BANKROLL MANAGEMENT

I read a post on 2+2 the other day and it was some trivia questions about heads up sng players, one of the questions read: 

  6.) who wrote: "I've run horrible in 3 sessions but it doesn't affect me as I'm now chillin w friends in the city just havin fun. Wow losing $ has no effect. Am I becoming primo?"

Someone's answer was:

6. moca choca i think, thought coffee at first but now i think about it the more i think its moca.

 First of all, it wasn't me who said this. I may not have said it, but this is exactly the kind off thing I would say. If I have 3 loosing sessions in a row, what the hell does that change. I am still going to be rolled for my stakes. I am still going to be able to buy anything I could 3sessions earlier, my financial status shouldn't have changed. If I feel like going out to the city and chilling out, I definitely will not let the loosing sessions be the reason I don't end up going, if anything this should be the reason to go out and enjoy myself. If your reading this and you have had 3 loosing sessions and you can't say the same then you are not practicing good bankroll management.

A lot of poker players go by different rules in bankroll management and depending on their situation everyone could use a different set of bankroll guidance rules. I will use some examples for this (all players in the examples have an edge on the games they're playing and consistently make a profit). 

Poker player 1: Works full time, has a passion for poker but only plays to supplement his income. Plays up to $30 sng's, and $50nl cash games.

Poker player 2: Studies at University (College for you Americans) and just wants to play some low stakes poker in order to make his experience more enjoyable, the types of games he would be playing would be 9man sngs at the $10, $20 levels, and maybe some $10-$25nl full ring cash games.

Poker player 3: Full time player but grinding the low stakes to build his bankroll, doesn't play more than $50 heads up sit and goes and never plays turbo or super turbo games. 

Poker player 4: Full time player, grinding all types of poker, mainly high variance games, super turbo HUsng's and MTT's, playing higher stakes and putting in a lot of volume.

Player 1: This player has love for the game and has an edge on the chosen games, he would be able to be a lot more aggressive with his bankroll, having as little as 15-20buyins online is fine for this particular player, he is playing relatively low stakes and if he does bust his roll he should (as long as his life bankroll management is good and he isn't a degenerate gambler betting on sports bets each week, hint hint to some of u) be able to replace it pretty easily and continue his poker journey, he may choose to take more conservative routes in future but he did nothing wrong by being aggressive.

Player 2: This player would be able to take a semi aggressive bankroll management plan. The stakes aren't high, the games he has chosen to play are pretty low in variance. He can't be too aggressive as he will find replacing even a small bankroll hard if he did go busto the biggest thing to take in to consideration about this player is he hasn't got money coming in from other sauces (unless he's a hustler, or mummy and daddy can front it :s we live in the real world people). So a recommended plan for this player would be something like playing a 30-40 buy in rule. This would allow the player to move up stakes and down stakes comfortably after sessions but doesn't keep him playing the busto stakes for overly long, as long as the player moved down stakes every time he went under 30 buy ins he would be pretty successful in not busting his roll and if he ended up busting it on tilt or something the $value of his roll was never that high that in the long run he wouldn't be able to get over it.

Player 3: Now this is where things change. This player can no longer take an aggressive bankroll management plan, he is now using all his money to invest in himself as a business. This player should still take some risks in moving up stakes, to increase the $ per hour he makes, as moving up too slow can keep this player grinding low/mid stakes for overly long period of time. I would recommend once a reg gets to $50 games he should have at least 60buyins at this level and be willing to take some shots at higher stakes when he has around 70 buy ins for the new level as it will be so easy to move down again if things do not go as well as planned, the games he is playing are very low in variance and if he is playing them well should probably never really have bigger than 20-30 buy in downswings. You may think well why would he need more than 30 buy ins if he probably won't take a downswing that will bust his roll. The main factor in this will be mentally. People need security, seeing more buy ins than needed will reduce the pressure and confidence issues a player will have in his poker journey, some people can do it better than others but. For those who get effected by downswings easily then I would suggest even a more conservative approach than this, after all poker is a constant mental battle no harm in coming with more ammunition to the fight.

Player 4: This guy has seen it all, had the downswings, had the upswings. He knows how he reacts to situations and how bad times can get in poker. This player is now playing for serious money and a single downswing could be a deposit on a house, he cannot take risks with his bankroll. For this player I would recommend he has AT LEAST 100buy ins, this may seem super nitty but believe me it isn't (I know many players who like to have at least 200 buy ins to play a stake). Why take the risks at this stage in you career. As a standard this player should keep at least 100-130ish buy ins in bankroll and even so this player should have some money in savings accounts by this point, this player now can have numerous downswings and unless its over 60 buy ins he can still play the stakes he is super well rolled for. This player has already created a super impressive business being able to roll himself for these stakes there really isn't no reason to put yourself at risks. The one thing this player is able to do with his enormous bankroll is 'take shots.' Taking shots is cool for a player at this level to do. He can move up to a higher stake game when they are soft or play a higher stake MTT than usual and then move down again if things don't go well in the shot take, it probably won't effect his bankroll too much if it goes wrong but if it goes well it can possible change his life for ever.

So to sum this up really, this is just guidelines to some situations in poker, everyone will have a different reason for having different bankroll plans, some good and some bad. As a standard following these guidelines will not be a bad thing.

 

Who fancies going for a chill in the city? ;)