If you are a regular poker player, it is important that you actively try and keep on top of your poker finances both at the table and off it. The amount of money that you dedicate to playing poker is known as your bankroll, and thus the term used to describe controlling your bankroll is ‘bankroll management’. This article should help to highlight and explain key concepts when it comes to looking after your poker funds.

If you are a regular poker player, it is a good idea to keep the money that you wish to use for poker separate from the money that you would use in everyday life to pay bills, buy groceries and so on. This will help you to evaluate wins and losses in one segregated sum of money, because if you constantly mixed your poker playing money with money used in everyday life, you would have a hard time trying to calculate your wins from your losses. This is not necessarily essential, but it will prove to be incredibly helpful if you are a regular poker player.

Now hopefully you should be preparing or already have prepared a sum of money that you wish to use for playing poker. With this money you want to give yourself the best chance of winning as much money as possible, whilst minimizing the risk of losing it at the same time. You could stick all of your money on one table to give yourself the opportunity to make the most money possible in one session, but with the disadvantage of knowing that one all-in loss will be the end of your poker playing career. On the other hand, you could take your big bankroll and play in micro-limits to ensure that you won’t go broke, but at the same time you will be making very little money in relation to the size of your total bankroll.

Obviously these are the two extremes of bankroll management, and you will be glad to hear that there is a happy medium with general rules to follow to allow you to win as much money as safely as possible. If you are a cash game player, you should be looking to only ever use 5% of your bankroll on any table at one time. This means in other terms that you should have twenty times the size of the maximum buy-in in your bankroll for the limit you wish to play at. So if you have a bankroll of $2000 to play with, you should be fine to play in games such as $0.50/$1 no limit that have a maximum buy in of $100. This may seem like you are playing at too low a level, but you would be surprised at how much money can be lost on big losing streaks.

If you are a tournament player and enjoy playing in Sit n Go’s to make money, then you should have a minimum of 40 buy-ins in your bankroll. So if you have a $2000 bankroll, you should be able to comfortably play in $50 Sit n Go’s without the fear of going broke. Again this may seem like you are playing at too low a limit for the size of the bankroll you have, but it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to controlling your money in the poker environment. If you feel that you should be playing at higher limits with the money that you have, then it is completely your decision. The guidelines set out above are mentioned with your best interest at heart, so don’t be too disappointed when you hit the big downswing and lose your entire bankroll.

Move up or Down Limits

A further point to take note of is that as you win more money or lose money on some occasions, you may be required to move up or down limits if you are comfortable with doing so. If your bankroll starts to slip and your are putting more than 5% of your entire roll on the table at any one time, you may need to consider moving down a limit until you have rebuilt enough of your bankroll to return to a higher limit. Similarly, if you have continued to win money and your bankroll has grown, then it may be a wise move the rise up the limits if your bankroll can handle it. However you should take into account the fact that the competition may be a little tougher at higher limits, so try to decide whether or not you can win more money at a different limit rather than at the limit you are currently playing in.

The information provided in this guide above is about all you need to know when it comes to controlling your poker finances. No poker player ever wishes to go broke or lose their poker playing funds, and so if you stick to the rules above this should never happen. Always be prepared to move up or down the limits if necessary, as your bankroll should be very flexible at all times. It is also generally acceptable to ‘test the water’ occasionally and sit down at a higher limit from time to time to see how well you do. This is usually just more for a little fun and excitement, but it does have some benefits in that you can check out the strength of the competition before actually moving up.