Poker Bankroll
ManagementBankroll management is a crucial
element if you want to be a successful Poker player. In
the long run the best Poker player will win money, but in
the short run even the best Poker players in the world
run into a loosing streak. Anyone who has played poker
for more than two months knows that eventually you run
into a period of Bad Beats. The cards seem to be cursed
and you start wondering if you are the most unfortunate
person in the whole wide world. You are certain that the
software is rigged and starts snapping at your
opponents.
After a while the curse seems to wear off and the software
doesn't seem so bad anymore. Again you can enjoy when a Fish
catches a gutshot on the River card and feel confident that in
a few hours you will be spending his money.
Unfortunately these loosing streaks are part of the game,
and the only way to overcome them is by having a large enough
bankroll. I myself have experienced loosing streaks at around
250 Big Bets. This is in shorthanded games where the variance
is bigger than full table, but I recommend 300 Big Bets at any
level. If you are playing $1/2 limit tables you should at
all times have at least 2*300 = $600 in your bankroll. This may
seem like a major overkill to some but until you hit that major
loosing streak you have no idea how hard it's going to
strike.
For no limit games my general recommendation is somewhere
between 20-30 buy-ins. This should be sufficient to ride off a
couple of bad beats and a loosing streak. New and inexperienced
Poker players should stick closer to 30 than 20 buy-ins.
Experienced Poker players may need less bankroll, but I really
urge new players to keep a tight bankroll management. There is
nothing that can break ambition to succeed in the Poker world
like a busted bankroll.
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