Bankroll Management, how to deal with your Money plaing Poker
The Poker term Bankroll refers to the capital (money) a Poker player has as his disposal to play Poker with.
Let's assume you have 20'000 $ on your bank account, then this is NOT your bankroll! Make a decision before you start playing Poker on how much money you want to invest. For the following examples we shall use a sum of 200 USD.
The goal of every professional poker play is to win as much money as possible and in any case not lose his whole bankroll. This approach can only be recommended to every recreational player, too! For a Poker Player his bankroll is like a tool. A carpenter uses a workbench, a disk saw etc. Professional craftsmen take good care of their tools! A professional craftsman knows: If he does not have any tools, he is out of work. The same applies to poker. The money (= bankroll) is the poker players tool! In Short: You may be the best player in the world, if you do not have any money, you can not win anything by playing poker!
Already in the Movie from the 60s professional gamblers were aware of this. Please read the citation from the movie The Cincinnati Kid with Steve McQueen:
...money ..., it's simply a tool, as a language is to thought.'
So, let's get down to the important things! What do you have to pay attention to, so that you do not lose your whole bankroll?
In short, you can put it like this:
1. Never put your whole Bankroll in one game!
2. Try to minimize the risk of going bankrupt.
We wrote the following Rules of the Thumb that will help you not lose your whole bankroll:
Limit Texas Hold'em Cashgame
Your whole bankroll should be at least the 300-fold to the big bet (2 times the Big Blind)
Example:
Your Bankroll: 200 $
Calculation: 200 $ divided by 300 = 0.66 $ for the big bet
Blind Levels: 0.66$ divided by 2 = 0.33$
Conclusion: You should in this case not play in Limit Cash Games, with the Big Blind being higher than 0.33 $!
Many Online Poker Providers offer a Limit Cash Game with Blinds of 0.15 $/ 0.30 $. This would be the right choice for the 200$ bankroll. With a Bankroll of 300$ you could give the 0.25 $ / 0.50 $ games a shot. If you keep winning and reach 600$ try the 0.50 / 1.00 $ game. If you start losing at a certain level, you have to return to a lower level and rebuild your bankroll. This approach has the advantage that you will not climb the ladder too quickly and you will not suddenly find yourself completely outclassed by your opponents.
If you think that you are way too good for playing at a 0.15 $ / 0.30 $ game, then ask yourself why your bankroll is not bigger? If you really are that good, your bankroll will rise very fast and you will be playing the big stakes sooner as you think. And if you have been playing poker for ages and your bankroll still is 200$, then you obviously are not too good for the 0.15 $/ 0.30 $ level. This statement might hurt, but if you are not honest to yourself, you will be a losing Poker player in the long run!
No Limit Texas Hold'em Cash Game
You should have about 20 fold of the Buy-In (1 to 20). With a bankroll of 200$ this means you should not sit at tables, where the maximum Buy-In is higher than 10$. Usually these would be blinds of 0.05 / 0.10 $. By the way, always Buy-In for the maximum, because you will not be able to force your opponents to make mistakes with a too small bankroll. Please see the article Call an All-In profitably in a Cashgame by using Structured Hand Analysis for more about this subject.
Once again, you might think you are too good for a 0.05 $/ 0.10 $ game. The answer here again is: If you really are too good, why is your bankroll only 200$? If you manage to play yourself up to 400$, you can try the 0.10 / 0.20$ Level.
Pot Limit Texas Hold'em Cash Game
We recommend using a similar approach as in No Limit Texas Hold'em Cash Games. In Pot Limit Hold'em, Pots can get very big with only a couple of bets, too! Use the 1 to 20 rule here, too. If you think this is a bit too cautious, maybe you can try a slightly more offensive approach and put a maximum of one fifteenth ( 1 / 15) of your bankroll on the line for the maximum Buy-In. In any case, do not risk a higher amount!
Single Table Sit and Go Tournament
Never invest more than 5 to 8 % of your bankroll in a single Sit & Go Tournament. If possible, try to play at the lower end of that range.
If you lose, be consequent and start playing lower buy-ins after a few lost tournaments!
Multitable Tournaments
At Multitable Tournaments with over 100 Players, where only the 10% of the players get paid out, you should never invest more than 2% of your Bankroll! The same rule as above applies here, too: Start playing smaller tournaments if the buy-ins suddenly is over 2% after a couple of lost tournaments. 2 % of 200$ are only 4$. You should not even think about playing a 4+0.40$ Multitable Tournament, as the Buy-In is over 2%!
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