Bankroll Blunders

No matter what level of poker you play you must have a bankroll if you intend to play on a consistent basis.

Most of us play online and live poker on a semi-nightly basis if not every night. The swings in tournament and cash game play can be tough if you are not careful in how you manage your money.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will never go broke but it may help you to do it less than you would have. Here are a few things that I believe are common bankroll management mistakes that can be corrected:

• Risking more than 15% of your bankroll to take a shot at the next level. This applies to cash games only but it is a rule of thumb you should probably stick to. You do not ever want to put your bankroll at risk simply to take a shot at the next level. Be smart and remain disciplined when taking “shots” at the next level. 
• Playing at too high a tournament buy-in level for your bankroll. This is one of the most common mistakes that I see in online poker. For instance: You have a bankroll of $200 and instead of playing $5 and $10 27 player or less Sit n Go’s you play $10 and $20 Multi-Table tournaments where you have at least 180 players and the odds are against you making the final table nearly as consistently. Now, instead of making the final table 50% percent of the time, assuming you’re an above average player, you are only getting there 12% of the time. Obviously this will affect your bottom line in very short order.
• Not taking the double re-buy option when buying into a Multi-Table Re-Buy tournament. This baffles me beyond belief. You are giving up 50% of your chip equity by doing so. That is a really bad idea in this kind of tournament considering the potential returns before the buy-in is over with along with the long-term possibilities.

All in all we just need to be smart about what we do and how we go about doing it at the tables. Pay attention to buy-ins and structures along wit the number of potential players that will participate in a tournament. Find situations that are to your advantage and act accordingly. The same goes for cash games. Find the game that works for you. Be smart and leave your ego at home. That way your bankroll won’t have to suffer the consequences.