Keeping A Healthy Bankroll

The following article is an excerpt from SmackinYaUp’s upcoming e-book:

The proper care of the bankroll is one of those basic topics that gives players of all skill levels trouble.  It’s not a matter of knowledge; it’s a matter of discipline.  The bankroll is the simplest poker concept but it is also one of the most neglected poker concepts.  Many people have destroyed their poker careers by playing on short bankrolls.

The facts of bankroll management are simple – you should never play a no limit game for which you have fewer than 20 buyins.  No player, no matter how skilled, is immune to the regular ups and downs of variance.  If you always keep 20 buyins in your bankroll, you can just about guarantee yourself that you won’t go broke.

For medium to higher stakes games, such as those from 400NL to 1000NL, I recommend a larger bankroll of at least 30 buyins.  The competition at those levels is stronger so your edge is smaller and your variance higher.

For games at 2KNL and above, I recommend a bankroll of at least 40 buyins.  That might sound a bit excessive, but those are some tough games and you will be glad you waited to have a massive bankroll before taking them on.

Blinds                         Buyin                         Bankroll
.01/.02                          $2                                $40
.02/.05                          $5                                $100
.05/.10                          $10                              $200
.10/.25                          $25                              $500
.25/.50                          $50                             $1,000
.50/1.00                       $100                           $2,000
1.00/2.00                    $200                          $4,000
2.00/4.00                    $400                          $12,000
3.00/6.00                    $600                          $18,000
5.00/10.00                 $1,000                       $30,000
10.00/20.00              $2,000                       $80,000

The purpose of a healthy bankroll isn’t only to keep you safe from going broke; it’s also to allow you to play with a healthy mindset.  If you play with the fact that you have a short bankroll in the back of your mind, your game will suffer.  When you play on a short bankroll, you subconsciously try to minimize variance by decreasing your aggression.

The only way to fight that problem is to practice avoidance.  Any time your bankroll dips below the 20, 30 or 40 buyin mark that you’ve set, you must move down and play at a level for which you are properly bankrolled.

It’s hard to make yourself move down because it usually comes after a tough week and you feel like you need to stay at the higher stakes so that you can rebuild faster.  There’s no easy answer to this except that you must have the self discipline to step down when necessary.  It doesn’t matter who might see you at lower stakes or how quickly you need to rebuild – you have to move down when your bankroll takes a hit.

A big bankroll is a poker player’s best friend so it must never be neglected.  Whatever you do, do not ever play outside your bankroll.  Playing on an inadequate bankroll is the biggest downfall of poker players in the world.  It doesn’t matter how great a poker player is, short term variance can cause downswings that wreak havoc on a short bankroll.  If you ever hit a downswing and lose a good chunk of your bankroll, don’t be afraid to move down to rebuild.

The biggest mistake you can make as a poker player is to refuse to drop down when your bankroll dips below your 20, 30 or 40 buyin mark.  Playing on a short bankroll will affect your mindset and in turn cause you to play even worse.  It’s a compounding effect and it has broken many poker players.

If you want to take the occasional shot at higher stakes, that’s fine as long as you can control it.  If you can afford to set some money aside and consider it gone, then go for it.  If the shot goes bad, don’t get greedy and try to keep playing at those higher stakes.  Just drop back to your regular game and try again later.

Do not ever play outside your bankroll.

Check out these related articles:

Building a Bankroll
Dealing with Downswings