How do you learn bankroll mangement???

This question is simple.

How do you learn bankroll mangement?
I have the money to play, I don't like how much I have lost.


bleeding green annie

There are many different theories regarding bankroll management, such as the 5% rule etc... but in my oppinion its best to have a different bankroll rule for each type of game you are playing, for example, the easiest form of poker to cash out on is a cash game, then its a sit and go, then a multi-table sit and go, then multi-table tournaments.

So in terms of bankroll management I would stick to the following rules:

You must have at least:

-20 buy-ins in your BR for ring games
-30 buy-ins for sit and gos
-40 buy-ins for multi-table sit and gos
-50 buy-ins for multi-table tournaments

Following these guidlines has helped me a great deal. Hope this helps.

On a $1000 bankroll you should be playing:

25c/50c NLHE ring games
$30 + $3 sit and gos
$20 + $2 multi-table sit and gos
$15 + $1.50 multi-table tournaments

These examples are rounded to common stakes in an online poker room.

On top of all this, always know when to drop in stakes and when to climb in stakes... this is all mainly about being disciplined, if you find you have the bankroll to play in $30 sit and go's but you find you are consistantly loosing, then drop to the $20 etc.... a good free software to use online is www.pokerdominator.com, you have to manually put in your results but it is a good tool.

I believe 30 buyins for SnGs is too low. ESPECIALLY if you're playing turbos.

as a standard i also prefer to have 25+ buyins for ring games

There is nothing really to learn about it, it's more just a system of keeping up with you bankroll.

As for you, It really just depends on you to determine how much $ is needed for your particular limit.

I play .05/.10 and I prefer to keep 25 buy-ins or more as well for my ring games. What that essentially means is the max buy-in for a 5c/10c table is $10, so for me to be comfortable at 5c/10c, I would need $250(25 buy-ins worth) or more to play comfortably.

When you decide how many buy-ins you want, you should choose a limit and amount that if you lose your buy-in, It won't make you mad OR cost you too much of your bankroll.

For instance, If I was trying to play 5c/10c with $50 and not $250, losing a $10 dollar buy-in would be 20% of my overall bankroll, which is WAY too high. Wheras with $250 in my account, losing $10 only becomes 4% of my bankroll, which isn't going to send me tilting or affect how i play

It is a very important part of your game b/c it effects your game directly. Back to the $50 bankroll, losing $10 would affect my bankroll so much that I would play different, and worse poker. (kinda like playing with scared money)

So Set your limit to your own comfort level. Hope that helps

There are various guidelines and systems you can follow, but they're all pretty straightforward, so there isn't much to learn. The thing you do need is self-discipline to stick with whatever rules or guidelines you choose to adopt. If you're not capable or poor in this regard, it's a psychological issue, and while people can give tips that help them, there's probably no simple answer that works for everyone.

Bankroll management means that you only play games when your bankroll is sufficient to withstand a downswing. IE, the extra money keeps you around when things temporarily go bad.

Every winning player goes through downswings, and losing ten buy-ins at ring games (more for MTT's and such) is not uncommon.

HOWEVER, most players are losing players. For that 75% (or whatever) of the population, bankroll management is not an issue because their career is a downswing. Their larger bankroll does not serve to hold them over until their luck get better, but merely keeps them around longer until they inevitably lose it all.

Bankroll management is not a skill that you need to learn. Just play ring games where you can afford 20 buy-ins. If you lose half a dozen buy-ins, drop to a lower limit. If you win $, don't move up in limits until you have at least 20 buy-ins *and* feel comfortable making the transition.

It's similar with S&G's and tournaments. James Godfrey's list seems fine to me. Just make sure you move down if you're losing, and don't move up until you can afford it.

Now, if "don't like how much I have lost" is the real problem," then it makes me think that you're either playing for more money than your are comfortable with (in which case the fix is obvious) or you're simply not a winning player (yet).

CardsChat is blessed with a lot of winning players who are willing to help you improve your game. But keep in mind that you will be hard pressed to find a winning player who has not put money and dozens of off-the-table hours into studying poker.
Personally, I have spend more money on poker books than I have on deposits. I've also cashed out a lot more than I've spent on poker books. For the first couple months of my online poker career I spend more time learning off the table than at the table.

Check out the some of the user-created videos (http://www.cardschat.com/f53/), as that's a good way to get a feel for what some of the winning players are doing. Also, post some of your questionable hands in the ring (http://www.cardschat.com/f50/) and tournament (http://www.cardschat.com/f51/) analysis sections and some of us will give you our opinions. Read other people's posts in the aforementioned sections as well, as it's cheaper to learn from other people's mistakes.

Good luck, and I hope to see you around.

You dont learn it, you do it. Stick to Ferguson rules, available at Tilt. That is all.

The link for the Ferguson document at Full Tilt only gives me a blank page. I've written to them several times about it, with absolutely no response. Any ideas where else it might be available?

No I disagree. People make bankroll management far more complicated than it is. I from my experience had a hard time with brm when I first started out and I have went broke before, but I did figure out brm. People will tell you, you need 30 buy ins for this, 20 buy ins for that, I would ignore all of that. Let me explain why.

Bankroll management to me are rules set by you not someone else, I mean I'm not saying that you can't follow someone elses but I personally suggest to sticking to what you are comfortable with. I mean I myself don't like to play at low limits but I also want to have enough many where if I hit a losing streak I can have enough to play more games. Newer players should stick to a more strict brm than more experienced players, but I know few very good players on here that stick very strict brm, its because thats what they feel comfortable with not because someone told them to follow Ferguon rules.

So basically in one sentence, make your own guideleness for your bankroll that you are comfortable with.

I try to play only 2% but poker is about taking risks so I will jump up to as much as 6% at the most.... I have alot of friends who never do anykind of bankroll management and have been up $3000.00 only to loose it a week later... Donkeys... ANyways just sticking to Discipline Bankrolling is a good thing to live by in Poker...
Donkey Smash

It depends are you an over all winner or over all losing player thats the question.

Winner's
30 buy-ins for ring games
50 buy-ins for SNG's
100 buy-ins for your MTT's
300 buy-ins for rebuy and add-on MTT's

IF your a losing player study and get better and use the following bankroll guide lines

100 buy-ins ring games
200 buy-ins sit and go's
300 buy-ins for MTTS
500 buy-ins for rebuy and add-on MTTS

Those guide lines for losing players should keep you in the game until you become a more refine and winning player and then you can loosen your bankroll guidelines to the winning players bankroll guidelines.

Quality post ^^^^^

BRM is definately a personal thing. The above posts are really a rule of thumb, but it certainly doesn't take into account of your personal playing style, your aversion to 'risk of ruin' etc etc. Only you can decide how precious your bankroll is and only you know if your a winning player. So dependant on a number of factor, you should be able to come up with a BRM designed to suit yourself.

For example, I'm a pretty nitty with BRM so I play with 40+ buy ins at a particular cash game level. When I get to around 40 buy ins for the next level I move up. If I lose 10 buy ins I move down. Simple as that for me really.

Here's one, and it's active as of today ...

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/chris-ferguson-challenge

Although BRM is completely up to you, that is a crazy low figure. 300 big bets (not the same as big blinds) is just 6 max buy-ins for a given limit. Even winning players are going to hit downswings bigger than this. Unless you're playing short-stack strategy, I'd suggest 3-4x that cushion, at least. But, your example indicates that you only need 300 big blinds, not big bets, which makes even less sense.

Personally, I require closer to 1500 big bets before I move up levels. But, I'm playing a conservative multi-tabling plan, with no plans on ever reloading.

yeah. need more than that..

all of this information is very helpful on choosing where and how i want to spend my money... i appreciate all the knowlege that is shared in this forum... you all ROCK... TYTY