Poker Strategy: Bankroll management

Why do you need management

Never mind how good a player you are everyone suffers from different streaks of success depending on if their luck is holding up or not. A run of bad luck inevitably leads to a losing streak. If you do not possess good bankroll management then it can be the difference between going broke or staying ahead of the game and keeping yourself in a position to recover from your losses.

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What is a bankroll?

A bankroll is how much money that you have to play poker. If you just play online on one particular site, then set the level and what you can afford from your one account.

Cash game

limit game - 500 x limit big bets. i.e playing 1/2 limit = bankroll $1,000
no limit - 40 x No limit buy-ins. i.e playing 1/2 no limit and most you can have on table is $200 = a bankroll of $8,000

These are standard bankroll maths, but there are more aggressive bankrolls and more conservative, which will put less or more pressure on your bankroll. Obviously a more aggressive bankroll will put much more pressure on the player and means a run of bad luck can more easily wipe you out.

Tournament

The standard way of calculating this is to have 40 buy-ins for the level of tournament that you are playing, so for example, if you are playing $10+$1 tournaments then your bankroll should be $440. This is again a very standard way of working out your bankroll, and is extremely helpful for people who are beginners to the game.

The same rules apply throughout all of this advice - don't spend money that you cannot afford to lose.

Also if you are thinking about making poker your only source of income you must also take into account your own living expenses and also be sure to leave an excess for emergencies etc. what is clear is that by sticking closely to these guidelines you have a better chance of being successful over the long term.

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