Poker Bankroll
Management Basics
Being a
successful cash game poker player requires a
great amount of attributes. Understanding the
game of poker is only one of these, and there
are many factors beyond the cards that can
attribute to your success. Bankroll management
is one of the most important things to any
player, and is often exercised very poorly. The
swing that you can take in a cash game can be
strenuous, and having the bankroll to handle
them is crucial.
If you are
playing No Limit Hold Em cash games, you are
going to want to be able to play a decent
variety of hands, such as suited aces, and
smaller pairs for a raise. You want to You want
to be able to maximize profits from these hands
when you hit, and need to have the right
bankroll to be able to do so. Without having the
right bankroll, you are going to be forced into
playing very tight and only playing premium
hands. Playing with scared money is never a
profitable venture. No Limit Hold Em is a game
of fearless aggression, not scared play. With
this style of play, if you are not getting the
cards, then you are not going to experience any
kind of profit. Having the right bankroll lets
you play more hands, and profit a lot more over
all because of it.
When you are
getting ready to enter the world of no limit
cash game poker, it is all about the amount of
buy-ins you have relative to the game in which
you are going to be playing. At the bare
minimum, you are going to want to have 10
buy-ins for the level that you are playing. Most
veteran poker players will tell you the to be
comfortable at all, you need to have at least
thirty buy ins. That means if you are playing
.25/.50, with a $50 max buy in, you want to have
$500 minimum, and preferably around $1500 to
play with. This rule does differ for the
hobbyist however, as many players will deposit
what they can lose without issue, and then just
simply re-deposit if they lose it.
If you are
going to be playing limit poker, than your
bankroll will be relative to how many big blinds
that you have. For a comfortable limit bankroll,
you want to have from two hundred to three
hundred big blinds available to you. If you are
playing limit poker, the swings that your
bankroll takes will not be nearly as drastic.
You will see more small short term swings, but
less over all variance. Limit takes a lot of
patience, and the trade off for not being as
volatile is playing more hours to win the same
amount as if you were playing No Limit.
Having a good
bankroll, and exercising good bankroll
management will help keep you off of tilt, and
the rough patches of running bad will not effect
you as much. Not having to worry about another
buy-in being there can really help you play your
best poker.
Every player has a different
financial situation, and you obviously need to
be doing what is best for you in terms of your
bankroll. Just remember, do not ever sit at a
level that you are not one hundred percent
comfortable playing. In poker, you always want
to bring your A game.
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