Poker bankroll - learn how to manage your poker bankroll.

There are many fine aspects of poker play you need to consider, before ever hoping to be something close to a winning player. Bankroll management is one such thing, but contrary to what a rookie may believe, it is a very essential part of poker strategy along with receiving a healthy texas holdem bonus.
In order that you should understand what bankroll management is all about, we’ll take a look at an example:
In a tournament, when you’re faced with an opponent who owns a much larger stack than yours, you’re dominated. The reason is that he can make a whole array of calls you just cannot afford to make on your feeble stack. If he raises exactly as much on a hand as your whole stack (which is but a small fraction of his) he’ll force you to make a life and death “all-in” decision all the time, something that carries pretty poor odds in tournament poker.
By forcing you to make this do or die choice a few times in a row, he’ll have you smothered to oblivion in no time. This is where the power of the bigger bankroll comes into play in the most obvious manner.
In cash games, the whole thing is a bit more subtle. The blinds are constant here, so nobody is really forced to play out of his comfort zone. This will result in tighter games, and a less obvious domination on the part of the bigger stack. Make no mistake though, the domination is still there. A larger stack in a cash game will act in much the same way it does in a tourney: it’ll keep a bunch of options open for the player who possesses them, thus giving him an edge over his opponents who have fewer choices. Guys with larger stacks will be able to bully people around, and thus force them into making mistakes.
There is though, a longer-term benefit in having a big stack in front of you: it will absorb the short-term variation specific to Texas Holdem, and if you’re a good player, It’ll keep you in the game long-enough so you can become a winner. You see, in order to ever be a winner, you need to play and to play for a good while. This is the reason why experts say there’s a lot of value in survival in poker.
Most people never fully grasp the concept behind playing properly bankrolled. For the above-mentioned reasons, you’ll start with a handicap when faced with those who know how things really work.
Still others, who know about the importance of playing properly bankrolled, woefully underestimate the size of the bankroll they deem “proper” for a certain limit. As you can clearly see, balancing this whole bankroll issue is not at all simple.
Sometimes even some really good players have trouble with it. They play at a certain limit where they are properly bankrolled, and they win. At a certain point, they feel they’ve won enough to move on to another limit, and they do so. They win some more there and move up again, but by then they’ve lost track that their bankroll no longer fits the limit they’re playing at. Then trouble strikes and they’re broke before they know it.
The poker bankroll is not something you can afford to treat lightly and play around with. With improper bankroll management, a good player can easily become a mediocre or a downright weak one. Without playing properly bankrolled, you shall never reach your true potential as a poker player.
All articles written by (c) James West.