Bankroll Management

No Limit Hold’em Cash

Your bankroll is the money you use to play poker. How you manage it is a major part of becoming a successful Poker player. Bankroll management ensures winning players can stay in the game if they are running bad.

Bankroll management is one of the most important aspects of poker. Your bankroll is like a household budget - you don’t want to risk losing all your cash at once. You need enough to get you through the times when it’s not all plain sailing. The keys to bankroll management are realising your bankroll is an indicator of the level at which you should be playing, and when to move up or down. Good bankroll management is a skill and an area of poker that many players fall short. It is as important as knowing when to raise and when to fold. Even well-known pros have gone broke several times during their careers due to bad bankroll management.

This bankroll strategy is designed to help you manage your bankroll at any level.

Counting your buy-ins

When playing No Limit Hold’em, you need to be aware of how many big blinds you have available to you, at any time you need to have the minimum of 50 times the big blind in the game you are playing. This is one buy-in (50 times the big blind). If you buy-in to a No Limit 10c game where the blinds are $0.05/$0.10, the minimum you should sit down with at the table is $5.00 – this is 50 times the big blind, you can call that one buy-in. You should have 20-30 buy-ins to support playing at this level. Therefore your bankroll for playing at this level should be $150 that’s $5 multiplied by 30.

If you are a new poker player we suggest you start at this level with a bank roll of $200; this will give you a more sustainable bankroll in the long run. We have outlined an easy map for you to follow below. If you are an existing player, decide how much money you will be putting in your bank roll and work out if that is enough for your current limits. You should always fund your bankroll with money that you are prepared to loose.

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A basic bankroll management map

New players:

1. Decide on how much money you are willing to put into your bankroll. We suggest $200 for beginner players who are keen to improve their poker skills.
2. Improve your poker skills – playing poker, reading poker articles and tips.
3. Use this strategy to move up levels.

Existing customers:

1. Calculate if you are playing at the correct levels according to your bankroll. For example if you have been playing at $0.50/$1 tables with a bankroll of $200 you need to change limits. One bad run will empty your bankroll.
2. Use your existing bankroll or top up if needed.
3. Improve your poker skills – playing, reading poker articles and tips.
4. Use this strategy to move up levels.

Moving up and moving down

When you move up a level you will be playing against more skilful players on average. This means that the games will be tougher, so be prepared to move down when you need to. If you loose half your stack you need to move down.

Indicators that your skill level has improved

1. You have become a proven winner for a reasonable length of time.
2. You have a distinct reason for 90% of your actions.
3. You start to notice errors in the play of your opponents.
4. You are willing to move back down if your move is unsuccessful.