Bankroll poker: all about bankroll management in poker

One of the most popular and used terms in any poker game is "bankroll", a word that refers to the total amount of money that a player has available to bet. Its importance is paramount because the volume of bets that can be placed depends on the bankroll.

Precisely for this reason, bankroll management in poker is so important: the funds a player has available will have a direct influence on the outcome of the game, on his bets and even on his style of play.

In order for you to understand how important the bankroll is in poker and to know in depth all the factors that influence its maintenance, we have collected the basics about this term to try to shed some more light on its meaning and its proper management during the games.

The importance of knowing how to manage the bankroll properly

When it is said that a poker player needs to be disciplined, it is said above all because it is essential that he has enough capacity to keep his finances in balance. A correct economic management is fundamental in order not to put the player on the ropes.

In other words: never bet money that you cannot lose. Experts continue to see sports betting and gambling as merely high-risk investment formats, which, in purely financial terms, could not be truer.

Therefore, a poker player must be aware that he has to know how to manage his bankroll wisely, regardless of how good he is at playing or how aggressive he decides to be at the table. The bankroll in poker defines all players, and its stability is the common denominator among those who are competing at a table, so we are talking about one of the basic fundamentals of poker.

An amateur player will know the importance of knowing how to properly manage the bankroll, but there are certain rules that the most experienced players handle and that are, for many, little less than law in terms of economic stability applied to poker.

Establish fixed percentages for each game

You should bet between one and five percent of your bankroll. On paper this may seem like a tiny amount, but anything more than this is an unnecessary risk and will put you at risk if you are compromised.

In case the bankroll is so small that this range is not allowed by the bookie, increase it another range, between five and ten percent, until the winnings allow you to return to the previous range. This is the same thing that is done in other types of bets and has the same application here.

Be cautious and manage the odds

At this point it will be no news to be told that poker is a game in which probability has a lot to say, but you must know how to interpret the game well to make a good management of your bankroll.

Try to be very selective and make sure that your bets are safe, especially during the early stages of your career.

Above all, discipline and analysis

Poker is much more than playing cards. Behind every game there are hours of analysis, training and study, and it is very important to record the results to be able to make an exhaustive follow-up.

This will allow you to know more about your game and that of your opponents, as well as to be able to see in which moments of the game you have been able to manage your bankroll better.

How to manage your bankroll in tournaments and sit and go games

Regardless of the modality you play or the type of game it is, the bankroll in poker is primordial and has a capital importance. However, in certain games the bankroll management is different: in MTT poker (multi-table) it works in one way, and the SNG (sit and go) is different because the dynamics of the bets is also different.

If we analyze the case of sit and go tournament games, where caution is the rule and winnings are made in small volumes, it is essential to modify the principles of bankroll management: poker, even if it is the same game, is greatly modified depending not only on the modality played, but also on the format of the tournament.

To give you an idea of how complex the bankroll is in poker, look at how things change in an SNG tournament, when the player is required not to increase a certain percentage because he can quickly lose his stack and be out of the game permanently.

As for tournaments and high-level competitions, you must keep in mind that the larger the field of players, the greater the variance and, therefore, the larger the bankroll you will need. Poker is a game tremendously sensitive to changes, where the modality, the format, the volume of bets and the number of players have a great incidence.

A principle that experts know about the correct way to manage your bankroll in poker is that it will have to increase the higher the skill level of the player and the more frenetic the tournament format is.

We are referring to turbo and super turbo formats, which are mostly found in sit and go tournaments. These formats are for many a crash course in management and how important the bankroll is in poker, since the player's continuity can be changed in a short time with just a small miscalculation or a hasty bet.