Playing Poker for a Living: Bankroll Management
The
first step to making poker a living
is to understand the importance of
money management. When you’re
playing poker online, it’s easy
to lose track of how much you are
winning or losing. More money can
be loaded into your account with
the click of a button, meaning you
could find yourself in a deep hole
before you know it. Here are some
tips for maintaining good online
bankroll discipline in poker.
Set Deposit Limits
Most of the bigger
poker sites have an option that
allows you to set deposit limits.
This specific amount represents the
maximum you can deposit in a week.
If you try to load more than your
deposit limit into your account in
a week, the site will decline the
transaction. You can set the limit
for however much you want, but once
it is set, you cannot reload until
the time period has expired. You
can reset the limit, but the
resetting usually takes at least 24
hours to take effect. This feature
helps protect compulsive players
from themselves, and can also help
you slow down and assess your poker
bankroll situation. It’s not enough
to know
how to win at online poker -
you have to able to handle your
money as well.
Have a Plan
Decide beforehand how much money
you will commit each week to
tournaments and/or cash games. If
you end up winning, that’s great,
you’ll have more money to play with
the following week. If not, you can
assess where you went wrong without
suffering too much damage to your
bankroll.
Be Patient
With all the options people have
playing online poker, it’s tempting
to jump into a bigger game as soon
as you hit an extended winning (or
even losing) streak. Resist this
temptation. Move up in limits as
part of an overall poker plan that
involves tracking your progress and
knowing when you are ready to
advance. This increases the chances
that you will be able to thrive at
the new level.