Bankroll management is one of the biggest tools in your poker arsenal. Thankfully, I learned this early at the Royal Flush Club after losing consistently before I joined up with them.

Bankroll management in my opinion (and just about any good player you’ll talk to)  is one of the most important factors that you need to learn about. Proper Bankroll management will help you to build your bankroll if your a winning player and it will help you decrease your losses if your a new player trying to learn the game. This theory holds true for cash games and SnG’s/MTT’s although I speak specifically for SnG’s in this post.

At the time of posting I have been concentrating my efforts on single table Sng’s at Full Tilt Poker with good results so far having over doubled my money from a $30 deposit to just over $68. OK, $38 is not a huge amount but being able to double your money is a huge achievement where ever you invest money. (I say invest because I’m not in the game to gamble, I’m investing money in the firm knowledge that my study of the game and its dynamics will eventually give me the edge over players for whom it is just a gamble and/or they just don’t have the time or patience or maybe  no desire to take their game up a level with study.)

So how do you manage your bankroll? How much do you need to start playing and what kind of money should you be investing in each SnG?

Well, I’m assuming that your pretty much starting out if your reading this so I would recommend an initial deposit to a site of $60-$100. Yes, I did start with $30 and build up to $68 but It wasn’t without first learning from losing and then getting quite a bit of experience of playing SnG’s, with my friends at the poker club I’m a member of, watched a lot of informational videos on how to play and having personal lessons from my coach (Thanks Al!) from the Royal Flush Club. (Some of those guys are winning serious money by the way, check the site out on the link above. It was one of the best investments as far as poker goes that I had the good sense to make rather than trying to learn blindly how to play properly.)

So firstly to be able to properly bankroll single table Sng’s we need 30 times the initial buy in of the level we want to play at. For example if we want to start playing in at the $2 + $0.25 level we need thirty times $2.25 which works out at $67.50. This is the MINIMUM amount we should have to play at the $2 + $0.25 level. If at any point we drop below 30 buy ins ($67.50) we also drop down to the next lowest buy in amount until we can build our bankroll back up to thirty buy ins at the $2 + $0.25 level.

This cash management strategy helps us in several ways:

1) If your losing at the level you start out at its a message, Your not good enough to be up there yet! Accept it, drop down a level, build your money, skills and knowledge up then try again.

2) Due to the nature of the system you will naturally find a level at which you can play well. Lower stakes usually means the standards of the players will be lower, the higher the stakes your playing for the more Sharks, (good players) your likely to bump into.  (That’s why a lot of pro’s don’t play in too high a stake level, not so many fish to feed them.) When you find the right level for you, hover there and build your bankroll until you have AT LEAST 30 buy ins for the next level up. Go for it again when you achieve this or just stay there making money, whatever your preference or ambitions tell you.

3)If your learning the game you get maximum experience for your money as it will last much, much longer than if you start jumping into $5 or $10 games trying to make a quick buck, This might work over a game or two but you’ll end up losing the whole lot sooner or later.

4) When your dipping your toes in at higher levels periodically it gives you good experience of playing against better players, watch them closely and learn from the people who are winning the games. You can pick up lots of different strategies this way and you don’t bust out and lose all your money doing it. ‘Learn from experience’ is a good rule of thumb but I prefer ‘Learn from other peoples experience.’ That really accelerates your understanding of the game.

5) When you see your bankroll constantly building up (however slowly) its a very satisfying feeling, this encourages you to play well at all times because you want to keep it going so you can see how far you can take it. Also when your in the habit of managing your bankroll correctly it discourages you from wanting to risk big chunks of the bankroll that you have worked so very hard to build up. Remember that as you reach higher stakes the profits and your skill will improve. Rush into the big games and you’ll keep losing and the habit of losing will become part of your game. Don’t let that happen! A huge part of being a good poker player is self control and that extends into the area of bankroll management just as importantly as it does to your play at the table.

Stick to these rules, practice and learn from others and you wont be one of those guys constantly depositing to your poker account time after time.

© Naishster for Rakeback Poker Video Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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