Proper Bankroll Tracking?

What financial statistics are important for maintaining tight track of your bankroll? I started a rough spreadsheet in Wordpad that keeps track of my debits (how much I pay, including rake, to enter a SnG for instance) and my gross profits (whatever I end up taking away from the table) and my net profits. I also threw in a Return On Investment percentage for good measure. Each of these is calculated individually for each game, and then tallied down manually to totals for the day. Each day's stats are then tallied down in to a career state (probably a monthly and yearly if I make it that far.)

Is this sufficent, or is there more that I could benefit from? Also, how am I suppose to factor in deposits to my bankroll? Right now I'm just considering my initial deposit as both as credit and a debit since I could theoretically remove it from my account at any time. Also, how do I count bonuses, such at FTP's deposit matching bonus when it rolls around?

You've got the bulk of it.

Track rake independently as well as a part of your gross debits - you'll eventually want to look at the ROI variation based on rake at specific limits (as an example, I play cash rather than SnG's, but the rake at 10nl and 25nl is a killer percentage of your winrate compared to the rake at 50nl and 100nl, I'm sure this applies to the SnG fees as well).

Track bonuses/rakeback as part of your gross credits and independently. You'll want to be able to track ROI based strictly on your play, but will want to be able to view gross ROI as well. "Rakeback Pros"/"Bonus Whores" make a significant percentage of their profits based on rb/bonuses (I'm not knocking the practice) but still want to be able to see their unadjusted winrate.

I suggest that you simply treat your deposit as your initial br - hopefully this will grow over time, and with proper br management and game study, your br should grow over time - so hopefully it's a one time thing (it wasn't for me ). But don't treat it as something you can withdraw until it grows big enough to treat that way. That's not to say you can't withdraw it, just that it's not healthy to view it as something you will withdraw until it exceeds your br requirements.

So, let's say we're playing 5nl, and want to maintain at least 20 buyins (sorry for the cash game example, I'm not familiar w br logic for SnG's) and never plan on playing a higher limit, I might plan on withdrawing $50 when my br grows to say $175 (i.e., withdraw 10 buy ins when I've got 35 buy ins, maintaining a minimum 20 buy ins plus a 5 bi cushion). Note, though, that if I plan on playing a higher limit, I won't want to touch the br until it exceeds the minimum to play the limit I want to play at.

If you use a spreadsheet instead of WordPad (MS Works includes one, forget what it's called, you can also google free spreadsheet tools, Sun distributes one, forget what it's called), you'll be able to calculate and graph more quickly.

If you feel like it, try downloading the free trial version of either PT3 or HEM and look at the tabs under Tournament play, and the graphs, to see what financial stats are usually tracked.

Thanks for the tips. I think, if I understand the definition of rake properly, that the SnGs I play are 1.00 + .20 so the rake is about .20 per game, and I've been including it in gross debit. Are you saying I need to include a separate column solely for rake, and a seperate ROI which is ROI without rake as well? Or am I misunderstanding you?

As for rakeback I jumped in to Full Tilt to play play money with a friend initially and so I didn't sign up for a rakeback program. I'm in the process of writing Full Tilt and seeing if I can get it added post sign-up. Not sure what the odds are on that.

I found the one that Sun distributes, it's an office suite called Open Office. I think it will work, the only problem seems to be that I'll have to add a new row for every game I play, which could be annoying. I'll have to try to find a way around that. Thanks for the feedback!

ZRTaylor said:

Thanks for the tips. I think, if I understand the definition of rake properly, that the SnGs I play are 1.00 + .20 so the rake is about .20 per game, and I've been including it in gross debit. Are you saying I need to include a separate column solely for rake, and a seperate ROI which is ROI without rake as well? Or am I misunderstanding you?

At $1.20, the rake is 17% of your investment to play. For a $6 + $0.50 SnG, the rake is 7% of your investment. As you move up in limits, tracking and understanding this will become increasingly important, it hits your gross ROI directly.

As for rakeback I jumped in to Full Tilt to play play money with a friend initially and so I didn't sign up for a rakeback program. I'm in the process of writing Full Tilt and seeing if I can get it added post sign-up. Not sure what the odds are on that.

If you didn't deposit and only played play money, I believe you're still eligible for rb. Check with one of the rakeback sites.

I found the one that Sun distributes, it's an office suite called Open Office. I think it will work, the only problem seems to be that I'll have to add a new row for every game I play, which could be annoying. I'll have to try to find a way around that. Thanks for the feedback!

Click to expand...

gl!!!

As a related side note, how is rake handled in ring games for Full Tilt, and how do I add that in to the math to calculate how much of my take-away from a ring game is actual rake?

Poker tracking program break down how much rake you've paid, if you don't have one you could make estimates from the number of base ftps earned.