Poker Economics » Poker Bankroll Tips

Bankroll Management – Part II: SnG and MTT’s

economist — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:54:48 +0000

Since poker is a game of variance, it is important to risk as little of your bankroll as possible, while placing yourself in situations that can have positive returns on your investments. Two of the areas that can reap immediate dividends on your bankroll are Single table Sit and Go (or S&G’s) Tournaments, and Multi-Table Tournaments (or MTT’s). This is because the S&G’s and MTT’s generate larger prize pools than cash games do. The trouble with managing your bankroll and playing in S&G’s is that you need to finish in the money to reap a positive return on your investment.

In the case of Single Table S&G’s, when you’re managing your bankroll, it is advised that you spend no more than 5% of your bankroll on your entry fee (not counting the rake for the tournament. In this particular format, a typical pay structure will pay the individuals that finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. For example, in a $2 Single table S&G, your investment would typically be a fixed amount of $2.25 ($2 for the buy in, and $.25 for the rake). The true benefit of the Single Table S&G, is that you cannot lose more than you’re buy in, and 33% of the field will receive a positive return on your investment. What this means is, you need to outlast only 6 other players to make money. The typical payout structure of a single table S&G would be, 50% for 1st place, 30% for 2nd place, and 20% for 3rd place. So for a $2 buy in, it would be typical for 1st to receive $9, 2nd, $5.40, and 3rd, $3.60. Since you’re investment is a fixed 11% of the total prize pool in a single table S&G, you’re receiving a positive return any time that you finish in the top 3 places.

For MTT’s and MTT S&G’s, this number changes. The payment structure is much more favorable to the players that finish deep in the tournament. MTT’s can range from 2 tables (18 players) all the way to 10’s of thousands of participants, and it is typical to pay only 10% of the field in an MTT. Since there is greater risk in MTT’s it is advised that you invest no more than 2% of your bankroll as an entry on these types of events. However, a 1st place finish in a large MTT for 2% of your bankroll can triple your total bankroll or more. Like the S&G’s, your buy in is fixed, so an MTT can be a fantastic way for you to make headway in increasing your bankroll by investing very little.

Because you’re playing in larger fields in MTT’s, you’re often going to be placing in the money on average about 10% of the time. Remember, poker is a game of variance, and eventually, the numbers hold true. It would be impossible to think that any individual could consistently win enough hands to beat 90% of the field, 100% of the time. But the really exceptional players find themselves cashing in MTT’s, anywhere between 12% and 14% on average. This is why investing just 2% of your bankroll becomes so critical. In many of the cashes that you will have, you will only be able to cash for the minimum payout, which is often just slightly above what your buy in is. If you don’t run deep into tournaments, you will see a negative impact on your bankroll nearly 86% to 90% of the time, which is why you must keep your buy-in’s low.

Bankroll Management – Part I: Cash Games

economist — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:59:43 +0000

While poker is a game, the financial aspect of the game has lead to many people treating poker as a business. There are countless people that use poker as their sole means of income. If you’re a successful player with regular positive results, you can easily find a game at virtually any stake, and parlay your buy in investment into a positive or negative return. But it’s the individuals who treat poker as a business that are the ones that can play this game professionally.

The single most important aspect of playing regular poker, either live or online, is managing your bankroll. Knowing how much money to invest in your buy in, and when to walk away are key elements to the survival of a poker player. Because poker is a game of variance, you will both positive and negative returns on your investment from different sessions. Sometimes, that change takes place over the course of just a couple of minutes. But it becomes much easier to look at this game from a successful/unsuccessful venture if you employ a few easy bankroll management rules to abide by.

First, your bankroll must begin with a number that you are ok with losing. If that number is zero, then you should probably be playing poker either in play money tournaments or freerolls only. If you’re playing over your head, your play style will change. Scared poker players become broke poker players. You have to be comfortable with losing in order to fully embrace the result of winning.

Once you have an established number that you’re willing to invest in poker, you need to manage that figure by playing at stakes that will allow you increase your bankroll, and not bankrupt you because of regular variance. Because there are natural ebbs and flows to the game of poker, and having to be willing to accept the losses with the wins, you need to buy into games that will not cripple your bankroll.

For cash games, it is best to invest not more than 5% of your bankroll in a single session for your buy int. What this means for a $100 bankroll, is that you should buy into ring games where the buy in is $5 or less. Most sites have “Micro Stakes” where you can buy into a game at $5, and the stakes are blinds of $.02 for the small blind, and $.05 for the Big Blind. Here, you are risking very little of your bankroll each time you make a rotation around the table. But be mindful of how much money you’re investing at the table. If you go bust, then you should only re-load your chip stack to $4.75, as this will be the new amount of 5% of your new bankroll ($95).

Also, I would advise leaving the table at anytime the amount that you have on the table, is at, or exceeds 10% of your total bankroll. So let’s say that you’ve had a great run, and you’ve been able to double your stack and then some to $13. Well, the $13 in front of you accounts more than 12% of your new total bankroll (you’re new bankroll is $108 – the $95 in your pocket PLUS the $13 on your table). If you get your money all in, and lose, you drop more than 12% of your money on a single hand. That’s too risky. In this scenario, its is best to walk from the table if you’ve reached $10.55, and then find a new game at $5, or at no more than $5.28, which would be 5% of your new bankroll.

Why is Discipline Important in Bankroll Management?

economist — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:04:30 +0000

Your bankroll is your gambling budget, plain and simple. It’s the money that you have set aside to play poker games with. Whether you are playing in brick and mortar casinos or online in a poker room, you need a bankroll to play. While a hefty bankroll will allow you to play more games or at higher stakes, knowing how to properly manage it is the one thing that will truly enable you to improve as a player and allow you to move up in stakes.

Bankroll Management and Discipline

Why is Bankroll Management important? Because it will determine how fast you can grow as a poker player, how easily you can increase your bankroll and conversely, how easily you can wipe it all out in one fell swoop.

Choosing your games wisely is the first step in managing your poker bankroll. Obviously, playing games you’re not adept with or are not as skilled at as compared to other players present at the table, will ultimately result in you losing money before the night is over.

Discipline in bankroll management comes into play by practicing restraint in your game. If you are starting to lose a lot and feel you are playing bad poker (making bad decisions), then you should get up and leave your table before you start betting off your whole bankroll – and then some.

Setting the Rules

When you first start to practice bankroll management, you need to create some rules and stick to them. For instance, before you start playing, you should already know how much you are willing to lose in your games and up to what point you would be willing to play for that session.

The fastest way to stray from good bankroll management is to keep on playing even when you are already on a losing streak – hoping that the next game will be different. Most often, players who think this way start playing more based on their emotions rather than their rational thinking.

What happens then is they become careless with their moves and hence; they find their money dwindling down as the night wears on. So putting appropriate limitations on your game is one of the best ways to be disciplined when it comes to bankroll management.

Can you get rakeback at PokerStars?

economist — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:06:26 +0000

As soon as poker players find out about the joys of rakeback, one of the first things that they search for is information on whether or not PokerStars offers rakeback. So then, does PokerStars offer rakeback?

I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid that they do not. You can search around the Internet and across poker forums as much as you like, but you are not going to find a more positive answer to the old PokerStars rakeback question.

However, all is not lost. Although PokerStars do not offer a flat rakeback deal of say, 27% or 30%, it is possible to earn some of the rake you pay back to your account. So I guess in a way you could call that “rakeback” too. So without further ado, how do you go about getting some your rake back at PokerStars?

All you have to do is trade your FPPs for cash rewards in the PokerStars VIP store.

I’m sure that you’re aware that PokerStars runs a VIP program where you can collect FPPs (Frequent Player Points) for playing in real money cash games and tournaments. The more you play, the points you collect.

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If you head over to the PokerStars store, you will find that amongst other things (like t-shirts, poker books, electrical good and other stuff), you can trade your FPPs for cash bonuses.

This is basically how you turn those FPPs in to rakeback, because you had to pay a certain amount of rake to PokerStars to earn those FPPs in the first place, and now you can trade them in for cash bonuses.

So let’s talk figures. How much effective rakeback can you get from PokerStars by trading points for cash?

Well, that all depends on how often you play and what stakes you play for, as the more frequently you play the higher the rate at which you will be able to collect FPPs. So as a result, the rough PokerStars rakeback %s work on a sliding scale. But to give you a rough idea of the percentages…

Low stakes players up to about $50NL can expect to receive around 10% rakeback if they play frequently enough. Mid and higher stakes players up to the $400NL stakes can expect to earn up to 16% rakeback. Super high-stakes players or super-frequent players can expect to receive between 25% and 40% rakeback depending on how often they play.

As you can see, as a lower stakes player the amount of rakeback that you earn from PokerStars is far less than that of standard rakeback deals, but at the end of the day you are still getting some of your money back to your account! Failing that, you can always trade your points for a nice PokerStars hoodie or something.

On the other hand, if you are a higher stakes player that intends on playing at PokerStars for an extended period of time, the rakeback % rewards are better than those of standard rakeback poker rooms.

All in all, although the principal of trading FPPs for cash rewards is not going to be as ideal or profitable as a standard rakeback deal, at least we always have the option of getting compensated for our real money play at PokerStars in one way or another.

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Building Your Poker Bankroll with Sign-Up Bonuses

economist — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:28:49 +0000

Pretty much every poker room online offers new players a sign up bonus as an added incentive to try out their poker room. These bonuses can range from $50 up to a couple thousand, but the majority of them are meant to match your initial deposit. If you were planning to play poker anyways these initial deposit bonuses are basically free money, which can help you build your online poker bankroll. In this article we will look at how you can build your bankroll using these bonuses by receiving the maximum bonus amount, finding easy to clear bonuses and managing your online poker bankroll.

The majority of poker room initial deposit bonuses are one shot deals so you should always try to get the maximum value from every poker rooms first deposit bonus. Most poker rooms offer a 100% matching bonus up to a maximum amount. This means that to receive the maximum bonus from the poker room you must deposit an amount equal to the size of the maximum bonus. For example, Full Tilt offers a 100% matching bonus up to $600 for all new players. In order to get the most from this bonus offer you must make an initial deposit of $600 at Full Tilt Poker. If you only make an initial deposit of $100, you are basically passing on $500 in free money that could be added to your bankroll. To successfully build your online poker bankroll you should take maximum advantage of all bonus offers.

All initial deposit bonuses have clearing conditions attached to them. Your bonus amount is initially placed in pending bonus account and you must earn some form of frequent player points to clear the bonus and release it into your account. Some bonuses, such as the PKR or the Full Tilt Poker bonuses are very easy to clear, but others such as the Aced Poker bonus clear very slowly. It’s important to investigate the clearing conditions of the bonus before making your deposit at a poker room. In general you want to play at the rooms with easier clearing conditions first. A good way to check the clearing conditions of a poker room is to figure out how much of your bonus is cleared per frequent player point you earn, then compare this amount with the number of frequent player points you receive from paying $1 in tournament fees.

For example, at Full Tilt Poker every Full Tilt Point you earn clears $0.06 of your bonus and you earn 7 points for every $1 that you pay in fees. You can compare these numbers and find that you receive $0.42 back for every $1 you pay in fees. This can be compared to bad clearing conditions like you find at Aced Poker. At Aced you earn 10 VIP points for every $1 you pay in fees and each VIP point is worth $0.004 towards clearing your bonus. This means at Aced you only clear $0.04 of your bonus for every $1 that you pay in fees. You can clearly see that the Full Tilt Poker bonus is much more player friendly.

You should also pay attention to whether the bonus is released in increments or as a lump sum. If it’s released as a lump sum you should make sure that you clear the bonus before it expires, otherwise the entire bonus will be lost. Clearing conditions vary drastically between rooms, so it’s important to investigate the bonus requirements and play at the rooms with easier to clear bonuses first.

While building your bankroll through bonuses you have to make sure to implement strong poker bankroll management. If you go broke at one room, then you will have no money to clear the bonus at the next room. For this reason you should only play games and stakes that your bankroll can manage, due to the variance of online poker. If you implement strong bankroll management then your bankroll should rise over time due to the added money from the sign up bonuses.

Taking advantage of online poker bonuses is very smart and advantageous to your bankroll. If you try to get the maximum value from each bonus and clear the player friendly bonuses first, you should see a steady improvement in the size of your online poker bankroll.

How to Build Your Poker Bankroll

economist — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:49:44 +0000

Are you trying to start playing online poker but don’t know how to create your poker bankroll? Learning to play poker is an investment and it should be treated that way. You don’t want to risk too much when you aren’t positive about the outcome, that is, if you are just learning how to play, you don’t want to risk losing too much! The advice in this article will vary from player to player as we all have different income levels and thresholds of “pain” when it comes to risk exposure.

Create a Poker Bankroll with an Initial Deposit

Logically, the fastest way to create your online poker bankroll is to set aside a certain amount of money from your savings account and deposit at a poker room. This will give you instant access to start playing online at stakes you are comfortable with and stakes that are commensurate with your initial deposit and skill level.

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An additional benefit to starting your poker bankroll with an initial deposit is that at most leading poker rooms you will be able to take advantage of lucrative signup bonuses. Many poker rooms offer incentives to make an initial deposit by offering you a bonus equal to 100% (or more) of you initial deposit up to some amount, usually $500-$600 or more. Bonuses are typically deposited into your online account as you reach (or “clear”) certain milestones until you have realized it’s full amount.

Freeroll your way to a Poker Bankroll

Another way to create a poker bankroll is to signup to a poker room and play in freeroll events to seed your initial online bankroll. Some poker rooms offer tokens to new signups for first time depositor freerolls and they can be a great way to build your bankroll. This is a much slower method of growing a bankroll as the payouts from these freerolls are typically low but the risk is just the time invested. Freerolls can be used as part of the learning experience without the risk.