Bankroll Management

Bankroll Management Introduction

To become a successful poker player you need a much bigger perspective than that of the single buy-in. You need to ask yourself:

►How do I get maximum value for my time?
►How do I get there from where I am now?

The answers to these questions constitute your financial plan. Self evidently, higher stakes (as determined by the size of the BB) mean bigger pots and bigger pots means more value for your time. Another less obvious advantage with higher stakes is better margins due to the fact that the rake makes up a smaller percentage of the pot. However, these advantages aside, the higher stakes are very tough on beginners. It takes time to learn the game and this time is best spent at low stakes where mistakes are affordable. Beginning at low stakes and moving up one step at a time is the most efficient use of time and money for a beginner.

This brings us to the next step; how to realize the plan. No matter what stakes you are playing the risk of losing is always present and no skill in the world can prevent losses from happening. By playing correctly you will win more than you lose but there is no guarantee that your wins and losses are evenly distributed over time. Even professional players have bad streaks. In order to cope with bad streaks you need a generous poker budget. A budget that will give you the margins you need to reach higher stakes and bigger pots. This budget is known as the bankroll. To make any long term profit from poker you must manage your bankroll properly. You can play every single hand correctly and still lose all your money if you don't have a proper bankroll management.

Short Stack Strategy Bankroll Management

When you use the short stack strategy you won’t play many hands and the few hands you play may not always turn out in your favour. This makes you susceptible to bad streaks and therefore you need a quite big bankroll. The general consensus is that this bankroll should correspond to 30 buy-ins; i.e. 30 x 20 BB. This bankroll is big enough to cushion your losses and small enough to be fully utilized. You don't want your losses to eat up a big portion of your bankroll but you don't want a big portion of your bankroll sitting around collecting dust either. 30 buy-ins give you the perfect balance.

$0.02/0.04 are the lowest available NL stakes in most poker rooms and therefore they are good stakes to start at for beginners.

We have already established that a correct bankroll management will help you reach higher stakes and bigger pots. However, it is not realistic with a continuous ascension to higher stakes. Occasionally you will have to move down to lower stakes to cope with bad streaks. This brings us to the final bankroll management rule, namely when to move up to higher or down to lower stakes:

Please observe that it makes no difference to your bankroll management if you play at one or several tables at the same time. Playing for one hour at two tables is the same thing as playing for two hours at one table as far as your bankroll management is concerned. Playing on multiple tables does not require a bigger bankroll, it just gives you more value for your time. It goes without saying that all the tables you play at must match the stakes allowed by your bankroll.

Below is the short stack strategy bankroll management road map for the initial low stakes:

We will round off this chapter with a proverb that you should carry with you at all times:

Play only the stakes your bankroll can handle and use only a bankroll that you can handle.