When is it a bankroll, or just play money?

blix177 · Apr 22, 2020

Every poker book out there talks about bankroll management and you should have X buyins to not get broke. But how many people really playing with a $250K bankroll enrolling in a $2500 tournament.

For the winning players, when do you consider your X deposit a bankroll? I am sure most people are in the zone of depositing $200 and playing in a .25NL, or a $15 buy in tournament. So when do we call that $200 a bankroll?

And only 10% of the players are winning. The other 90% no matter how good your bankroll is it is pointless, if you are losing after X games you and at 0.

M13A13 · Apr 22, 2020

Poker books give you the path to theory, that is, to the correct game. The size of your bankroll should be according to your game, if you play tournaments, and are a regular player you can have an average of 10 to 20 times the buy-in value, but if you play cash game you can have an average of 3 to 5 times the buy-in.
Of course, in cash games, the chance of you leaving zero is very high with little buy-in.
Under these conditions the size of your bankroll is the size of your poker experience and skill, you can play a tournament that costs $ 10500 and have only $ 10500, you can win the tournament and become a millionaire or lose and be left with nothing, the decision is yours .

pro100phil · Apr 23, 2020

Few people play by bankroll. Very few...

BIGAUS · Apr 23, 2020

I think for the most part bankroll suggestions are more for "in a perfect world" scenario. Aside from micro and low stakes players who grind many hours and games in and the ideal bankroll is more feasible, it isn't realistic for players to have such a huge bankroll in mind and in reserve to weather the ups and downs of many hours of play.

neptun1914 · Apr 24, 2020

The idea of bankroll management is to have deep enough reserves so that you can overcome the bad streaks and avoid getting broken and depositing again. This also helps you to not play scared (if much of your bankroll is on stake). Different sources give different values for the optimal bankroll depth but i personally think that 50 to 100 buyins is good value. I am playing on the conservative side and follow the 100 buyin rule and frankly am happy with it.

It is the same situation like in life. Can you spend 95% of you salary every month? Yes of course but it is always good to have some reserves in case of unexpected problems.

MishkaZL · Apr 25, 2020

That is why I think the best option is freerolls. With freerolls, you can increase your bankroll regularly and spend it to play in tournaments. But I also believe that any player should adhere to bankroll management, because otherwise the chances of success in the long run are simply minimal.

hugh blair · Apr 25, 2020

blix177 said:
Every poker book out there talks about bankroll management and you should have X buyins to not get broke. But how many people really playing with a $250K bankroll enrolling in a $2500 tournament.

For the winning players, when do you consider you r X deposit a bankroll? I am sure most people are in the zone of depositing $200 and playing in a .25NL, or a $15 buy in tournament. So when do we call that $200 a bankroll?

And only 10% of the players are winning. The other 90% no matter how good your bankroll is it is pointless, if you are losing after X games you and at 0.

When is it a bankroll, or just play money?
Bankroll is what a player has available overall in my opinion for poker not just small deposits on different poker sites.
I think of $200 sitting on a site as just a small percentage of overall bankroll so buying straight into 2x$100 games for example I would still be practicing good bankroll management due to reserves available and would view the $200 as a bankroll stop loss probably.

Herkstwin · Apr 25, 2020

neptun1914 said:
The idea of bankroll management is to have deep enough reserves so that you can overcome the bad streaks and avoid getting broken and depositing again. This also helps you to not play scared (if much of your bankroll is on stake). Different sources give different values for the optimal bankroll depth but i personally think that 50 to 100 buyins is good value. I am playing on the conservative side and follow the 100 buyin rule and frankly am happy with it.

It is the same situation like in life. Can you spend 95% of you salary every month? Yes of course but it is always good to have some reserves in case of unexpected problems.

I have to agree with this explanation of bankroll management. The whole idea of a bankroll is to fund your poker job/habit without having to borrow from other sources, like your wife's hair styling fund. Ideally, you want to be growing your bankroll, and as it grows, you can move your game into bigger states. If you are constantly having to deposit funds to the poker site, or dig into your wallet at live tables, then you are playing above your skill level. If you are able to consistently withdraw funds from your poker bankroll, then congratulations, you are one of the few people who can make a living at the game.

xmuggpokerx · Apr 25, 2020

All about that bankroll management right. Master it

Scroooob · Apr 25, 2020

M13A13 said:
Poker books give you the path to theory, that is, to the correct game. The size of your bankroll should be according to your game, if you play tournaments, and are a regular player you can have an average of 10 to 20 times the buy-in value, but if you play cash game you can have an average of 3 to 5 times the buy-in.
Of course, in cash games, the chance of you leaving zero is very high with little buy-in.
Under these conditions the size of your bankroll is the size of your poker experience and skill, you can play a tournament that costs $ 10500 and have only $ 10500, you can win the tournament and become a millionaire or lose and be left with nothing, the decision is yours .

You need a lot more than 10x buyin bankroll for a tournament. I think it's 20-25, though I could be wrong. But if your bankroll is 100 bucks, for instance, you shouldn't be playing $10 tourneys. Look for 2-5.

Scroooob · Apr 25, 2020

MishkaZL said:
That is why I think the best option is freerolls. With freerolls, you can increase your bankroll regularly and spend it to play in tournaments. But I also believe that any player should adhere to bankroll management, because otherwise the chances of success in the long run are simply minimal.

Free rolls pay so small, that they aren't reliable for building a respectable bankroll anymore, though they used to be. Besides, who wants to play for 4 hours to win 16 cents

Alex Sentsov · Apr 26, 2020

Play with bankroll in 100 buyins and you will be happy.

scubed · Apr 26, 2020

blix177 said:
Every poker book out there talks about bankroll management and you should have X buyins to not get broke. But how many people really playing with a $250K bankroll enrolling in a $2500 tournament.

I think recreational players confuse bankroll with budget. Bankroll management is crucial to those making a living from poker - or those who want to learn to make a living. Those that have a "regular" job can manage their poker through a budget.

The point is similar to yours... let's take a real life example. There are plenty of recreational players that enter the wsop $10k Main Event. Very few of these players have a bankroll to support this entrance; however, MANY of the players made a budget (maybe even saved money for years) so that they can afford to enter this $10k once a year tournament. I discussed this phenomenon with Greg Raymer at the WSOP 2019 - he told me that a lot of recreational players enter the Main Event as a "bucket list" or "dream."

MishkaZL · May 3, 2020

Scroooob said:
Free rolls pay so small, that they aren't reliable for building a respectable bankroll anymore, though they used to be. Besides, who wants to play for 4 hours to win 16 cents

I disagree with you. Freerolls are different, for example, thanks to our community's freerolls, in the last few months, I have managed to increase my bankroll by about $ 200.

Deedgee · May 3, 2020

With online poker, unless you've actually made a withdrawal and received the money, the real money, into your bank account, online poker will always be, on some level, completely imaginary. As we all know, it's a lot easier to make a deposit than a withdrawal. I would love to know how easy, or hard, some of you find it to make a withdrawal from the various poker sites.

NCDaddy · May 4, 2020

neptun1914 said:
The idea of bankroll management is to have deep enough reserves so that you can overcome the bad streaks and avoid getting broken and depositing again. This also helps you to not play scared (if much of your bankroll is on stake). Different sources give different values for the optimal bankroll depth but i personally think that 50 to 100 buyins is good value. I am playing on the conservative side and follow the 100 buyin rule and frankly am happy with it.

It is the same situation like in life. Can you spend 95% of you salary every month? Yes of course but it is always good to have some reserves in case of unexpected problems.

This is a great explanation. I'd add that "bankroll" relates to those players that are aiming to play professionally or at least seriously. It's kind of like a household budget based upon your income at your job and your savings. Recreationaly players should, but don't necessarily need, a "bankroll" in this sense because they can replenish their playing funds from their job. As a pro or semi-serious player, you lose your bankroll, you can't play or support yourself.

hugh blair · May 4, 2020

Deedgee said:
With online poker, unless you've actually made a withdrawal and received the money, the real money, into your bank account, online poker will always be, on some level, completely imaginary. As we all know, it's a lot easier to make a deposit than a withdrawal. I would love to know how easy, or hard, some of you find it to make a withdrawal from the various poker sites.

Yes thinking about it more my main bankroll would be off the poker sites in a payment processor and counted.
Play money bankroll while still important to have some regardless of the amount would not be counted properly,
As assume it will be lost if at risk and in play as a coping mechanism until withdrawn.
Just a crazy mindset thing everybody is different though depends on personal discipline something that can be a struggle sometimes.
I can easily withdraw 90% or 95% of a poker site bankroll though regularly and drop down in limits or sit there patiently waiting for an hour or two for the next freeroll to start on a poker site even.:top:
If you deposit $100 get to $500 for example and then bust it without making a profit withdrawal playing poker fast becomes problematic financially and mentally for the player.

madmandown · May 4, 2020

I'm bad at bankroll management that's why I fail to make it big in poker but trying to learn from every mistake I make.

popstani · May 4, 2020

Bankroll management is great thing in any aspect of life, not only in poker. But for most of us it’s dream, and it will probably stay a dream. It’s great thing to have healthy bankroll, 100 buy ins for this, 200 for that, 50 for something else, ... etc. Very small number of people have that. Rest of us must play without a proper bankroll, and take shots with hope, that one day will hit that river card, and variance will be on our side to make some money and be closer to our goal- decent bankroll. Some will succeed, many will not. How many of you will recognise them self in this writing?

When is it a bankroll, or just play money?

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