Why is the Bankroll so important

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PW300

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As a recreational player, I've never bothered to read up on strategies used in poker but to increase my chances of winning I've recently started to do a bit of study. One of the topics I've heard mentioned is the importance of bankroll management but I'm a little unsure what
1) is actually meant by this and
2) why is it so important?

Still getting to grips with all this new terminology so sorry if it seems like a stupid question.
 
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Bankroll is the money that you put aside to play poker. generally, if you're a good winning player, then about 30 buyins for a big bet game and 300 big bets for a limit game is considered statistically adequate to withstand variance.

If you're a recreational player and have unlimited funds, bankroll management becomes less of an issue.
 
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freestocks

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It's not just how well you play, you also need to handle money. If you put all your money on one hand, you have poor bankroll management. If you keep your cool and play in proportion to the amount you have, you are managing your bankroll.


The only stupid question is a ****y one.
A humble question will be treated with kindness.
 
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Broon1234

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Bankroll management becomes important if you don't want to or are unable to put in more funds to play poker AND you are a winning player. The concept insures you don't go break due to variance with a bad string of luck. If you're playing rec and additional funds aren't an issue then likely neither is bankroll management.
 
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XXPXXP

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it is very important
because play poker is playing money.
the other thing is poker is a game of not 100% win, unless you hit Royal flush every time.
 
fletchdad

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You can search it in the forum or google.

BRM is how to keep yourself from going broke provided you have the skills to play in the levels you are currently playing in.

There are different opinions and different BRM suggestions, depending on if you play cash or STT/MTT.

Basically, you need x amount of BI (buy ins) and if you fall below that you need to move down.

Like, you are playing .10nl cash. you should have a minimum of $300 to play here. But that can also be $200, or $ 500 depending on situation. Cash, a rule of thumb is 20BI minimum, but 30-40BI gives you a larger safety net. If you fall below, you need to move down in stakes.

STT/MTT you will probably want a higher amount of BI in your BRM.

This is all situational, and different things need to be taken into consideration, but having 30-40 BI is never bad.
 
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kevinmarkus

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Do you guys have any suggestions for a noobie with like 7 bucks in free roll cash in their account?? I'm trying to #runitup ;)
 
andyt5303

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Do you guys have any suggestions for a noobie with like 7 bucks in free roll cash in their account?? I'm trying to #runitup ;)

Find a game you like, whether NLHE/tournies/cash games whatever it may be and get good at it. Don't spread such a thin bankroll over a number of different games where your ability varies. Focus on just one that you're best at.
 
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If I'm looking to enter tournaments which cost between 3 -7$ to play, how much bankroll should I be starting with?
 
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As a recreational player are you just playing for fun and happy to pay for your entertainment?

You should never play more than you can afford to lose!

If you want to deposit and play say $10 a week and once a year enter a $200 live tournament,
and your household income can easily afford that instead of say visiting theatres, gyms, music festivals, model trains, flower arranging, or whatever, then that is fine.

However if you want to play to win then you need to keep score.
The way to keep score in poker is to set aside a bankroll.

Some players start at zero and play freerolls to build up a bankroll.
Some players decide a certain amount of money they can afford to be their starting bankroll.
Some start casually and after a while have a big win or realise they have had enough winnings to accumulate a bankroll.

What normally happens next is people play with that money (often at too high stakes) until they lose it all and then moan about having lost their bankroll.

This is where bankroll management comes in.
There are enough threads and columns about this. So there is no point in going in to details here, but basically it just says only stake a small percentage at a time and being a percentage means that if the bankroll goes down the percentage will be a smaller amount and if the bankroll is growing the percentage then allows for experimenting with higher stakes. Managing the bankroll should in theory ensure there is always something to play with and enable it to be worked as hard as possible.
For the average recreational player just keeping an eye on the balance and ensuring it is trending upwards not going down is a good indication whether the performance and stakes are appropriate. If things are going the wrong way then lower the stakes.

The other thing you have to decide is how you want to define your bankroll. For instance some of it could be kept in your bank account.
You could have separate bankrolls for each online site and for live games or you could decide to view everything combined as a single bankroll.
These are personal decisions, there is no right or wrong answer.
 
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Because you can play flawless poker, get your chips in good every hand for a long period of time and still lose.

As others said it depends on your goals, reasons for playing, and risk tolerance. For me currently if I bust my online roll completely I can't afford right now to reload and comfortably play the games I want to play. I recently started playing live and my roll is NOT sufficient for 1/2 live but I'm willing to take the chances with profit from online poker at this time because I want to try live poker. Not everyone can handle this or will agree with this. That said I adhere quite strictly these days to my BRM online because I've gone busto on short rolls in the past and it's no fun.

Right now I consider my live and online BR one in the same but if I had some extra money I would be ok with padding my roll and keeping a separate live and separate online roll. I keep some online and some in a separate bank account.

BRM becomes more crucial if you want to take poker seriously but it can be fun to apply BRM as a challenge of sorts, a game if you will. But if you're living off poker then it's no joke and it is absolutely critical to success.

The key thing to remember is consider your risk tolerance combined with the fact that you WILL lose sometimes. We've all lost stacks to one outers on the river when playing correctly, now imagine how much of the time you lose when playing even perfectly based on simple odds and the fact that flushes can lose to higher flushes or boats, you'll miss your flushes 2/3 of the time on average, and tons of other variables regardless of how well you play you're going to lose your buy ins sometimes. So a bankroll ensures that you don't lose too much of your poker money at once and that you can keep playing.
 
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