Managing of the money in poker might be very far away definition for the beginner. You pay in 100$, go on the table max 100$ and play – what is the problem? Theoretically there is no problem.... If the balance of your account goes down to zero every time you play – you might want to read and find out how other the professionals see the case?

Why the managing of your money is so important?

In spite of I am low stake player I have already had lots of poker ups and downs. Especially when the most important is to see the conclusions from the last games. I hate loosing, and a few lost buy-ins in a row / it does no matter if it was a bad luck or bad game/, makes me angry. Recently I have had a good luck and i was pleased with my game / now I play mainly 1-2 PLO and NLH/, ut in the last couple of days I have noticed a few negative sessions, i lost 4-5 buy-ins in total. Yesterday , another day of the negative session gave me loss of 2 buy-ins in a row and of course I got furious.

Ihave decided to add up all the losses from the last couple of days and to see where I am, and all my money is in a few poker rooms I was not able to estimate exactly how much I have lost. It came up that I lost 5 buy-ins what gave me the loss in the bankroll of ...11%. The rage has gone. Well, I thought it is not too bad... If after a few days of negative sequence I still have 89% of my entrance bankroll, there is no reason to be worried about it. I sat down for the next session more relaxed with the smile on my face and according to my plans I finished it in profit.

Above sory is one more proof how important it is to manage your money in a reasonable way. What is it all about? First of all – play with the proper stakes according to your money. What are the proper stakes? Well, in my opinion you need o have at least 20 times moreof maximum buy-in / 25 times more would have been perfect/. Let’s say that we start playing with 500$. We should start with the tables 10-20 lub 10-25. We are talking about PL/NL tables, of course. With that kind of bankroll management we can afford to play on a few tables at the same time. We can have a good and solid game in short sessions/ 2-3 hours/, we ought to increase our bankroll.

It will take some time to get higher level / from 1000$-1250$ you can play 25-0.5 tables/ wihout any doubts. How much? It is hard to say, but the experienced player who wants to win a lot and stay reasonable about his money bankroll and willing to play long term sessions cannot be impatient. Everyone would like to play quick, for a good money and withthe best opponents - me too. You have to assume that there will be the best time for all above. Good session for me is the one I won at least one buy-in. One good session a day and one lucky buy-in / beeing optimistic/ in each session / which is not possible to achieve/, the possibility to move on the higher stakes appears after more than twenty days.

The more real scenario is when we count all the sessions, including the negative ones and lack of possibility to play every day, it can extend up to two or three months. For some impatient people it is like eternity and they would not want waste so much time. They think about having 500$ they can easily try to get on the tables with 3-6 NL with 300$ and.... Of course, it is possible and I would recommend this method to the weak ones. That is the one shot method – the abilities does not matter, the win does not count in a long term period, but counting on That I will wait and wait until my good card comes and maybe somebody else will go in as well and I will be lucky and double it.... Everyone has got the right to his own strategy. Unquestionable fact is that most of the players by choosing the second option will not be able to play with 100% of their ability.

The risk of a huge loss of the bankroll in one hand must have caused some weird thoughts, e.g. ‘ I think I have got the better card, but why to take a chance’. With the proper bankroll management we can afford to reach necessary physical comfort to play well. It is very important during playing Omaha, where we can have hands like coin-flip very often. Our game would have been a one big nightmare if we thought about the risk all the time. Another issue is the fact we can maximize the chance of wins is always playing with the full buy-in, with the right bankoll stakes.

You can easily lose all the buy-in, but it will be only a little percentage of our bankroll. Getting in to the game with 300$ on the table 5-10 NL and playing the perfect hand, in which we will double our money, many players will not feel comfortable and the will envy that we won 300$, and playing the normal game on this level we could win all 1000$... Apart from that, the game with the good bankroll management, even playin the low and medium stakes, can give lots of satisfaction. When you can se that slowly but surely we are going forward and our aims are being realized the we can see that our game has a sense.... This is the ideal way to self control and prevent the moments like ‘ where to go for a minute’ and avoid dangerous tilt.

The last important case. The level of the game changes the stakes you play for. Different level is on 0.1- 0.2 stakes and on 3-6. Playing long term on one of the stakes/ which is required by bankroll management/ , we learn how to beat the others on the level, we know that the raise is unusual, how the pots look and who is the shortstack, etc. After some time most of our decisions will be automatic, we will achieve the moment when we can say that we can play and we can manage on this level. We have to be good players, of course to state that. After moving on a higher level we learn some new opportunities but we have already had necessary and huge experience from the previous levels. The new challenge is to manage with the new level, and if we will play well it will give us satisfaction.

There is no compulsionto the good bankroll management. It is important for the people who wants the poker to be their main or extra income. If you are looking for he different impressions like the possibility to play with the best of 100-200NL independently about the money matter, you can forget about bankroll management. But if somebody looks for the sensations, it is good to put down all your money on red/black in roulette......