Bankroll to Roll Your Game
There are two things involved in poker games: good decision making and money. While you can make good decisions in Texas Holdem or any poker games, you must not forget that money can keep your game rolling as it is the basis of keeping a score. However, I noticed that a number of online or live poker players do still manage to play games that require more than the average bankroll. So whether their bankroll is full or near to empty, these players are still unstoppable.
You may ask, “What it means to play games more than what is in your bankroll?” That is a scenario when you choose to play in a game where limits are not suited for normal swings which you can only find in regular poker games. A good example for this is when you decide to play at the casino, having with you a bankroll of $500. It may be big, but not good enough when you choose to play in a $5-$10 Limit Holdem. That’s playing way too far of your bankroll.
Same fault also happens in some poker beginners. A friend of mine, whom I have worked with at the World Series of Poker, tried his luck in turning professional with a bankroll of $10,000. At first, I saw him playing on reasonable poker levels. But later on, he decided to hop in around the range of $50-$100. And he used to bet in a $30-$60 range. But sad to say, his bankroll is not enough to survive until the end of the game. When a losing streak hit him, he found his bankroll with nothing left. He may not be an amateur poker player, but since he came up with a wrong decision, it was too early for him to end up as a loser, and still had to pay for the price.
In other cases, a huge number of Online Poker players would always think that as long as they are in winning sessions for the first or second level, they can always go up and reach the higher level. Of course, that’s possible. But it’s a big “NO-NO!” when your bankroll is not enough to support the idea. Otherwise, you’re contemplating a suicide. Bear this in mind, a 200-300 big bets is a healthy bankroll for Limit Poker levels. If you wish to play the range of $5-$10 Limit Holdem, your bankroll must be healthy enough to contain $2,000-$3,000 as it allows you to handle swings successfully.
I am not stopping you to get into a higher limit game when your bankroll is below 200-300 big bets. There are also times that a poker game is really tempting, especially when it’s worth taking the shot. I was able to play a $5 to $10 Limit Holdem Poker game a year ago. I was also able to identify my opponents at the table and the rocks were the only decent players I got to play with. Technically, my bankroll is not enough to play the $5 to $10 range. What I did was to take a couple buy-ins equivalent at a lower level then took a shot. It only lasted for a couple of hours, but fortunately I ended it with a $150, which is equivalent to 7 ½ bets per hour.
It is therefore safe to play any higher games when you are perfectly aware that a good standing bankroll is a key player in playing any poker games for a couple of hours.
Tags:
Holdem, Limit Holdem, Poker, Texas Holdem
