Bankroll and Money Management

Bankroll management is a huge skill in poker and if you know how to manage your money well, you are more then likely going to make money instead of losing money. Many players will deposit $100 and put it straight onto a $1/2 table. This is poor bankroll management and a sure fire way to end up bust. You need a thorough strategy to ensure, even through bad patches, you will still have a healthy bankroll. 

In short, bankroll management is all about keeping enough money available at all times so if you have a bad run of luck, you will still have a big enough bankroll to be able to make a nice profit. To do this you have to make sure you do not put too much of your bankroll at risk at any given point. Most players always wait until they have 10x the maximum buy-in of their chosen limit before they move up. For example, if you wanted to play $1/2 you would need a minimum of $2000 in your account and you couldn’t move to the higher level, $2/4, until you had $4000 in your account. They do this as if you have a bad spell and lose say, 3 buy-ins, you still have enough money to win that money back. It also practically eliminates the risk of losing the whole of your bankroll. 

Of course not all players play cash games, so what sort of bankroll do you need if you play SNG’s or MTT’s on a regular basis? Well for SNG’s, assuming you are playing 10 max tables, it is the same as cash games. You must keep at least 10x the buy-in. So, if you are playing $10 SNG’s you must have at least $100 in your account. MTT’s are different however. As the likeliness of going through huge spells without winning anything is significantly higher in MTT’s the amount you should risk on any given tournament is much lower. Players are advised to risk no more then 2% of their bankroll on a tournament. This helps protect players, even if they go thorough massive periods of time without placing in a tournament. 

So hopefully you have learned from this article how important the skill of money management is in poker and how to utilise it so you are putting minimum risk on your bankroll.