You may have read stories about successful pros who rose to the top on 30- or 40-buy-in bankrolls.
Well guess what? It’s selection bias. They got lucky. Literally hundreds of players who could have
been just as successful did the same thing and went broke. If you play on 30 buy-ins, it’s only a matter of time before you too bust out.So what can you do? First, assume solid 6-max pros almost never
suffer 30 buy-in downswings due to chance alone. This is not true, butit’s a great assumption.
If you find yourself in a big downswing, ask how much you are tilting and stub bornly sticking to tough games.Then ask whether the game has changed. And don’t forget collusion.
This is one of those delicate topics that all the “in” people don’t like to talk about. But the fact is
, if Andy and Danny get on instant messenger and play best-hand against you, you will take a major hit right in the win rate.The best way to deal with a small downswing is to tighten up a little while you determine whether you have played well. Run hands by your poker friends, your coach, or the online forums. Review stats like VP$IP, PFR, 3-Bet Percentage, and C-Bet Percentage, and analyze them by position—not just as averages—to help figure out if you are making consistent mistakes.
The best way to deal with a big downswing is to take a few days off. Relax, exercise, sleep, and get your head back in the game.After a few losses, you should step down. There comes a point in a
downswing where you may be playing badly and not know it. In general, after losing 20 buy-ins, notonly should you take a break and analyze your recent game, you should also seriously consider dropping down a limit or two.So how big a bankroll do you need? Clearly—and perhaps surprisingl—it is more than 40 buy-ins. But what is the magic number for an online pro who doesn’thave much room to move down and still make a good living? This number depends on a great many factors, such as how much you think games might change, how aggressive you are, your risk tolerance, your win rate, your living expenses, how much you tilt, and how good you are at stepping down.
It also assumes you don’t have a job or a trust fund to replenish your your bankroll.
No matter how you slice it,it’s just an estimation. No one can know your true number.
But who are we to deprive you of our recommendation? If forced to give you a specific bankroll number, ours is:100 buy-ins You may not like that recommendation. That’s okay. Our goal with
this has been to challenge you to see situations in new ways—to see all 64 squares if you will—and to help you survive and thrive in the online poker world. If this recommendation sways you to keep 60 buy-ins in your bankroll instead of 30 buy-ins, then we have done our job. We have increased your chances of survival dramatically, and even more importantly, we have made you think.
You need way more than you think you need. You need way more than the successful pros say you need. You need way more than the statisticians say you need.
You need a lot.
Protecting your poker bankroll and more:
I'm not a strong advocate of bankroll science. In fact, I think that most things said about bankrolls are not science at all.
They are mostly just homespun wisdom. I'm going to start by telling you something that you know is true in your heart. You should never criticize a person for taking "too much" risk, so
long as that person understands the risk being taken and has the best of it. The more risk you take, the more likely you are to capture sudden wealth, and the more likely you are to be
damaged in the pursuit.
The risk is up to you.
That's important, and I'll repeat it. The more risk you accept, the more likely you are to suddenly prosper and the more likely you are to suddenly go broke. So, you see, it's your choice. What's an unacceptable risk for you may be tolerable for someone else. It's
a personal decision. It's up to them. And it's up to you.
Also, you should be aware that there are mathematically derived methods that can be used to maximize your chance of success once you've defined your goals. Although we've discussed these concepts before, we won't deal with them today.
Not everyone needs a bankroll.
Players who only expect to play occasionally, or who are playing recreational, can just bring whatever they can afford whenever they can afford it. Bankrolls are things you build and are designed for people without infinite assets who want to play regularly.
You must play your best game all the time.
The policy of playing your best game most of the time is the greatest destroyer of bankrolls there is. At higher-limit games, players actually seem to take turns "going on tilt." If you pass your turn quite often, without your opponents realizing it, you'll win
the most money.
Important things you can learn if you want to succeed at poker. You are not likely to succeed if you decide to blatantly take advantage of knowledgeable opponents' super-loose play. If they're taking turns going on tilt, and you come into the game and play
perfectly stable, you won't fit in. They will resent you and often they will stopproviding you with profit.
The trick is to play along and show some fast action, too. Simulate tilt. Make them aware of it. But pass your turn when they don't notice. Among equally skilled players,the one who spends the least time on tilt (or simulating tilt) wins the most money.
Be selective about your games.
Don't routinely take the first one you see. Most of your profit will come from good games. Even most winning players lose money in tougher games.Those are fighting words, but they're true. If I could select the worst 50 percent of games that professionals played in throughout their careers, most would be losers for those sessions. It is the other 50 percent of their games - and sometimes an even much smaller portion of their games - that supply the profit for most pros. Game select ion is much more important than most players suppose.
You should be less protective of a small bankroll.
The larger your bankroll grows, the more worthy it is of protection and the less chances you should take. That's because a large bankroll would be much harder to replace from sources in the world beyond poker. You can usually get a small starting
bankroll from the "real" world, but it's unlikely that you will be able to replace an established bankroll in the same way.
The term bankroll may be one of the most important words in a poker player’s vocabulary.
Proper Bankroll Management Minimums:
$65 - $1.10 STTs
$87 - €1.10 STTs
$90 - $1.10 18-man
$128 - $1.10 45-man,
$130 - $2.20 STTs
Cash out strategy:
Pay yourself according to volume, not results.
Remove the following from your bankroll every time you play these games:
STTs: 3% of your buy in
18-man: 4% of your buy in
45-man: 5% of your buy in
When your total cash outs reach the site's minimum cash out requirements, then cash out as soon as you can.
When used together, over time, the Bankroll Management and Cash out Strategy will:
- Keep you playing at or near your optimal level. You won't have to decide what games to play. The system will do it for you.
- Ensure that you are beating the games at a high enough ROI to continue to play them.
- Keep you from facing high % fluctuations in your bankroll so your mindset is good.
- Have you making frequent cash outs no matter what your results are. This stops the endless cycle that some people have of moving up and moving down, but never cashing out!
- Allow you to plan. Your income will be easily predictable.
- Encourage you to increase your volume.
- Give you the opportunity to take an occasional shot at a bigger event and chase your dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment