NoPokerFace.net

(Contribution by Aaron Lambert)
In order to be a successful poker player you have to have three things; skill, bankroll management, and discipline.  If you lack in any of these areas your profit won't be sustained and you risk losing it all.  The one attribute that I think is most overlooked is bankroll management.

Let me start by explaining my background into this particular subject.  I had absolutely no bankroll management skills when I was playing poker for a “living”.  I use that term loosely as you'll see soon.  I would basically deposit $32 dollars at a time. I would play a $12 180-man tournament and sit with the rest playing cash.  I would try to run this deposit up playing with the entire roll and get myself to cash a couple hundred dollars or maybe even a few thousand.  If I bust I repeat the process.

This added a whole new dimension of stress to the game of poker.  I would reach deposit limits or I would run up a roll to $2000+ and bust the whole roll in a matter of minutes.  This was something that my soon-to-be wife didn't appreciate very much.  I needed to make a change so I decided to get a backing agreement and this taught me bankroll management.

Proper bankroll management can reduce the stress of poker variance.  It can allow for you to play your A+ game longer because the fears can be reduced of going broke.  These two reasons alone or worth learning proper bankroll management.

For tournament players you should know that variance is rather high.  I suggest trying to set your bankroll requirements according to your ROI and couple that with your average buy-in.  For example my average buy-in for March was $46.  I played some $215 tournaments but the blunt of my work was at a smaller level.  So with this example I would need a bankroll of $4600 with my ROI over 20%.

ROI of 20%+ should have 100 average buy-ins
ROI of 10-20% should have 150 average buy-ins
ROI of 5-10% should have 200 average buy-ins
ROI of 1-5% should have 400 average buy-ins

For sit n gos you can be a little more aggressive since the variance isn't as high as multi-table tournaments.  Following the same method of determining your ROI to your average buy-ins this is what I would suggest.

ROI of 10%+ should have 50 average buy-ins
ROI of 5-9% should have 100 average buy-ins
ROI of 3-5% should have 150 average buy-ins
ROI of 0-3% should have 200 average buy-ins

For cash game players I would suggest that you have around 30 buy-ins before you sit down at a game.  For an example if you are playing 1-2 NL (200NL) you should have a bankroll of $6,000.

Notice in these examples I don't suggest a bankroll unless you are a winning player.  This is because setting a bankroll as a losing player ensures that poker is going to become an expensive hobby.  These suggestions are for those who are winning players and want to conquer bankroll management and turn poker into a real business.