your bankroll; however, the fee for such a tournament is generally $.50, bringing the total buy-in up to $5.50, so you should have at least $220 in your bankroll for such an occasion.
When I decided to partake in my bankroll experiment, I wanted to start out playing in $1 tournaments online. I would love to start higher where the competition is better (and, paradoxically, easier to play against), but I don't have a lot of money to invest at the moment. Having been away from the online poker world for awhile, I also figured that I could probably use the practice, so I decided to make a time investment rather than a monetary one. To play in $1 with a fee of $.20, bringing the total buy-in up to $1.20, I needed to invest at least $48. I deposited $50, giving myself a tiny bit of a buffer. So far, after three nights of play, I am ahead but not by much. Even placing first in a 9-ring SNG only earns $4.50 (for a total profit of $3.30). I had a losing night last night (a bad beat on a flopped straight where my opponent made a bad call but rivered a full house and then a bad call on my part where I knew I was behind but was tired and felt like gambling), but by staying in my limits the previous nights, I kept myself out of trouble. In order to move on to the next level of my tournament career ($3+$.40), I need to build my bankroll up to $136. Like I said, it's a time investment.
Bankroll management, like poker itself, takes patience and conviction. You should never play tired, lest you make bad calls like the one I did last night, and you should never play drunk, unless you are playing against me. In that case, by all means, drink as much as you like! I like money. I have been known to drink whilst playing, but I never consume more than one every hour or so. I personally find that alcohol loosens up my live game and allows me to play my winning aggressive style when I'm not hiding behind a keyboard and pseudonym (deguasser19 on both Full Tilt and PokerStars for any who are interested).
All this talk about poker has me wanting to play, so it's time to crack open a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and get to enjoying my last night of pseudo-vacation. Until next time, I'm all in.
There are some variations of bankroll management for the many different varieties of poker, but the general rules are basically the same even if the numbers aren't exactly the same. For NLHE, there are different management guidelines depending on the type of game you play: cash or tournament. This makes sense when one considers the differing play styles and expected winnings of the two games.
For cash games, you never want to have more than 5% of your bankroll on the table at any given time. If you go to a casino and play the game with the lowest-level blinds, 1-2 or 1-3 depending on the casino, you will want to have twenty times the maximum buy-in for that game in your bankroll. This would come to $4000 for a 1-2 game and $6000 for a 1-3 game.
For tournament play, even one-table tournaments such as 9-ring or 6-max SNGs (Sit-'n'-Go), it is also important not to play above your bankroll level. When practicing good bankroll management, you should never buy into a tournament for more than 2.5% of your bankroll. In other words, you should have at least forty tournament entries in your bankroll. It is also important to remember the fees involved when entering a tournament (usually no more than 10% of the entry). You have to factor those into your management as well. If you want to play in a tournament that requires a $5 entry, you might think it okay if you have $200 in your bankroll; however, the fee for such a tournament is generally $.50, bringing the total buy-in up to $5.50, so you should have at least $220 in your bankroll for such an occasion.
When I decided to partake in my bankroll experiment, I wanted to start out playing in $1 tournaments online. I would love to start higher where the competition is better (and, paradoxically, easier to play against), but I don't have a lot of money to invest at the moment. Having been away from the online poker world for awhile, I also figured that I could probably use the practice, so I decided to make a time investment rather than a monetary one. To play in $1 with a fee of $.20, bringing the total buy-in up to $1.20, I needed to invest at least $48. I deposited $50, giving myself a tiny bit of a buffer. So far, after three nights of play, I am ahead but not by much. Even placing first in a 9-ring SNG only earns $4.50 (for a total profit of $3.30). I had a losing night last night (a bad beat on a flopped straight where my opponent made a bad call but rivered a full house and then a bad call on my part where I knew I was behind but was tired and felt like gambling), but by staying in my limits the previous nights, I kept myself out of trouble. In order to move on to the next level of my tournament career ($3+$.40), I need to build my bankroll up to $136. Like I said, it's a time investment.
Bankroll management, like poker itself, takes patience and conviction. You should never play tired, lest you make bad calls like the one I did last night, and you should never play drunk, unless you are playing against me. In that case, by all means, drink as much as you like! I like money. I have been known to drink whilst playing, but I never consume more than one every hour or so. I personally find that alcohol loosens up my live game and allows me to play my winning aggressive style when I'm not hiding behind a keyboard and pseudonym (deguasser19 on both Full Tilt and PokerStars for any who are interested).
All this talk about poker has me wanting to play, so it's time to crack open a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and get to enjoying my last night of pseudo-vacation. Until next time, I'm all in.
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