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When people first start playing poker at an online casino they haven’t always had experience gambling before. Some players can find it difficult to understand what a good amount of money to use as their bankroll is and where there limit should be. Managing your money is incredibly important because in reality, money is the big attraction to these online casinos and online poker rooms.
Your Bankroll
Your bankroll is basically the money that you can afford to lose when playing poker. You allocate this amount of money to your playing and that way if you do lose, it was never an amount you couldn’t afford to be without. The chance of losing when you play poker is high, especially when you first start out. In order to succeed in the long run, manage your money strictly and carefully.
Bankroll Size
A general guide and commonly accepted figure for your bankroll to be is around 200 to 300 times bif bets of the level that you choose to play. For example, if you are playing $0.50 / $1 then your bankroll needs to be $200 plus.
Other Factors
You should always take other things into account when considering your bankroll. If you are a tight player, then you will probably not need as much money as a player who likes to get involved in many pots. An aggressive player should probably think about having a bit extra to play with due to the fluctuations that that style of play tends to incur.
Another factor is the type of game you like to play. If you enjoy Stud or Triple Draw then you will need more money than if you like to play Draw Poker. Some games have more betting rounds than others do and, of course, more betting requires more money.
Also take into consideration why you are playing poker. If you have a regular job then your bankroll should be smaller than a professional player will be effectively living off their bankroll.
Common Errors
Poker money management is completely pointless if you make either of the following common mistakes. Understand them and how to avoid them in order to preserve your money;
- Don’t advance too quickly. If you’ve been playing poker for a couple of weeks at one limit and are breaking even or maybe even up a bit, it might be tempting to move up to higher limits with your entire bankroll. You need to move up steadily – for example if you start at the $0.50 / $1 games with a $200 bankroll which you steadily increase to $400, you can then move up to playing $1/2 games. If your bankroll decreases to 100 then you will need to move back down again. Patience and discipline is the key to earning a lot of money, and more often than not winning big will happen gradually rather than suddenly.
- Don’t chase your losses by moving up. Many players panic when they lose and try to make up for it by playing bigger games. But the truth is, if you’re losing money at your current level, then you’ll probably lose more at a higher level.
The Stakes
It’s important to play at stakes that are right for you. As previously mentioned, playing at stakes that are too high for you can be incredibly destructive to your bankroll. When you first start out playing poker it makes sense to start at lower limit tables while you are still gaining experience, this way if you make mistakes then you lose a considerably smaller amount of money.
Stop Loss Limit
This strategy involves a player very simply setting themselves a limit and sticking to it. For example, before starting an evening of playing poker you may decide that ‘I’m buying in for $100 and if I lose that then I’ll finish for the night.’ This strategy helps people who find it easy to get carried away when they play online and also for people who are having a particularly bad streak. You can stop yourself making catastrophic losses by always sticking to your limits.
Stop Win Limit
This is very similar to a stop loss limit and works by training a player’s self control. It means that you stop playing after you have won a set amount. Some poker players prefer to continue playing once they are on a winning streak and to try and make as much money as possible in one session. But stopping when you’ve won means that you’ll always finish the game on a high, so you’re always going to come away from a game feeling good about it.
Cash out
Don’t be afraid to cash out your winnings. If you feel like you’re having an unlucky streak then sometimes the best way to stop yourself getting tempted to carry on playing is to cash out. After all, the money you make in poker doesn’t need to be put back into poker, it’s yours to spend as and when you want!
