Great Time for a Good Pro Tip

Now is a Great Time for a Good Pro Tip on Managing Your Bankroll

With the holiday season and New Years, many Full Tilt Poker players are now trying to play on a tight poker budget. After all of the holiday expenses of shopping and parties, maybe you need a little help managing your poker bankroll.

If you are one of those players juggling holiday bills while trying to keep their poker bankroll intact, Full Tilt Poker Pro, Steve Zolotow, offers some good advice. In Full Tilt Poker’s Pro Tip Number 206, titled “Managing Your Poker Bankroll” Steve begins with a different twist in his approach to the tired question, “How much do I need to play in a certain stake game?” He quickly points out that in this case, the problem is not finding an answer to the question, but with the question itself. The more appropriate question a player needs to ask is, “Given my temperament and current financial situation, how much can I risk in a game?”

Steve categorizes the temperament of poker players into three groups based on their style of play. In the first group are the plodders. These players are the ones who are highly opposed to taking risks. In the next group are the normal players. These are the average players who are willing to take moderate risks when a reasonable advantage is perceived. Then there are the plungers. These are the extreme risk lovers, the players who like to play against the odds, bet aggressively and play marginal hands.

And while all players fit into one of the three groups, Steve notes that “players may be at various degrees of these categories and can even move between one category and another such as with a winning plodder becoming a losing plunger.” He also adds that players may fall into other categories based on life changes such as losing employment, saying I do, or entering parenthood.

Regarding a player’s financial situation, or bankroll, Steve once again divides players into three categories of players that have a small, medium and large bankroll. Steve then defines a bankroll as an amount one could earn in certain amount of time from general work, business, or investment income. Using that gauge, a small bankroll is equal to what a player could earn in a month, a medium bankroll is based on a six-month period, and a large bankroll has an accumulation time of a year or more.

Regarding income, Steve cautions that if a players has no outside source of income, to treat the bankroll as large, meaning that to lose it would be disastrous. This disaster is in comparison to losing a small bankroll which would be only distracting, or losing a medium one being disturbing.

Once you have determined these two crucial components, Steve says to keep your temperament steady from session to session, keeping in mind possible adjustments to the risk threshold by slightly increasing for a great game versus a slight decrease for a bad one. Then determine the correct percentage of your bankroll you plan to risk in any single game by using Steve’s handy pre-calculations.

For a plodder, plan on 10% for a small bankroll, 5% for a medium bankroll, and 3% for a large one. For normal players, the risk would be 15% for a small bankroll, 10% for a medium, and 5 % for a large. And for the plunger, the percentages would be 30% for a small bankroll, 20% for a medium, and 10% for a large. The most important thing to remember is: When you lose your risk threshold amount, quit for the day.

Still feel like playing poker and not ready to quit the game? Then Steve suggests that you re-calculate your risk amount starting from the total in your currently decreased bankroll. He also points out that you can take more risks with a small bankroll since it’s easier to get back, because as your bankroll grows, so does the difficulty of replacing it.

Steve’s guidelines can be very helpful in assisting a winning player in increasing his or her bankroll, while preventing a disastrous loss. Why not give them a try by playing at Full Tilt Poker today?