Being profitable at online poker requires that you have money to invest. The money that you are willing to invest is called your “bankroll”. In poker (Texas Hold'em) bankroll is King. Your bankroll is the total amount of money that you have that is dedicated just for playing poker. Seeing as my biggest stumbling block when I first started playing online poker was bankroll management, I figured I would dedicate this first article to that principle.
Poker is a game of ups and downs. You win some, you loose some - that is the nature of the game. Most good poker players have winning streaks and loosing streaks. Unfortunately the loosing streaks are usually much more prevalent. That is why bankroll management is so important. Early on I caught myself making the same mistake that I’ve heard of others making a lot. I would start playing at low buy-in sit-n-go’s that I could easily afford until I hit a loosing streak. I would figure that I was “due” for a win and would go to a higher buy-in tournament that I could not afford, trying to make my money back. Guess what happened? Yep, bye-bye bankroll! Sure you can try this if you want, and you will get lucky sometimes (yes, there is some luck involve in poker). You will find however that most of the time, that one tournament that you absolutely needed to win, will be the one that you will inevitably be the first one to be knocked out of.
Yes, it is true, there is luck involved in poker. There is also a great deal of skill involved. First rule of poker: Poker is won by short-term luck and long-term skill. This means that no matter how much skill you have, you will get unlucky. Some “donk” will call your pre-flop raise with 6-3 off suite, flop the nut straight and you and your pocket Aces will be on the rail. If you’ve played more than a hand-full of poker games, you know this to be true. Good bankroll management is what is going to make sure that you have enough money left over to fight another day.
I have a very simple rule for managing your poker bankroll. It is geared towards beginners playing low-limit cash games and small buy-in tournaments. It is called the 5% rule: You never buy-in to a tournament for more than 5% of your bankroll. For cash games, never buy-in for more than 5% of your bankroll and never have more than 10% of your bankroll on the table. For instance, if you have a bankroll of $200.00, your maximum buy-in for any tournament is $10.00 (this includes the rake). In fact, on large, multi-table sit-n-go’s and large tournaments, I recommend no more than 2.5%. In a cash game your max buy-in would be $10.00, and you would leave the table if you got $20.00 in chips. You can bounce right back in to your seat at the same table, but only with a $10.50 buy-in.
This system is the same one that Chris Ferguson used to go from small buy-in tournaments to a bankroll of $10,000 playing online Hold'em in 6 months. Hopefully you will see similar success. That’s it for poker tip #1. Enjoy!
Poker is a game of ups and downs. You win some, you loose some - that is the nature of the game. Most good poker players have winning streaks and loosing streaks. Unfortunately the loosing streaks are usually much more prevalent. That is why bankroll management is so important. Early on I caught myself making the same mistake that I’ve heard of others making a lot. I would start playing at low buy-in sit-n-go’s that I could easily afford until I hit a loosing streak. I would figure that I was “due” for a win and would go to a higher buy-in tournament that I could not afford, trying to make my money back. Guess what happened? Yep, bye-bye bankroll! Sure you can try this if you want, and you will get lucky sometimes (yes, there is some luck involve in poker). You will find however that most of the time, that one tournament that you absolutely needed to win, will be the one that you will inevitably be the first one to be knocked out of.
Yes, it is true, there is luck involved in poker. There is also a great deal of skill involved. First rule of poker: Poker is won by short-term luck and long-term skill. This means that no matter how much skill you have, you will get unlucky. Some “donk” will call your pre-flop raise with 6-3 off suite, flop the nut straight and you and your pocket Aces will be on the rail. If you’ve played more than a hand-full of poker games, you know this to be true. Good bankroll management is what is going to make sure that you have enough money left over to fight another day.
I have a very simple rule for managing your poker bankroll. It is geared towards beginners playing low-limit cash games and small buy-in tournaments. It is called the 5% rule: You never buy-in to a tournament for more than 5% of your bankroll. For cash games, never buy-in for more than 5% of your bankroll and never have more than 10% of your bankroll on the table. For instance, if you have a bankroll of $200.00, your maximum buy-in for any tournament is $10.00 (this includes the rake). In fact, on large, multi-table sit-n-go’s and large tournaments, I recommend no more than 2.5%. In a cash game your max buy-in would be $10.00, and you would leave the table if you got $20.00 in chips. You can bounce right back in to your seat at the same table, but only with a $10.50 buy-in.
This system is the same one that Chris Ferguson used to go from small buy-in tournaments to a bankroll of $10,000 playing online Hold'em in 6 months. Hopefully you will see similar success. That’s it for poker tip #1. Enjoy!
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