When you hear about online poker for the first time, you likely think immediately about brazen bluffs, massive bets and huge piles of chips following a strong hand.
But some of the players fail to understand that with all the various techniques and strategies in online poker, still, the most crucial thing is bankroll management.
Bankroll management has very little to do with how you actually play poker. This is the manner you handle the cash on your account to ensure that you still have funds for the game, even if you get a tiny spell on the tables.
If you’re new to the poker game, or if you notice that you have to constantly add more and more money to your account, then this post is without a doubt for you. If you know how to manage your bankroll, then you’ll see long-term progress in your poker game!
Below are five techniques that we found helpful for bankroll management.
#1 Your bankroll is your investment
You need a bankroll to begin with before you could even expand a bankroll. The decision on the amount of money to start your bankroll is the same as deciding how much to invest in stocks or some other financial enterprise.
You should be very careful with the amount you plan to spend. If your initial mentality is, “I’ll start at $2,000, but I can always reload when I have to,” then you’re set to fail.
The belief that the bankroll can be constantly reloaded is a sign that there is no discipline in building a bankroll. Every financial planner will recommend that you spend 100% of your net stock value and you might handle it carelessly.
The other reason your bankroll is viewed as an investment is that when you value a decision, you play your best poker. Figuring and sticking to the right amount of risk will enable you to uphold the right attitude that corresponds to all your choices.
#2 Split your personal financial affairs from your poker finances
Poker should be perceived as your own business. The money you are using to play poker should always be perceived as “business money.”
No matter how much you will play, don’t waste your poker bankroll again and again. You should not rely on your bankroll to pay your bills. So be wise about just how much poker money you can fairly commit to.
It can cause your “business” to fail if you take money off from your poker bankroll.
#3 Select your game carefully
Look for the lowest rake games and don’t switch across various game types. It’s really hard to beat an expert under any format.
Taking chances by playing poker games without realizing your advantage is a privilege most bankrolls can’t stand up to.
So if your bankroll is becoming low, it’s good to know that you have an edge in the poker game type that you play.
However, don’t just consider the players or the difficulty level of the game. Select a game that also has an easy to beat rake and rakeback benefits.
In the new online setting, this can be challenging, yet not impossible. Low MTTs are generally easy wherever you play and with plenty of fair rakes.
#4 Play within your bankroll
It may become harder to stay disciplined in this regard. It can be tempting to step up when things go well or when things go wrong.
And besides, if you won in your regular game, why not take another shot? Or, if things haven’t gone so far, a swift win will turn things around in a larger game, right?
If you adopt a disciplined and consistent approach, your bankroll will stay as it is. Do not play outside your bankroll.
The difficult question is, “How can I say if my bankroll is ready for higher stakes? It depends on your chosen game.
Multi-table tournaments, for example, has a much better list of variance than cash games. A major win in an MTT doesn’t mean that you can shift up the stakes instantly.
You need to tailor your bankroll to MTT variation if you want to be specialized in MTTs.
The significantly higher the game type variation, the more buy-ins you could have on the bankroll. Variance accounts require the assessment of player pool skill levels.
The larger the stakes, the greater the variance. And the bigger number of players in MTT, the higher the variation.
#5 Evade extreme moves to stop variance
Don’t get rattled when you face volatility or when you are struck by unexpected losing streaks. Continue to play your A-game. It happened so often.
Because of tilt and money pressures, normally, good players get mad and then make bad play decisions.
Remember that there is no memory with the variance. Losing earlier doesn’t guarantee that you will not lose again.
You shouldn’t play a more aggressive style or play in higher-ranking games just to cope with your past defeats and to stop variance somehow.
