Bankroll Management (Without it, then why even play?)

Bankroll Management,

I know this subject has been talked and been dragged through the cards ONE MILLION TIMES so allow me to talk aboutit for the ONE MILLIONth and ONE time, because this concept so the most important thing in poker BAR-NONE!

First off,let me explain what Bankroll Management is and how I use it to my advantage. Lets say, I start with $50 in my Roll and I want to turn this into a cool million (keep dreaming) the best way to do this is to use it wisely and "Bankroll Management" is the only way to do this.

With only $50 you can only afford small bring-ins from tourneys and small buy-ins for Cash Games.

Firstly, You only and I mean only can buy in to cash games for less than 5% of your bankroll so really your buy-in for cash games would be less than or equal to $2.50, Which is at the $0.05-$0.10 NL games at FTP the max you can bring there is $2.00. This is a safe limit for someone with only $50.

Secondly, if the game ever starts to become aggressive and the POT SIZE, ever gets to 10% of your bankroll which for you math majors out there would be $5.00 you MUST leave that table it is to risky to sit at the table at that very moment.

Now Tournaments: this is a little different.

When you are only playing at 1 Table tournaments the rules are the same when you are buying in for Cash games you can buy in for 5% of your bankroll which is $2.50 in this case, However; at MultiTable Tournaments since you have a far less chance of cashing in this types of tournaments you should only buy in for 2% of your bankroll or $1.

These steps WORK trust me Ferguson took these very steps in his challenge to go from $0 to $10000 without depositing and if you follow these simple rules you can do the exact same.

Hope this helps

-Jp

Yes, i know. It was the very first thing i learned.
You should stay away from .05/.10 till you can do a full buy-in, the BB and SB will kill you quick.

Bankroll management is definitely one of the most important factors in your game , unfortunately i had to learn this the hard way after going busto countless numbers of times. But you also have to remember that its easier said than done because maintaining a bankroll requires a high amount of discipline which some players just dont have.

U agree when I first started playing online I would play $10 $20 tourneys or put my whole bankroll on 1 table. I quickly learnt that was not a good idea. I would lose my Bankroll very fast. The first year I played online I was in the negative. Now I am in the profits on FT

It is the most important thing in poker for players taking serious steps to become winning players long term. For the players who just log on for a few hours on a Saturday night, BRM comes pretty much last. lol. I used to be very happy sticking $50 in and playing $10 games until it was gone. No probs- I enjoyed it and occassionally won big.

With $50, I'd disagree with what you said. If your serious about getting up to the decent paying stakes, you can USUALLY play higher games. If your a low-stakes grinder, thats fine, but if you have a bit more ambition and (most importantly) have the ability to buy back in for that $50, there is nothing stopping you from playing a 10 buy-in game. Higher if your feeling brave.
In my very humble opinion, a cash amount only becomes a 'bankoll' when it reaches a level you cant comfortably buy back in at. Say low/mid hundreds? Obviously this isn't a 'one rule for everyone' as different players have stricter/looser BRM ideas. Its just my own feeling.

Great post though. Could well be the definitive BRM post with some tweaking. lol.

Well if thats the case and you have money to just lose on the internet playing poker than why not just put the max amount which I believe is $2400 on Fulltiltpoker for a week (I think that is right not to sure) and just playing the $10 games then. Still even with $2400 BR and playing in $10/$20 cash games or $10 bring-in for tourneys this does not follow the rule of playing only 5% of your Stack (1 Table SNGS) and it violates the 5% buy-in rule for cash games. Even with $2400 in your BR, IF you are following these rules to a "T" then the highest NL game you would play in would be the .50/1 NL games because the max you can buyin in at those limits is $100. and $120 is 5% of your $2400 bankroll. I know .50/$1 does look very tiny for someone with $2400.

It took Ferguson nearly 9 months to make it from $0 to $100 and another 9 Months to make it from $100 to $10000. If you play the way your suggesting you might make plenty of money (IF YOUR LUCKY) in the short run but you like every poker player will have downfalls and with what your suggesting even if you have $2400 and doubled it to lets say $5000 you would lose that roll I would say within a day during a long string of bad luck.

I have had times when my bad luck on the internet went on for almost 6 months straight, I mean I never won a huge hand for nearly 6 months won maybe $2 here, $2 there and then lose a $100 pot right after that. Everyone has had these bad strings of luck, there is no way to avoid them.

I wrote this for beginners to help improve their game, However; every pro knows without this BRM they would all be broke. Atleast, I hope they know that.

-Jp

I am not suggesting this is the way I play, or advising it for anyone else. I merely pointed out where the divide is between 'fun money' and 'bankroll'. Depositing the max amount defeats the object...I was just saying that a huge amount of internet players simply deposit what they can afford to lose, and play whichever games they feel like til' its gone.
I think you are being a bit too defensive about this, maybe because you've written a post that repeats a hundred that have gone before without actually saying anything fresh or new. I tried to be nice, why not just accept what I'd said? Nothing to argue with. Your post was entitled
"BRM, without it- why even play?"
Well I told you: For enjoyment.
Not every player has dreams of making a living from poker. For some, its just a hobby.

Also, recently reading about some pros, such as durrr Tom Dwan, I discovered that he started out playing six dollar sNg's on a 50 dollar deposit. I feel that if you are playing in a comfortable range for yourself off a skimpy bank roll, you can start out playing some bigger games until you get your bankroll to stabilize. For moving up in stakes, however, I do recommend you follow good BRM off the initial stakes you begin at.

Yes this is generally a true statement, but keep in mind that for the
average player it is more important to keep a close eye on the 10%
bank roll factor.

Poker pros often have a built in monitor what keeps check on bank
roll erosion. This is from having lost so many bank rolls. lol

But going to a 5/10 table with $50 can also be a honey hole because
''some'' players do get lucky.

More importantly, than just looking for a $1 table buy-in, is the fact
that you should at all times, anyway... watch the chip stacks when
joining any table regardless of the buy-in:

Avoid joining tables where you come in at $50 dollars, and sitting
all around you are $1500, $12,500, $3,032, $7,203, $5,920 and
so on, with the other 8 players. You may think them to be a source
of vitamins, but they will bust you out, and you can't experiment
because of your short stack, so don't even think about joining.

No matter how smart, how good a player you are, a short stack
carries with it penalties that no player can bridge. This is even
more important when you start to sit at a casino table, where the
hubbub and chatter can make you forget to look at the chip stacks
before you sit. Then there may not be many seats available
in the entire room. Just tell the sign-in manager that you want to
wait for another table not filled with hogs!

They don't like that: They want you to sit where they tell you
to sit quite often. Don't tell them to get stuffed, just tell the
young lady or fella that you are not joining that table: OR you will
have to increase your buy-in amount, increasing your liabilities.
Ignoring this, will make you the buy-in king at any table and you
will be loved by all. You'll never get a stack going either, unless
you are extremely lucky.

Write the book, "How to go broke $50 dollars at a time." Nobody
will buy it, cause we've all been there.

Watch the chip stacks before you sit. Go to tables that have
about the same as you're playing with, and watch the occasional
big stack bully like a HAWK.

Careful about calling his raises... When you play against big stacks
try to play ''high card poker'' and avoice trying to pull out a
straight with 2,3 offsuit, unless it is a unsought opportunity, stick
to highest cards to inflict more punishment against big stacks,
especially until you get some chips built up. Playing compromising
cards will win, but eventually you'll lose more over long term.

When I start with $50 buy-in. I'm very careful about the other
stacks not being too big. I've had to wait for upwards of 2 hours
to get to a "nominal" table to play.

This is another form of bank management.

PokerCoach of Dallas

yeah i was stupid and started playin $10 or $20 MTT's and slapshin my earned cash straight onto the $1-$2 cash games. Not a good idea cos loosing money is kinda frustrating. So thats y we keep to bankrool mamangement cos the swings of poker are crazy, spesh on-line.

But if u've got enough money in ur real bank, and cant b arsed to drive to a casino then it's kinda fun at times to get the bank card out and deposit some money for that big MTT or cash game.