| Making
good decisions based on your current financial situation might just be
the most important element you'll deal with when playing poker.
You'll
often be at the mercy of the cards since there is undeniably an element
of luck in poker. The deck will ultimately decide your fate.
For
that reason, you should establish strict rules for yourself that define
how much money you're willing to risk and what limits to play.
Let's
say, for example, you have $1,000 that you've set aside as your poker
bankroll. You'll need to know what games you can afford to play,
budget-wise and skill-wise.
Here are two important questions you'll need to ask yourself.
First, am I skilled enough to beat these players?
Generally
speaking, the higher the limit, the more skilled the player. So, if
you're new to poker, it makes sense to start at the bottom in the
lowest limit game available.
Second, how important is this $1,000 bankroll to me?
If
it's your life savings and you can't afford to lose it, well, frankly,
you shouldn't be playing poker with it. No matter how big your
bankroll, lady luck can take it all away from you in a heartbeat.
However, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from
losing it all.
In most poker books, authors will tell you that
you should have three hundred big (blind) bets as an adequate bankroll.
That's a pretty safe kitty. In fact, if you're a solid player who wins
one big bet per hour, there's only a 3 percent chance of ruin if you
stick to the appropriate limit.
With that said, if you have a
$1,000 bankroll, the correct limits for you to play will be right
between $1-$2 and $2-$4. If you want to be on the safe side, a $1-$2
game affords you a bankroll of 500 big bets (1,000/2 = 500), while, if
you're more of a risk taker, the $2-$4 game leaves you with only 250
big bets (1,000/4 = 250).
Now, if you feel like your skill level
is good enough to win at the $1-$2 table, you might want to take a shot
at a $2-$4 game. When I say take a shot, it's important to understand
that I don't mean risking the entire $1,000.
Instead, you could
invest $400 in a $2-$4 game. If you were to lose it, you'd still have
the bankroll to go back down in limits with your remaining $600 and
still have the required 300 big bets. The key to surviving is having
the discipline to swallow your pride, take your lumps, and then move
down in limits if things don't work out at a higher limit game.
By
the way, lack of discipline isn't solely the domain of amateurs. In
fact, some of the most talented poker players in the world are
currently broke, and they'll habitually go broke, time and time again,
due to poor bankroll management.
However, for every hard luck story, there are the professionals who combine solid play and solid bankroll management skills.
And
just in case you're pondering the idea of playing in that $4,000-$8,000
mixed game with the world's best, you'll need a bankroll of at least
$2.4 million to give yourself a chance. You might be the best poker
player in the world, but if you sit down in that game with only
$500,000, you'll end up broke most of the time.
If you've
learned anything from this column it should be that it's important to
take your time, play it safe for the most part, and don't be in a rush
to play higher and higher limits.
Living the life of a serious
poker player can be stressful enough all by itself. The last thing you
want to do is compound that by continually adding financial pressure to
the mix.
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