Many poker players will go broke. There are lots of reasons why this can happen but by far the most common is they have poor bankroll management. This is a harsh truth but the good news is you can take prudent steps so you won’t be one of the players begging his friends for his next buy-in.
Why is bankroll management so important?
Well, poker is a game of variance. You may be a good player, capable of beating the games you play in but a run of bad luck can see you lose for a period. There is no sure-fire technique to winning all the time in poker.
A bankroll that is sufficiently large can buffer you through these periods of difficulty. You may lose a % of your bankroll “running bad” but if you have a big enough bankroll then you won’t go broke and can recover once your fortunes turn around.
What should you be thinking about?
Well, firstly identify how much money you have to play poker. Create a distinction between your poker money and your other savings. This way you can focus on growing your roll with no pressure about losing your other life money.
Next look at what sort of games you will be playing. Large field MTTs have much higher variance than STTs for example. You will win less often but win more and so you have to ensure you are ready to survive a long period of non-cashes.
The higher the level you play, the bigger the number of buy-ins you should have. This is because your edge should theoretically decrease as you play higher against better players, thus increasing variance.
Another aspect to think about is your risk tolerance. Some players are able to play their A-game off a shorter roll, whilst for others, having a super-large roll relative to the average buy-in creates the psychological assurance they need to play well.
Bankroll Guidelines
Here are some guidelines for different variants of poker.
Cash Games – Around 40-60 times the buy-in for the stakes you play is suggested. This would mean at $0.25/$0.5 with a $50 buy-in, you should have a $2,000-$3,000 roll.
STTs – Around 60-100 times the buy-in is suggested. If you are playing $10 STTs, this would mean a roll of $600-$1000.
MTTs – Around 100-150 times the buy-in is our recommendation. So if you average buy-in is $15, then you should have a roll of $1,500 to $2,250.
Final Thoughts
The above are very conservative suggestions, and some may be comfortable playing off a shorter bankroll than this. Don’t remove all the fun from playing poker though by sticking inflexibly to the above. Taking occasional shots for a small % of your overall roll is fine.
If you are happy with your play, profitable and thinking of going pro, you might like to consider playing off a bigger roll than that suggested above as well, as downswings will likely have greater consequence for you.