Sunday, May 31, 2009

Building A Bankroll - Holdem Bankroll Management Strategy

By Eric Lass

Building a bankroll can be a hard task if you don't follow a bankroll management strategy that will decrease your chances of the ups and downs that come with the game. A vital key in any successful poker career or hobby is to play only within your limits. A good holdem bankroll management strategy is essential to staying within those limits. Bankroll management is an excellent tool to use to avoid going broke with a bad run of cards or a losing session.

Most people realize that poker is gambling in the truest sense of the word. What most don't know, however, is that there is actually a way to minimize the gamble and maximize your chances of winning more than you lose.

To begin building a bankroll, you must first find a formula that you will be comfortable with. There are several common formulas that are used. Here's one example:

Start with a $100 bankroll. This is the amount that you have set aside to use for one session . We'll use this amount for illustration purposes, as it will be simple to understand the formula. What are the minimum and maximum buy-in amounts for the table? Maximum is most often 100 times the Big Blind. At $1/2 level, your max buy-in would be $200, or 2 times 100.

You will want to play 15-20 buy-ins for the session, so you would look for a NL Holdem Cash Game. With your $100 bankroll you'll be playing at $.02/.04 level. .04 times 100 equals $4. With this formula you can play for 25 buy-ins at $4 each. That may not seem like much, but at higher limits, you are likely to lose everything much more quickly. The better way to learn would be to get as many buy-ins as possible so you can play more hands.

The example above shows you where you should be playing at compared to where you are playing now. You are probably thinking this is too low of stakes for you, and this is probably why you are, in the long run, a inconsistent poker player. You need to build up to the levels where you bankroll gives you some room to lose, if you don't, then you are setting yourself up for failure.

It's a good idea to have a more conservative approach to building a bankroll and your bankroll management strategy. It is crucial to your success at the tables and can make you a more consistent, winning, poker player. - 16887

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