Texas Holdem Poker FAQ
Question: How important is it to have a bankroll when playing poker?
Answer: Once again it sort of depends on your own situation. If you are a casual player who only plays a few hours a week and can readily top up your poker account should you lose that money then having a bankroll isn’t important.
However, for most full-time or serious players then I would say that it is essential. But what is even more important than having a bankroll is having sound money management principles in place. You can be a world class poker player and be forever busting out (many actually do) just because you simply didn’t have enough money to support the stakes that you were playing at.
Most players (and I am referring to the very best ones here as well) simply do not understand the level of variance that there is in poker. Many totally underestimate the amount of money that they need in order to play at a certain level.
If you are a world class player and you are playing $300-$600 no-limit with only about half a million behind you then you are in serious trouble. You simply cannot ride the fluctuations when you are under bankrolled and have poor money management philosophy. Any player at that level would need in my estimation somewhere in the region of several million at the very least.
If they didn’t have that kind of money to begin with then they would need to be able to put their hands on more money from somewhere. Likewise at a game like limit hold’em, imagine if you were playing something relatively small like $10-$20.
How much do you think is enough for this game? I would suggest at least 300 big bets which is $6000 and this is dependent on the fact that you are a strong player who has demonstrated that they can beat this game for at least one big bet per hour or several big bets per hundred hands if you are playing Texas Holdem online.
If your skill is less and your edge is therefore smaller then you may need 400-500 big bets. I know many world class high-stakes limit players who have as many as 1000 big bets in their respective bankrolls. Do you think that these players just have that amount of money in there purely for show?
Question 2: You are a specialistcash game player, but I want to play online poker tournaments for a living, what advice do you have if any?
Dean Windridge
Answer 2: There are many players who play online poker tournaments for a living. However I certainly do not recommend this avenue of poker in which to play professionally for several reasons. Firstly the variance is very severe in these large fields and you can go a considerable length of time before you seriously cash.
I prefer cash games for a reason and the main reason is because this is where the real consistent money is with the emphasis being on the word consistent. You really need to be playing in tournaments that have added prize money now or a high volume of satellite entries. You need to have an edge somewhere and this means that you either need a skill edge or a money edge in terms of added prize money.
Many serious players totally shy away from online poker tournaments simply because of the fast structures. These are viable reasons and they are not commonly referred to as “donkaments” for nothing. However, despite the super fast structures, there are still ways to get an edge in these events but you really need to be in tune with the speed of these tournaments otherwise you really won’t stand a chance in hell of going deep in them.
Going deep is where the real money is and you need to be hitting those last few places often enough to overcome the juice and the bad runs.