While trying to think of things I write about in this blogg, I came up wit hte idea of writing a basic bankroll management guide, since I think this is a spot where lots of people fail. For me, it has been one of the most import things in poker. When I started thinking about bankroll management I also started to feel much more comfortable playing. There are times when I’ve sort of ignored it and I’ve paid for it.
For now I’ll just list the basic guidelines that other people recommend and add my own thoughts. These are for verious types ofhold’em.
NL ring games
I’ve heard a lot of different opinions on this. Everything from 10 to 40 buyins. I personally think 10 and even 20 buyins isn’t enough. Depending on your willingness to move down in stakes you should pick a number that you feel comfortable with. I’m currently not playing enough cash games to have experianced big variance but I can easily see myself loosing a few buyins on a bad day. I actually had one of those days last week. Since my philosophy is to start at very low levels and play until I feel comfortable wit that level before moving up, I haven’t really tried anyting above $100NL.
Limit ring games
The standard recommendation for limit play is 300 big bets (not big blinds). For instance at $.5/$1 you need $300. When I first started playing I playd above my bankroll cause I couldn’t findlow enough games on the sites I was playing at. I can easily see why the 300 big bets is need though. Despite what many people might think. I think the variance is slightly higher then in NL. You’re gonna have a lot more showdowns, and a lot more suckouts.
Sit’n'gos
The F.A.Q. on the 2 + 2 forums recommend 30-50 buyins for SNGs if I remember correctly. I’ve playd quite a few SNGs and feel that 30 buyins is a little low for me personally. It’s probebly ok for regular SNGs but for turbos I need much more to be comfortable. Maybe I just don’t feel comfortable enoug hwit hthe buyins I play, I don’t know. My worst downswing in turbos is 17 games without ITM I think.
Multi table tournaments
For MTTs I think the most common recommendation is somewhere around 100 buyins. I agree with that. And for rebuys I want like 400 times the original buyin, even though I’ve broken that rule myself a few times.
Playing above your bankroll
Sometimes you feel like playing bove your bankroll. I think it’s ok to do it once in a while as long as you feel comfortable with it. For example, you might want to take a shot at a bigger MTT. As long as your average buyin doesn’t get to high I think it’s ok to take a shot every now and then. You might also play above your bankroll while building it up for the first time, and don’t care about loosing your initial deposit. I think that’s fine to as long as you are ready to take the loss. Just remember though, if you’re inexperianced, getting a lot of hands playd for your money will help to improve your game. When I first started, many sites I playd on didn’t have a low enough level for my initial deposit, so I had to play slightly above my bankroll if I wanted to play SNGs, however, most sites nowadays have $1 or $2 SNGs so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Part 2 of this post will cover some tools you can use to keep track of your bankroll and records.
Hope this helps somebody.
