Introduction to Bankroll Management

So, now we get to one of the single most important articles in this series. It’s not about strategy, or game selection, or reading your opponent, it’s about not losing all your money. You can’t get more important than that right? You can’t play poker if you don’t have any money.

The nature of the game of poker means that there will be times that you lose; even the absolute best players in the world lose. This is because luck plays a huge role in the short term results of poker – you can go all in with the best hand and still lose just because of luck. Fortunately for us, statistics mean that, if you’re a winning player, in the long term the luck will even itself out. However, that doesn’t help in the short term, which can be brutal. But Bankroll Management (also called BRM) basically stops you from going broke during your unlucky periods. It also helps you to play your absolute best at all times, because you’re not going to be playing your best when you’re down to your last $10!

What Exactly is Bankroll Management?

Your bankroll is the money you have available to play poker. No, that doesn’t mean your life savings; it means the money you can afford to lose. If you have $100 in your online poker account, your bankroll is $100. Bankroll Management is simply using this money in a way that doesn’t allow you to go broke during periods of bad luck.

Bankroll Management strategy varies depending on what type of game you play, whether it is Full Ring cash games, Short Handed cash games, Multi-Table Tournaments, or Sit and Gos.

When studying the below table, the number refers to the amount of buyins you are required to have in your bankroll to play a certain game. For example, if you play in a No Limit or Pot Limit cash game with blinds of $0.50 and $1 the maximum buyin for that game would be $100, so one buyin is $100 for a $0.50/$1 game. In most cash games, one buyin equals 100 big blinds. With Fixed Limit cash games, the Bankroll Management strategy uses big bets as a measurement, so if you are playing in a $1/$2 game, the big bet is $4. In tournaments, the buyin is simply the amount of money it costs to register for that tournament.

An example, using the table below, if you want to play in a No Limit Full Ring cash game with blinds of $0.05/$0.10, your poker bankroll must be at least $200 in order to compensate for stretches of bad luck.

Summary

• Bankroll Management refers to the management of the money you have available for playing poker.
• The main purpose of Bankroll Management is to stop you from losing all your money during periods of bad luck, which happen to every player.
• It also helps you continue to play well even when losing due to bad luck.
• Bankroll Management strategies vary depending on the type of game you play.