Poker Bankroll Management

USAPlayers.com Online Poker Poker Strategy Poker Bankroll Management

One of the most important factors on whether someone will be successful in poker is if they use proper Poker Bankroll Management. In any one game of poker, anything can happen due to the involvement of luck. This is why playing at a buy-in level that you can afford is of supreme importance. The goal is to have enough of a poker bankroll to be able to endure the monetary swings involved in the game. The amount of your poker bankroll will dictate what stakes you should be playing in order to have enough of a cushion to be able to endure the ups and downs you will encounter when playing poker. No matter how good you are at the game, if you do not use proper Bankroll Management in Poker you will likely never succeed at the game. Many players are talented and would be winning players, but since they play games that are higher than what they should be playing, they may not be bringing in cash. Understanding the proper way to manage your poker bankroll will likely be the most valuable tool you will have in your USA Poker career.

Lets take a look at what the proper bankrolls are for various poker games. Lets first take a look at the necessary Poker Bankrolls for playing tournaments. When playing 9 man, single table, sit and go tournaments, commonly called sit and gos, you should have about 60 buy-ins in your poker bankroll for whatever sit and go you plan on attending. For example, if you are planning on playing $10 sit and gos, then you will want roughly $600 in your poker bankroll. If you are playing 18 man sit and gos, then you will want to have about 90 buy-ins for whatever stakes you are playing. If you are playing multi-table tournaments with any more than 200 players, you should have about 200 buy-ins in your bankroll. If you are playing $10 buy-in, multi-table tournaments, then you should have a poker bankroll of about $2,000. If you are going to focus on playing heads up sit and go tournaments, then you want about 40 buy-ins for whatever stakes you are playing. All of these are conservative enough to ensure that you do not risk the chance of losing your poker bankroll. You can adjust these a bit and not have quite as many buy-ins as recommended, but following this guideline will help you from losing your poker bankroll when focusing on tournaments.

When playing cash games you also want follow proper Management of Poker Bankrolls. When playing no-limit cash games, you will want to have about 20 maximum buy-ins for the stakes that you are playing. Many tables have a maximum buy in of 100 times the big blind. So if you are going to be playing $1/$2 no limit then you will need about $4,000 for your poker bankroll. No limit cash games can force big swings in your poker bankroll, so it is very important to have a big cushion with which you can work. If you are going to be playing limit poker, then you want to have about 300 big bets for whatever stakes you are playing. So if you are playing $1/$2 limit tables, you will want to have about $600 in your bankroll. By following these tips you will be sufficiently bankrolled for whatever cash game you decide to play.

Hopefully these will be useful tips you can use throughout your entire time playing poker. By following these guidelines you will be able to worry less about losing your whole bankroll while playing, allowing you to enjoy the game much more. You will be a more effective player since you will not be playing with what is called scared money. When properly Managing Poker Bankroll, you should be funded sufficiently and can play with the confidence and aggression that is needed to win in poker.