Bankroll Management

There is a long version of bankroll management and a short version.

I'll start with the short version: If you don't have extra money to gamble or play poker... then don't.

The longer version has a few more things for you to think about and consider. First of all there must be a differentiation between your bankroll when playing casino games and playing poker.

Bankroll management for playing casino games

When you play at a casino, you must clearly understand that ALL of the games have an element of luck envolved. There are certain strategies you can follow for certain games that makes the house edge much smaller, but it never dissappears.

Therefore when playing casino games you will have some winning days and some losing days regardless of good you play.

When playing any casino game you must only use money that you know you can go without. Casino gaming is purely for entertainment and should never be seen as a means of generating an income.

Bankroll managent for playing multiplayer poker

Things change however when you play multiplayer poker. When playing poker, you are playing against other players and there are no pre-determined odds against you.

As you improve your poker skills you will be able to turn it into either a small or larger money generating venture as you play against other people. If you become a skilled player you can work at taking advantage of the mistakes that other players make and use it to improve your income.

There is however a similar princible of bankroll management to playing casino games. Never play with money you can not afford to lose.

When you play in tournaments I also always feel that you should aim to have at least 10 times as much left in your poker account as the buy in amount. Otherwise you can cripple your total playing stack in record time.

When you play cash games work on a ration of at least having 3 times as much left in your account. It is a very bad habit to put in all your chips when sitting down at a table and just reloading from your credit cards every time you hit a bad run. Much sooner than later you will see that you are down in a very bad way and trying to get back from that is no fun.

So in general I would suggest that you don't get hot-headed about any of the games... and NEVER chase loses with more money in the hope of evening out.