Confession 008 — The Bloody Bankroll

I confess. I’m an amateur when it comes to bankroll management.

Now that I am playing more poker than I ever have before, I’ve started to look at bankroll management as a critical aspect of my overall gameplay strategy. More than anything else, I want to keep playing meaningful poker. That means I need to be cognizant of good bankroll management techniques to insure I can keep playing and don’t overextend myself.

Good bankroll management means playing at micro stakes games while I learn specific gameplay mechanics and nuance of new games. This is investment poker. I expect to lose chips until I start to understand and implement effective gameplay. As I improve and start winning, I begin increasing the stakes slowly as my bankroll allows. Once I understand a game, I try to play at stakes that are high enough to make the gameplay more stabilized and less erratic.

Keeping an eye on stats and on the long game is essential in order to have a stable bankroll and to achieve reliable online poker success. You need to insure that you can ride out any stretches of dry cards you hit, and that you are taking best advantage of your poker strengths. Stats are critical to be able to track results over time and quantify exactly where you are improving the most and where you most in need of improvement. I love the work that the Seals Clubhouse team is doing in that department. They are currently offering SwC Poker statistics tracking by player for all multi-table tournaments (MTTs), Freerolls, and Sit and Go tournaments (S&Gs). You can look up your own stats for free or you can get the stats of any other SwC Poker player in the system for a few SwC chips. Get all the details at the Seals Clubhouse.

Your exact bankroll requirements will vary with your comfort level and the aggressiveness of your gameplay, but a good rule of thumb is that your bankroll should be big enough for you to afford about 50 buy-ins at the stakes you are playing. Some are more cautious and play stakes where they can afford 100 buy-ins. It’s up to you, but be cognizant of where and how you are playing and how it impacts your bankroll.

You should ideally preset specific actions when milestones are reached on your bankroll. If you get to a place where your bankroll is bleeding, you should have a preset point where you switch to lower stake tables to sustain your losses until you start winning again.

If your bankroll is growing, then you should also preset a point where you will increase stakes. If your bankroll continues to grow at higher stake tables, you preset a point where you will withdraw some of your gains as a reward to yourself. It’s good to have goals and these milestone/reward structures really feel great when you achieve them.

Speaking of cashing out some of your gains, cash outs are super FAST at SwC Poker. I’ve been steadily building my bankroll and I decided that I should test how fast it takes to convert some of my hard earned chips into cash. I initiated a withdrawal from SwC to my personal wallet and held my breath. The bitcoin showed up in just a few hours! That’s really speedy and a significant competitive advantage for SwC Poker over many other online poker rooms. I use Circle to convert bitcoin to dollars at no cost. I have linked my bank account to Circle so that when I sell bitcoin there, the funds get automatically transferred into my account overnight.

So in less than 24 hours, I went from chips at SwC Poker to cash in my hands from my nearest cash machine. There’s nothing better than some online cheddar!

Be sure and tune into the Fish Fry Radio Show and look for me at the following tournament as there’ll be a 5 chip bounty on my head. See you there!

THE KING OF HEARTS

This weekly column serves as a guide for those who are interested in online bitcoin poker but haven’t yet taken the plunge and for those who are just dipping their toes in the water.

I talk about online bitcoin poker from a beginner’s perspective with the goal of demystifying the various poker game forms as well as all aspects of online play, table and lobby etiquette, and anything else related to this space. I’m enjoying spending time with you.

Poker Vocabulary and Abbreviations
Bankroll — the money a person designates for playing poker
Ante — a forced bet required of all players before the hand begins
Overbet — a bet larger than the size of the pot
Purse — the total prize pool in a tournament
Stakes — the amount one buys in for and can bet

Please send all questions, comments and suggestions to confessionsofapokerhusband@gmail.com.

My opinions and observations are my own do not reflect the opinions of SwC management. I will respond to all messages and I welcome your feedback.

Originally published at swcpoker.eu.