WHAT SHOULD YOU SPEND ON POKER?

You can decide and keep track of how much you should spend on poker cash games and tournaments by learning bankroll management rules.

Poker is a betting game, and betting requires money. Everyone else needs a bankroll for their specific poker money; only a fool plays with money they cannot afford to lose. If you lose money, you can't win! But how much money should you really invest in poker?

PRINCIPLES OF POKER BANKROLL MANAGEMENT

The money you set aside to play poker is known as a bankroll. Your "life roll," or your money for everything else, should be kept separate from your poker budget.

Bankroll management is the ability to keep track of the money in your poker account. It is one of the most underrated poker skills. Even if poker is just a pastime for you, you still need to try to use good bankroll management techniques.

You should avoid participating in a game if your bankroll is insufficient. You must either:

• Reduce the stake until your bankroll is sufficient, or

• raise the stake with money you can afford to lose.

And that final point is absolutely crucial...

Never, ever play poker with money you need for another purpose or that you simply cannot afford to lose.

There is no denying that poker is a long-term game of skill. In the short term, though, everyone has a lot of differences because of the random part. Depending on the hand you are dealt, the poker gods can be on your side or against you.

Long periods of time in the short term where you simply cannot win to save your life may occur if you consistently make +EV plays. Even the most skilled players who regularly lose ten or more buy-ins for the stake they are playing can go through a slump.

Your bankroll will be useful in helping you weather these inevitable downturns.

Three main factors will determine how much money you need:

• the stakes you play at—the higher the stake,

• the larger bankroll required—the variance of the games you play—the more variance,

• the larger bankroll required—your skill level—just because you can afford to play a certain stake doesn't mean you should!

These rules apply to both live and online poker bankrolls, but if you play live, keep in mind that you'll have additional costs like lodging, food, and transportation.

Cash Reserve

As a general rule, you should have at least 30 buy-ins for any cash stake you play at. The maximum amount you can buy-in for is called a "buy-in" and is typically $100. So, the big blinds for 2NL are $0.02, and the buy-in is $2. Therefore, to play 2NL, you would need a $60 bankroll.

You can get away with less if you are a fantastic player, but you'll probably need more if you're not. The lower the required minimum poker buy-ins, the less variance you will experience and the higher your win rate.

Tournament Budget

The variance is a bigger problem in tournaments than it is in cash games. This is primarily because you will encounter more all-in circumstances. The variance of MTTs is worse than that of single-table sit-and-go. Turbo and hyper-turbo speed tournaments have more swings and they happen more quickly than regular speed tournaments.

To handle the higher variance, you will require a larger bankroll. For tournaments, buy-ins of $50 to $100 are suggested. To play $1 sit-and-go, for instance, you'd need a bankroll of $50 to $100.

Shot-taking

The strict management of bankrolls has an exception. Before you have actually worked your way up to the minimum buy-ins for that stake, you are free to move up and take a shot if you feel ready to play at a higher stake.

For the higher stake, set aside a few buy-ins, then start playing. You might do well enough and win enough that you have a big enough bankroll to move forward for good.

Alternately, you could get the boot, in which case you would move back down as soon as you had lost the buy-ins for taking the shots. If you don't lower yourself, you aren't taking shots and are instead gambling with money you don't have.

Poker Expenses

Your bankroll will eventually run out if you are a losing player. You actually have a poker budget rather than a poker bankroll.

This is nothing to be ashamed of because, after all, most hobbies are expensive.

Poker is challenging, and once rake is taken into account, the vast majority of players do not end up winning in the long run. Rake is the main factor in why most players are unable to make a profit, even though it is typically lower in online poker than in live poker. However, the games are more difficult online.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be disciplined just because you're not yet a winner! For poker, you must establish a specific spending limit. Set a budget for your monthly poker spending and stick to it.

You may also use a hybrid system. For instance, you deposit a bankroll of 20 buy-ins and only add to it at the beginning of each month if necessary.

Never play poker with funds you can't afford to lose, whatever you do.

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR POKER WINNINGS

You have a few options for what to do with the extra money if you are a winning player, have a winning month, or make a large score.

The best option is to leave the money in your bankroll to grow and increase stakes more quickly.

It makes sense to withdraw some of your profit each month if you aren't interested in that. It's probably not a good idea to withdraw the entire amount because if you have a bad month the following month, you will need to replenish your bankroll so that you have the bare minimum of buy-ins.

You'll note that we said "each month" because you shouldn't really be taking money out of your bankroll whenever you feel like it. Per year, you should only be able to withdraw a certain amount of money; perhaps once a month.

However, there is a chance that you could bink a huge score if you participate in large tournaments. Perhaps that is the right time to reevaluate your role. What are your plans if you win $5,000 playing $1 tournaments with a $100 roll?

Are you prepared to raise the stakes? Do you want to? Alternatively, would it be better to use it as a windfall to treat yourself rather than keep it as poker money?

How to Make Money Playing Poker

If you intend to support yourself solely through poker, you must exercise even more self-control. You must calculate your monthly "nut," or all of your living expenses. At the stakes you play, your win rate must be high enough to bring in at least that much on a monthly average.

In addition to your bankroll, you'll need to have six months' worth of expenses saved up. Earnings for poker players are irregular, so you shouldn't use your bankroll to pay for living expenses if you have a bad month at the tables.

You should have a much larger bankroll than the typical amateur player, perhaps 100 buy-ins as opposed to 30. You cannot take the chance of going bankrupt if you want to play for a living because you will be unable to work. The bankroll is one of the professional's tools of the trade.

WAYS TO GET THE MOST MONEY FROM POKER

Now that you have a poker bankroll, what do you do? How can you ensure that it endures? Let's look at some suggestions for making the most of your poker money.

Constantly play within your budget

Proper bankroll management in poker is the difference between a serious poker player and a degenerate gambler.

Of course, it's also fine if all you want to do is gamble. Nothing to judge here! However, if you intend to take poker seriously, you must let your bankroll determine which games you play.

Your bankroll is your toolbox because money is the poker player's primary tool. Look after it. Establish a budget and stick to it. The most crucial rule of all is to never, ever play poker with funds you cannot afford to lose.

Recognize, Understand, and Control Tilt

The ability to control one's emotions is crucial for success in poker. Tilt is a mental state in which you can't give your best effort because of how you feel. There are many different types of tilt, such as desperation, bad beat, card dead, mistake, and entitlement tilt.

Making wise decisions is the key to winning at poker, so if you are not thinking clearly, you won't make wise decisions. Regrettably, poker is also one of the most aggravating video games ever created!

Every poker player is impacted by tilt. But some players have learned to recognize and deal with tilt before it does serious damage to their bankroll, while others have not. All it takes is one session of tilt-driven chasing losses at higher stakes to wipe out years of hard work building a bankroll. Stop allowing that to happen to you.

The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler is a good place to start if you want to learn how to recognize, understand, and manage tilt.

Maintain a stop-loss system

In part because of the momentary element of chance, poker is such a fantastic game. It implies that not even the best player in the world can anticipate winning every hand or even every game. Accept the fact that you will occasionally lose.

It can be very simple to persuade yourself to keep playing in an attempt to recover your losses when you get stuck (i.e., when you're losing). The fact is that you might lose even more when it's just not your day.

A few pots are lost, you start to tilt, you make bad choices, more pots are lost, you tilt more, and before you know it, you're shoving 72 degrees out of pure rage.

Poker is a game where losing money is much simpler than winning it. Think about establishing a daily stop-loss limit for yourself. There might be one buy-in, five, or even more. But it's crucial that you set it before you begin playing and that you adhere to it. If you lose that much, you immediately give up for the day.

A stop-win system is also used by some players. Once they have won a predetermined sum, let's say two buy-ins, they will stop playing. In general, it doesn't make sense to give up when you are doing well, but if you have a "winner's tilt"—where you start playing poorly because you have a large stack—this can greatly increase your chances of winning.

Game and Table Select

Why make things more difficult for yourself by playing difficult games on difficult tables when poker is already difficult enough?

Instead of competing against regulars, you'll make the vast majority of your money by taking advantage of foolish mistakes made by shady recreational players. There will always be more variance because your edge over the fish will always be smaller. Also known as bankroll swings, variance

"If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker," says Matt Damon in the classic poker movie Rounders.

Avoid being the victim. Choose your game and table carefully so you can win every time.

Always improve your play

As we already mentioned, your variance will decrease the better you become at poker. The less fluctuation you encounter, the longer your bankroll will last.

Playing will help you become more skilled, but if you don't also dedicate time to studying away from the tables, you won't advance very far. Make sure you understand the basic rules of the game and spend some time going over your hand histories to make sure you are using what you have learned.

You will make a tenfold return on your time and money spent on improving your game at the tables.

How much money should you put toward poker? Never take on more risk than you can bear. Poker is gambling only if you want it to be. You can do great things if you have a good plan, can keep your emotions in check, and are good at managing your money. Consider your poker money a tool, and take good care of it!