Non-gamblers have a belief about gambling that once you start wagering on bets or playing poker then you immediately become addicted and lose all your money. Whilst you can lose money playing poker, you are foolish if you simply buy into a £50 tournament with a £50 bankroll. This is just asking for trouble. Considering swings and variance affects even the best players, we mere mortals better learn proper bankroll management quickly if we want the best chance to be a long term winner. I have read extensively on the subject and discussed with many players about bankroll management and I believe most of us poker players would benefit from using a “robotic” approach to managing our bankroll.

In No Limit Texas Holdem the maximum buy-in for a ring game is usually 200 big blinds. If you are playing $0.02 – $0.05 your buy-in for this cash game will be $10. No Limit players usually have bankrolls between twenty times and forty times the buy-in, to safeguard against bad runs. As it is common in No Limit to get your entire stack into the pot with marginal hands swings of a few buy-ins per session are not uncommon. Therefore, if you plan to play $0.02 – $0.05 straight away you need between $200 and $400 to play. $200 is the minimum and $400 is very conservative, but depending on your risk tolerance you may want more money in your bankroll as a security measure.

The next level up from $0.02 – $0.05 is $0.05 – $0.10. Your buy in per game here will be $20, meaning a bankroll of $400 – $800 will be required before you dip into the higher stakes game.

Let me assume that your personal taste is that you prefer twenty buy-ins for a cash game. You play the two level of your choice and do well. You could either wait until you gain the full twenty buy-ins for the next level up or when you get to fifteen buy-ins for the next level you could “take a shot” and see if you can win and build your bankroll faster. Playing in this way is the way that many of the top professional players built their bankrolls, but if you are more cautious you can move up only when you reach the proper level of bankroll for the amount of buy-ins required.

The important thing is to work out what your plan is and stick to it. Always know how many buy-ins you have for your current level and next level both up and down. You may need to move down if you have a bad run and your bankroll reaches the minimum buy-in limit for a lower limit. It is very important to keep money around for poker and by moving up and down you scale up or down depending on your current results. Over time, if you are a winning player, this robotic approach to your playing limits should see you succeed more than a player whom plays whatever they feel like at the time, regardless of the consequences to their bankroll.

Having chips means you can play poker. Having money means you can buy chips. Your bankroll is everything and we all know how hard it is to find money when you have none. Rather than borrowing from poker colleagues or being staked, learn to manage with care the money you do have so you can enjoy the successes without having to give some of it away to stake horses or for debts. Poker is far more satisfying when your wins are your own and being a nitty bankroll manager will only benefit you as you get better and start winning more money.

By Malcolm Clarke