Threats to Your Poker Bankroll
Most newer players severely underestimate the importance of a solid bankroll. The benefits of a bankroll is a topic we’ll discuss in a later article; what I’d like to focus on here are risks that players take with their developing bankrolls all too often. Avoid these risks and you’ll be well on your way to playing better poker at a higher expectation.
1) Don’t gamble. Every poker player has a bit of gambler in them - you need to check this urge right away. Every other game offered in a casino has a negative expectation. I don’t care how many books you’ve read or what ’system’ you have, the bottom line is that casinos love money more than you do and as a result, they offer NO games that you can beat. Picking up a blackjack or craps habit is one sure way to decimate a bankroll.
2) Avoid multis that cost more than 2% of your bankroll. Multi table tournaments are high variance in nature - see out article on this issue for more details.
3) Don’t move to higher limits just because you’re on a rush. I see so many players make this mistake. They run 200 into 600 at a 3-6 table and then jump up to 5-10, pick up another 500, jump up to 15-30 and go broke. Trust me, just because the cards are good doesn’t mean that you are. Jumping up is a function of greed, pure and simple - and is also a concession to that inner gambler that wants bigger wins, bigger risks and bigger thrills. Sadly, poker is not meant to be thrilling to those who play it for a living. Sorry about that.
4) Don’t treat poker winnings as ‘bonus fun money’. It’s very easy to deploy a rationale like “well, it’s found money anyway, I might as well splurge on a nicer TV with this $1500. Easy come, easy go.” That’s just stupid. Really. Have a long-term perspective, will ya? Use those winnings to support your bankroll so that you can eventually move up in limits and increase your expectation, and then buy the TV if you must. Don’t get me wrong, I have a big TV and they are really nice, especially if you’re a movie buff. But you know where I got mine? I bought it used from a friend who blew his bankroll and lost poker as a means of supplementary income.
5) Don’t spread out your bankroll across several sites. The total money you have and the individual bankroll you have at each site are two very different things. It is frustrating to play with short money, and it is doubly frustrating to go broke at a site, disproportionately so. Which would upset you more, losing $600 at a site where you had 2k or losing $600 at a site where $600 was all you had? Yes, mathematically it doesn’t make any sense, but that doesn’t matter - it still affects a lot of players more.
