Bankroll Management

For some people, poker is more than just a fun weekend game with friends — it’s a pursuit to play better and better at higher and higher stakes with a positive return. As you get better you can play for higher stakes and have it pay for itself so you can travel to play at other venues. If that’s of any interest to you, then bankroll management is essential.

*** FWIW, our Saturday poker game at this “micro-stakes” level is really just for fun and giggles and to educate on the rules and play of the game. IT IS NOT FOR BUILDING A POKER BANKROLL! LOL!

What poker bankroll management is in a nutshell, is managing your poker money wisely so that you never go completely bust even when you lose which is part of poker.

The reasons to play from a poker bankroll are:

1. You never put your own money at risk. Only the bankroll is at risk
2. You never have to pay your own money for travel, expenses, and tournament entries
3. The effect of “scared money” when testing higher stakes is diminished
4. You will play much, much better poker — like light years ahead better

There are lots of opinions for “No Bust Poker Bankroll Management”, but the way I learned is this, roughly:

• Keep track of your wins and losses!!! I’m currently using a free poker session tracker app called “Poker Ledger Bankroll Tracker” for Android
• Loan your poker bankroll seed money to start. Remember it’s a loan which means your bankroll will have to pay you back. Maybe start your loan with 20, 50, or 100 buy-ins. Just remember that your bankroll needs to pay the loan back when it can be self-sustaining
• For each session, buy-in for 20x the big bet in Fixed Limit Hold’em, or 100x the big blind in No Limit Hold’em
• Have 2 more buy-ins to reload. That’s your session limit. If you can’t win with that, then stop, it’s not your night or you’re “the fish” at the table
• Keep playing as long as you’re winning, but be ready to stop when you start losing because something changed like you got tired, sloppy, other players have figured you out, etc. I imagine my chips in front of me on a graph and I’m looking to see which way the graph is trending
• When you “book a win”, here’s how you can allocate the profit in your poker bankroll:
  • 10% for travel expenses to other poker venues
  • 10% for tournament entry fees
  • 10% for investments, buy stocks, buy gold, pay your mortgage, etc
  • 50% reinvest back into your bankroll
  • 20% pay yourself! Use the cash for whatever you want (church, charity, motorcycles, vacation, etc)
  • * you’ll have to allocate some for taxes when you’re getting a W-2G form from the casino

You’ll end up treating poker as a business, and you want it to be a successful business because it pays you a “salary”, invests for your future, and pays for itself to grow and expand.

This is not gospel on poker bankroll management, just some ideas and techniques to not bust and expect long-term positive returns.