The First Principle in becoming a Successful Player

 

By gopoker.com, January 23, 2010

 

Bankroll management is the first principle of poker and key in becoming a successful poker player, without proper management skills most players will find their bankroll reduced as a result of insufficient funds and in turn less good decisions during play.  

 

The guidelines within this article is basic levels, and while experienced players can modify their bankroll policy, and where professional players require a far bigger bankroll than normal players, the novice to poker may do well to follow a strict management policy in order to start building their bankroll. Bankroll management also requires to be modified based on blind levels and whether Hold'em or Stud etc. and the guidelines set out in this article is for Texas Hold'em, the most popular game of them all. 

 

 

Bankroll Management

So what is bankroll management? Bankroll management is in brief playing within your limits, hence avoiding limits that is likely to drain your bankroll if a bad run of cards, and bad cards all players will experience from time to time. Playing within your bankroll means that you have sufficient funds to stand a bad run while still having enough funds to hold out for a winning streak. Playing at higher limits with insufficient funds is hence the opposite and referred to as playing out of your bankroll. 

 

 

Selecting Limits

Playing poker for several hours there will be ups and downs, where you fluctuate from having bad cards to good cards, which results in varying profits and losses. In other words there will be periods were it would seem that you do nothing else than losing money, not because you play badly but because the cards don't come your way. Hence if you don't have enough funds in your bankroll to sit out the losing sessions, it is likely that you will lose it all.

 

It is not a unique situation, all players will experience variances in their game, but taking bankroll management seriously you will have enough funds to continue playing without going broke. Hence a key factor before sitting down at the table is to create the best opportunity possibly to build profit, whilst keeping the risk of going broke at an absolute minimum. In short select your table limit based on bankroll, not on potential and higher pots in the game.

 

 

Cash Games

The short recommendation if playing No limit and Pot limit Hold'em is that the bankroll should be 20 times the maximum buy-in, hence creating the best opportunity possibly the bankroll should be 4000 if playing at a 1/2 game, where the maximum buy-in is 200. Or if viewed on a percentage level, bankroll management is putting up 5 percent of your bankroll on the table at any one time, which is equal to the maximum buy-in at the 1/2 game.  

 

Playing Fixed limit Hold'em the recommended bankroll is that you should have 300 big bets as a minimum, hence playing 1/2 limit Hold'em, the minimum bankroll should be 600.

 

 

Tournament Games

Tournament play is somewhat different from regular cash games and the recommendation is that you have a bankroll of 40 times the buy-in, hence if the sit and go (sng) tournament fee is 10+1 you bankroll should be 440.

 

 

Table Guide

The following guidelines are general rules, however they present a good starting point and opportunity in making a profit playing Texas Hold'em.

 

No Limit Hold'em			Limit Hold'em			Sit and Go Tournaments
Blinds	Bankroll		Blinds	Bankroll		Blinds	Bankroll
5c/10c	200		5c/10c	30		1+0.1	44
10c/20c	400		10c/20c	60		2+0.2	88
0.25/0.50	1000		0.25/0.50	150		5+0.5	220
0.50/1	2000		0.50/1	300		10+1	440
1/2	4000		1/2	600		20+2	880
2/4	8000		2/4	1200		30+3	1320
5/10	16000		5/10	3000		50+5	2200
10/20	40000		10/20	6000		100+10	4400
15/30	60000		15/30	9000		200+20	8800
20/40	80000		20/40	12000		500+50	22000
25/50	100000		25/50	15000		1000+100	44000
30/60	120000		30/60	18000		2000+200	88000
50/100	200000		50/100	30000		5000+500	220000

 

Note... Commonly you will find that entry fees for sit and go tournaments of 500 and more are lower than indicated above, often it will be 500+30, 1000+50, 2000+100 and 5000+200, however these numbers also varies in large between operators.

 

 

Pro Play

If you are looking to take up poker on a pro level, and sole income, the bankroll required will need to be substantially larger than indicated in this article, as additional expenses such as travel, hotel and others will be taken out of the bankroll.

 

 

Shorthanded Games

Shorthanded games tend to have greater variances than full games, on one hand you will be playing more pots and playing against the players more than playing the cards, which will result in greater fluctuations between wins and losses over the short period. Hence a good recommendation on bankroll management is to increase your bankroll slightly to withstand the increased variance of shorthanded games.

 

 

Tight and Loose

Playing style is another variance that need to be included when determining what limits and games you should play, and it also need to be in relation to your bankroll. Tight players often have less variance to their play as they often only enter pots with strong hands and commonly go to showdown with winning hands, hence reducing the chance of losses in playing fewer hands. While loose players have a higher variance in their play as they tend to play more pots and experience a greater variance in their game. Hence dependent on player character you can possibly reduce your bankroll, or be required to raise it.

 

 

Improve your Game

Good bankroll management will help you deal with the psychological impact that losses will have onto you overall game. Sitting at high limit table, in relation to your bankroll, is very likely to have a negative impact on your decisions as you will be afraid to lose money. However when losses occur use that as an opportunity to analyse your game and current bankroll strategy, learn from the mistakes and improve your game accordingly, don't use good money trying to save bad money.

 

 

Change Limits

When your bankroll is too small for the game then you should also drop down a level. Equally if after a long winning streak and if it means playing within your bankroll you should consider moving up a level. Hence if your bankroll is sufficient for higher levels, then do consider to move up, just make sure you drop back to the lower limit should you experience great losses. Moving up, which most player look forward to, is referred to as "taking a shot" and if possible go for it, simply stick to good bankroll management. However taking a shot is not the same as getting carried away by large winnings, as the latter can very quickly make a significant and negative impact on your bankroll and future play.

 

 

Game of Skills

Playing poker and making money requires skills, and bankroll management is one principle skill that you need to master becoming successful. If not, you are setting yourself up for losses that are hard to prevent, no matter how good you play, if playing at too high or too low limits, your decisions are likely to be less good.

 

To that keep in mind that bankroll management is not a safe bet to winning, the game need to be played, the odds before you also need to be a part of your decisions and sometimes you play the players and not the cards.