Bankroll Management – Playing Outside of Your Bankroll

Bankroll management is a topic in poker that is discussed over and over. There are different guidelines that can (and should) be followed, but no one ever really discusses why. There are legitimate reasons for almost all bankroll management strategies, even if it seems like some of them are nonsensical. Most bankroll management guidelines specify a number of buy ins that should be kept for the particular game or limit that you are playing. If you stay within these guidelines you will be increasing your chances for success and decreasing your chances of failure. But how do you react when you don’t have enough money to sustain the proper bankroll? Moving down in limits is easy to in theory, but actually doing it takes some will power. If you aren’t willing to step down and rebuild there is a good shot that you will go broke.

Bankroll Management, Dropping Below the Threshold

It is inevitable that you will eventually drop below the required minimum amount of buy ins when you are playing poker, no matter how good you might be. One of the most frustrating things to do is learn how to drop back down in limits when you no longer have enough money to play, but it is something you just have to do. There is no way around dropping down in limits. It will sometimes feel like you are failing at poker when you are forced to drop down in limits, but think about what could happen if you didn’t.

When you play with a bankroll that is really small you will be running the risk of going broke. How high your chances of going broke are will depend on just how small your bankroll is. A high stakes game with 10 buy ins is more risky than a micro stakes game with 8. The higher levels of competition will produce greater swings, and these swings are what will ultimately destroy any player who decides to play without a sufficient amount of money.

Does this mean that every player is going to fail when they play outside of their bankroll? No, there will always be those random people who are fortunate enough to stay in the game, despite the fact that they are disregarding all common sense bankroll management rules. If you look at the very highest stakes of poker you will find that players seem to come and go quite frequently. You would probably think that this means that some of the players just aren’t good enough to compete, but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes the players in very high stakes games are taking shots. When they take shots they don’t have nearly enough money to sustain them at the games if they have a few rough sessions, so they are banking on the fact that everything will go well. Unless you feel confident that every session you play is going to run smoothly, there is no legitimate reason to play under bankrolled. If you have no money left and want to give it a shot, fine, but keep the risks in mind.

SUMMARY: Bankroll Management

Bankroll management is essential to any poker player’s success. Most poker players know what bankroll management is, and many of them adhere to the guidelines. The problems occur when a player stays at limits that they do not have enough money for.