HUSNG Bankroll Management

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
Charles Dickens
David Copperfield.
 

When you first start out playing poker the last thing on your mind is bankroll management. Some would argue that it is the most important aspect of playing online poker and I would tend to agree in principle. You obviously need to learn how to play optimally and become a better player but if you lose your bankroll in the process then this will never even eventuate. So at all stakes we need a big buffer to counteract the beast that is known as variance. The higher you play the bigger the buffer(ie: number of buy ins) probably needs to be.

Some of things that you need to consider are..

Grab a notepad and jot down your answers to the above questions. It will help you formulate a plan and set some goals which will be critical to your success as a budding HUSNG  poker pro. Keeping the above in mind let's go through how your bankroll management should evolve as your rise up through the ranks of HUSNG's.

I would suggest that you should start out with an initial roll of at least $100. If you start out playing the $5 Sitngos that will give you an initial 20 Buy ins. If you then follow something similar to the following table then you should be in good shape to guage when to move up and down through the levels without too much stress. Don't be in too much of a hurry to move up. The important thing is to learn and become a better player. The money and the moving up will come when you are ready for it.
 

You may have noticed that the buy-ins go up the higher you play. This is because the higher stakes you play the competition will obviously be tougher and hence it is wise to have a larger bankroll to cope with the inevitable variance.

Taking Shots

The above is only a guideline and what you really need to ascertain is what you feel comfortable with. If you are worried about losing more than you can afford then that will inevitably result in playing scared poker. Scared poker is bad poker.Sometimes you may want to take a shot at a level you are not rolled for. This is OK as long as you have a plan, such as just playing 1 or 2 games at the higher level and dropping back down or something similar.

Multi Tabling

For a beginner at heads up it is probably best to concentrate on 1 table to begin with. In Heads Up poker you are almost playing every hand so it is wise to play a minimum of tables. This will also help you improve at a faster rate as you can analyse your play more closely . Obviously if you can multi-table and maintain a similar win-rate then your hourly rate will be higher. The bottom line is again you need to find what works for you, what you are comfortable with and what you are trying to achieve. Are you in this for fun, to make money or to become the best player you can be? You need to think about these questions before you invest your hard earned dollars.

Stop-Loss

How many buy-ins do you lose before you decide to quit? The answer depends heavily on how good your game is compared to your opponents. If you are playing against bad players that you think you have an edge on , then keep playing until you don't feel comfortable losing a certain amount. Usually after 6 buy-ins people start to play badly and tend to go on tilt. Try and always play your A game and quit when you no longer operate at a high level. Of course, it's difficult to be rational when you are tilting.

Bankroll