Good Bankroll Management

One of the most difficult parts of playing good poker has nothing to do with the cards you’re dealt. No matter how good you are at playing poker, if you’re not good at managing your money you’ll eventually run into trouble at the tables. Great poker players “go bust” each and every day, losing their entire bankrolls, and more often than not it’s because of their poor money management skills, not because of their card-playing skills.

Poker players call the money they have available to play with their “bankroll”, and how they manage their bankroll has a lot to do with whether they’re winning or losing players. While you might think it’s as simple as “Don’t lose all your money”, good bankroll management is actually a bit more complicated than that.

The most important consideration is to be sure that you’re playing the correct stakes for your bankroll. If you only have $100, you shouldn’t be playing at a table with blinds of $10/$20. You have no room for error and playing just one or two losing hands can wipe you out. It’s very tempting to want to play in bigger games, as you can win more money there, but it’s a dangerous proposition if you don’t have the proper bankroll for those stakes.

Poker is a game of streaks, good and bad, and you need to be sure that you have enough money to ride out the bad streaks. If playing at a certain stakes means bringing all of your bankroll to the table, where you could lose it in just an hour or two, you’re playing stakes too high for your bankroll.

A good rule of thumb is to be sure you have at least 200 big bets in your bankroll for whatever stakes you decide to play. If you’re playing $1/2 Limit Hold’em, you should have at least $400 total in your bankroll. This gives you enough of a cushion to go through the normal swings of the game without going broke and losing all of your money.

Winning at poker in the long run is a marathon, not a sprint. All the great players have started at the bottom, just like you, and slowly worked their way up through the limits, moving up step by step when they’ve won enough to give them the bankroll to move up to the next limit.

Ingredient List for a Good Poker Player

Patience: All good poker players are patient. To succeed at poker, you have to play only good starting hands, which means that you’ll fold many, many hands. The riches go to those who are patient enough to wait for the best hands. The best players fold hand after hand after hand, waiting for a good one.

Persistence: Poker is a frustrating game. Sometimes you’ll lose even when you start with the best hand and do everything right. You’ll suffer through some long losing stretches. Good poker players are persistent and never, ever give up.

Research: Good poker players invest in poker strategy books and are always analyzing their play, always trying to improve. They know the odds behind the plays they make and don’t rely on gut feelings. Poker is a skill-based game and good poker players are always trying to increase their skill.

Control: You have to have your emotions under control if you want to be a good poker table. Yes, you’re only human, yes, we all get angry at times, but you cannot be a good poker player if you let that anger get the best of you and cause you to bet in situations where you normally wouldn’t.

Aggressiveness: Good poker players are aggressive and confident. They don’t sit there passively calling, hoping that they’ll get lucky on the river and make a pair. If you wait for good starting hands, then take charge when you get them, aggressively betting and raising.

Resources: Good poker players only wager what they can afford to lose. They don’t play with “scared money”, as they know it causes them to play poorly. You should always have money in reserve in case you hit an unlucky stretch of cards.

Perseverance: Poker can be one of the most frustrating games on the planet. You can do everything right but have that last card kill your hand, with your idiot opponent who should have folded making their miracle straight.

Some Dos and Don’ts of Poker

Do be patient. Wait for a good hand and resist the urge to play with any two cards, just so you can be playing. Winning poker players are very selective about the hands they play, folding hand after hand until they are dealt a strong starting hand.

Do keep a close eye on your money. Most winning poker players are also good money managers. If you only have $100 to play with, don’t sit down at a table where it will only last for 10 hands. Adjust the stakes you play based on your bankroll, not based on how much money you dream of winning.

Do have fun. Play because poker is fun and you enjoy it. If you find yourself playing just to get back money you’ve lost, it’s probably time to take a break or find a new hobby.

Do understand the nature of variance. Poker is a game of streaks. Don’t think you’re the king of the poker world just because you have a great month, because you could just as easily follow it up with a terrible month, even if you’re playing perfect poker strategy. Poker is very much a game of skill but the luck of the cards can always cause big streaks in both directions, good and bad.

Don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose. Poker is a game of skill but there’s also a large amount of luck and chance involved. Even the best players lose sometimes, no matter how well they play.

Don’t play if you’re angry, upset, or depressed. You need to concentrate if you hope to play poker well and all of those feelings break your concentration.

Don’t play to punish one opponent. It’s natural to get mad at certain players, especially ones that play badly against you but get lucky and win a huge pot. Once you make the mistake of focusing on beating one player, you stop playing good poker and start making bad decisions. Stick to your game and you’ll likely get your money back.

Don’t ignore your life to play poker. Poker will always be there. Spend time with your family and friends. Exercise. Don’t sit there for hour after hour after hour, playing poker, when there are much better things in the world to be doing.

Know When to Fold ‘Em (and When to Raise): Live Poker Tells

One of the hardest things in poker (and life) is knowing when to give up and fold your cards. Just because your opponent is betting and raising doesn’t mean they have a better hand, as they can always be bluffing. Unless you have x-ray vision or are psychic, you’ll never know for sure if you made the right decision when you fold.

That said, there are definitely signs you can look for, that often tip you off that your opponent really does have a good hand and isn’t just bluffing. In the poker world, these are called “tells”. Tells are just that, gestures and body language that tell you whether your opponent has a good hand or whether they’re bluffing.

While they aren’t 100% guaranteed, some of the poker tells below can help you know when to fold when playing live poker, as they often tip you off that your opponent has a strong hand.

I’m Bored and Have No Interest in This Hand at All: Be very careful if your opponent looks bored, as if they could care less, especially if they’re looking over at the cocktail waitress, at the ceiling, anywhere other than at the cards on the table. Many players think that looking interested will tip off people that they have a good hand, so they act like they’re bored, as if they couldn’t care less. If this “bored” player suddenly wakes up and raises, they almost always have a very good hand.

Looking Down at their Chips: If a player quickly looks down at his stack of chips after the face-up community cards are dealt, it often means that he has a strong hand, and that the community cards helped his hand. His immediate reaction is one of excitement, followed by the thought of “How much do I have to bet?”, which is why he looks down at his chips. If he had a bad hand, it wouldn’t matter how many chips he had, as he would plan on immediately folding, so there would be no need to check his stack.

No Eye Contact: In the world of poker tells, strong usually means weak, and vice versa. If a player confidently bets and immediately looks into your eyes, trying to intimidate you and stare you down, this often means that he is bluffing, and that his hand is actually not very good. Conversely, if a player bets but looks away from you, looking very nervous and weak and not happy about their hand, this often means that they actually have a very good hand, and don’t want to tip it off by appearing strong.

Shaky Hands: While shaky hands is often a case of simple nervousness, it can also often indicate that a player has a strong poker hand. When players have a really good hand they often get excited, which causes their heart rate to increase. A natural side effect of an increased heart rate is shaking hands, so be careful at the poker table when you see a player’s hand shake, as it often means they have a very good hand, not that they’re bluffing and are nervous and scared.

How to Handle Winning and Losing at Poker

If you play poker for any length of time, you’re going to encounter both winning streaks where you can do no wrong as well as losing streaks, where the cards are against you no matter what you do. While you really can’t avoid the streaks, there are things you can do to handle winning and losing better.

When You’re Winning: Remember what got you here. Continue to be patient, waiting for good starting hands, and continue to be aggressive when you get them. A common mistake players on a roll make is that they start to play too many hands, thinking that since they’re on such a roll, they can win with any hand. Stick to your guns and wait for good hands.

You also shouldn’t move up in limits, just because you’re winning, unless you have the bankroll for it. Many players make the mistake of moving up too quickly to a bigger game, because they’re winning so easily at lower limits. Don’t mistake a short term winning streak for guaranteed future success or skill. Even the worst player at the table will have nights where they can’t lose, so don’t read too much into short term success. If you’re a consistent winner over months and months of play, then you can consider playing higher limits.

Enjoy the winning streaks when they come. Pretty simple advice, I know, but make sure you have fun and enjoy yourself when you’re on a roll. And be sure to remember how it feels, as those memories will help when you go through losing streaks.

When You’re Losing: Relax. It may seem like the end of the world but it isn’t. Everyone goes through losing streaks when it seems like you’ll never win another hand. Your goal is to continue to play the best you can, each and every hand, and not let the losses get to you.

Don’t try to get back all your losses in one day. Just stick to your normal game plan and play good poker. Lots of players make the mistake of moving up to higher limits when losing, in an attempt to quickly get back all of the money they’ve lost. This can be disastrous, as you’re often not playing your best anyway, so playing for more money only digs a deeper hole.

If things are going badly for you, take a break. Don’t be stubborn and continue to play, trying to get your money back. Talk a walk and stretch your legs. If things are going really badly, just pack it up and quit for the day. Poker isn’t going anywhere and will always be there waiting for you, when you’ve cleared your head and are playing your best poker.