Set Aside your Bankroll

Managing your bankroll whilst playing Poker is perhaps one of the most important, if not the most important aspect of your game strategy, especially if you are seriously interested in winning money on poker - or any other game for that matter. If you’ve set your sights on playing poker professionally, it is imperative that you manage your bankroll correctly and set aside a certain amount of money solely used for playing. This amount, the bankroll, must be managed in a mathematically sustainable manner in order for you to make it as a player.

Don’t Expect too Much

Give yourself room for bad luck. In poker, luck or chance are real factors, even if it is a game of skill. Bad luck sometimes seems to extend over very long periods of time, without it breaking an experienced player. We are of the opinion that good strategies money and bankroll management is also hugely important for Beginners; however, as soon as you have amassed a big enough bankroll - it becomes even more important to protect it. Do so by ensuring that you do not play for higher stakes than what is mathematically sustainable for your bankroll. Try not to bet to lose everything otherwise you’re starting from scratch again and play the ‘bad luck’ times with caution on your side.

Maximum Percentage for A Single Game

We would suggest using no more than 2 percent (2%) of your bankroll in any one single table or tournament - this may appear very conservative to some folks but especially for tournament players, we would not budge from a conservative standpoint. You may increase the percentage to about 5% if you only play Sit & Go or cash games, but if you play tournaments with large numbers of players, 2% is a safe and dependable sum.

Large internet Poker tournaments often have 500 or even 1500 participants and it becomes very easy, even for highly skilled poker players, to miss the money over fifty tournaments in a row. Many of the world’s top poker players have lost everything they own during the course of their careers on more than one occasion.

If you are having an very long bad luck period, you should always lower your stakes so that they are the same in relation to the bankroll. If the bankroll falls below a level where it is not worth very much to you, you can play for higher shares of the bankroll, but it always pays to be conservative. It is important to mention that conservative poker players have been able to live on playing and betting on poker for fifty years, with extremely modest bankrolls - this is because they are not tempted by the glamour of risking their entire bankroll to get rich in one night. It therefore pays to be conservative.

Lower the limits on Cashing Out

Remember to lower your stakes when cashing out. Many, otherwise sensible players, complain of ”the cash-out curse”, that they always seem to lose large amounts after cashing out, without considering the fact that their bankrolls are more sensitive to fluctuations if they do not lower their stakes when reducing their available bankroll.

Winning at Poker with a Conservative Bankroll

In the end, if you take this advice, you end up more a winner than if you approached your bankroll in a non-conservative manner and you’ll win more at Poker.