Money Management for Poker

Too many novice and beginning poker players fail to properly estimate the funds required to play poker for an extended session or period of time. The money that you can afford to use for playing, and possibly lose, which you have set aside for poker is commonly referred to as your poker 'bankroll' . Because poker is a volatile gain, chances are good that you will either win quite a bit of money or lose quite a sum when playing for a period of 3-4 hours. This is especially true when playing online poker because the game moves much faster than offline poker games.

Beginners should try to begin playing at the low limit tables in order to get a real feel for the games as well as to avoid significant losses. Frequently, new players begin with too small a bankroll to play at certain limit for a lengthy session. If you are a beginning, you may be thinking the same way so the guidelines presented below will help you determine the bankroll you need to have on hand for poker play.

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That, however, isn't the only trouble. Many players, even experienced ones, make bankroll errors. One major error is to treat your bankroll as if it were a tournament buy-in. In order words, if you have played for a few weeks and are at a break-even point or even a little on the side of profit, you might think advancing to a higher limit with your whole bankroll would be a good idea, potentially repeating this behavior if you are successful at the higher limit. This is one way to almost certainly lose your whole bankroll. Why ? The reason are simple. You are placing too much pressure on too little funds and playing at limits that you have not fully become proficient with - different limits require different playing styles to be profitable. Also, your play will be against player that are probably much stronger players than you. And you face the risk of playing passively at these higher limits because you may be gun shy when you can't really afford to lose and don't have the experience under your belt to create confidence. Avoid this behavior by playing at reasonable limits for a minimum of 200 hours at a level at which you are doing well or, at worst, not losing much. If you choose to attempt a higher limit, do so for a short session with only a small portion of your bankroll to test the waters. If things do not go well for you, you can get out without losing all your money. Poker is supposed to be played for fun, so play in a recreational manner that will give you the opportunity to enjoy the game for more than only a week or a month or two.