Posts Tagged ‘poker bankroll’

Poker Bankroll: How Much should you spend on One MTT?

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

A common question among beginning poker players revolves around how much they should spend on a single multi-table tournament buy-in. The general answer is that it’s a good idea to only spend 1-2% of your bankroll on a lone MTT. After all, you wouldn’t want to put too much money into a single tourney and lose a big chunk of your bankroll. But sometimes the general answer just doesn’t cut it because there’s more to consider with this subject.

Field Sizes

The primary aspect to consider when buying into an MTT is how many players are going to be in the event. Assuming you were entering a 100-player poker tournament, you could spend a little more of your bankroll (say 3-4%) because there’s a better chance of cashing. However, if you were entering a 3,000-player tourney or larger, you’d want to stick with the 1-2% recommendation.

Skill Level

Another huge factor in the poker bankroll discussion involves how good you are. Sure this is a no-brainer, but not a whole lot of players consider this in regard to their bankroll. The better you are, the more you can afford to spend on a single tournament. For example, it would be okay to spend 3-4% of your bankroll on any event (regardless of size) since you have a decent chance to cash. However, if you’re relatively new to the game, you should spend a very low amount of your bankroll on each poker tournament.

One more general rule to consider with MTT’s and bankroll is that you should only play at stakes that’ll allow you to lose 20 straight buy-ins without severely affecting your BR. For example, if your BR is $1,000, playing tourneys with $20 + $2 buy-ins would be okay because losing $440 during a major downswing wouldn’t decimate you.

Starting a Poker Bankroll

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

It’s always fun to play free online poker games against other players since you’re not risking any real money, and it’s an entertaining way to pass the time. But even with this being said, many players get the itch to play real money poker games eventually, which means they’ll need a bankroll to get started.

The most obvious way to start a poker bankroll is by depositing money into a site. However, you can also go the freerolls route as well, which gives you an opportunity to win money for free! There are pros and cons to each method for starting a poker bankroll, and we’ll cover them below.

Making a Deposit

By depositing money into a poker site right away, you can jump into the real money action without messing with freerolls. Furthermore, you can put your focus on learning poker strategy and attempting to get better at the game. But you also have to consider the fact that you’re putting your own money on the line, and this money could easily be lost within a few days.

Assuming you aren’t willing to dedicate enough time to learning poker strategy and bankroll management, it’s generally recommended that you focus on freerolls in the beginning. However, if you are a disciplined player and you know some poker strategy, then making a deposit will allow you to get right into the real money games.

Playing Freerolls

The alternative to making a deposit is playing in freeroll poker tournaments. Freerolls don’t charge players any money to play, so all winnings are considered profit. However, you should also consider that, because freerolls don’t charge a buy-in, lots of people like to play them. And this leads to the dilemma of overcrowded tournaments with small prize pools.

To put all of this into perspective, you’ll be wasting a lot of time playing freeroll poker tournaments since the fields are so crowded. And no matter how good you are, online poker does involve variance so more players means less of a chance of cashing.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide if you want to put the time into freerolls when building a bankroll, or if you’ve got enough money to skip right to a deposit.

 

 

Making The Transition From Free Poker To Real Money Games

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

So you’ve been playing free poker online for a while and you’re thinking about making the upgrade to real money poker games. You are probably a little bit nervous and not sure exactly how to go about making the transition. The following tips should help you along.

For starters, it is important to find a real money poker site that meets your needs. You’ll want to choose a site that offers the poker variations you want to play. There are a lot of different poker games, from Texas Hold’em to Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Caribbean Stud and more. Make sure the site you choose offers all the variations you want to play. You should also make sure the site you choose offers limits that meet your poker bankroll. When you are starting out, a site that offers low limits is a smart move, as you won’t want to place huge bets when you are just starting out.

You can choose an online poker site that offers a welcome bonus as well, so you can start out playing with bonus money so you won’t lose any of your actual poker bankroll while getting the hang of the software and real money poker experience.

Start out playing the lowest-limit poker games. As you begin to win more and more, gradually increase the limit at which you are playing until you find a limit you are comfortable with. If you ever feel like you want to brush up on your poker skills, just go back to a free poker game.

Free Poker Isn’t Just For Newbies

Monday, May 17th, 2010

I’ve been playing online poker for years now, but I still play free poker games on a regular basis. There are a lot of players that think that once you switch to real money poker games you can never go back, but there are a lot of very good reasons for playing poker for free, even after you start rolling with the high rollers.

One of the main reasons I play free poker games is to brush up on my poker skills when I’m in a bankroll rut. We all go through ups and downs when it comes to spare cash – especially when the bills roll around. If you stop playing cold turkey when you don’t have the money then your poker skills will suffer. Playing for free prevents that from happening.

Playing poker for free also gives me the opportunity to try out new poker games and variations that I haven’t played before, without risking my poker bankroll. I usually stick to Hold’em, so if I want to try out other games free poker gives me a great opportunity to do that.

Finally, a free game can be a great way to get into the groove just before you sit down at a real money table. I like to play a few games of free Texas Hold’em to get ready for real money play. If I am off my game then I find out before I lose money on it. So don’t throw free poker to the wayside, it’s got a lot of great perks.

Free Poker Isn’t Just for Beginners

Friday, March 26th, 2010

I’ve been playing real money poker for years. However, although I enjoy the rush I get from playing money games I still enjoy free poker. Sure, it’s a great way for newbies to learn the rules of the game, strategies and tricks of the trade. But free poker games can be fun for everyone.

There are a couple of situations that I think free poker games are great in. For starters, sometimes you are simply in a money crunch. Everyone has bills to pay and when you just can’t afford playing real money games playing for free can be a great way to still enjoy the game and keep your skills up until you can build your poker bankroll up once again.

I also like to play free poker games when I learn about new poker strategies. For instance, if you’ve just learned about continuation betting (also known as the c-bet) it’s better not to try it out for the first time when you have real money on the line. Playing for free gives you a chance to try out these new skills, practice them and decide if you want to use them when playing for money.

There are all sorts of free poker games on the Web. You can play a Flash game against the computer or compete for fun against other real poker players from all over the world. Free poker isn’t just for beginners anymore!

Poker Betting Tips

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Playing poker for real money can be fun and exciting. However, a problem that many poker players face-and especially newbies-is a lack of knowledge about how to bet. A lot of players think that by randomly changing up the amounts of their bets they can keep their opponents guessing. However, without a basic knowledge of how to bet when you play poker for real money it can be challenging to build your poker bankroll.

The first rule of poker betting is that you should make big wagers when you want to bet. Betting big serves a dual purpose. For starters, the larger the wagers you make the more money you will get into the pot. After all, you want the pot to be as large as possible when you win! When you place big wagers you also succeed in getting players who aren’t sure about their hands to fold, clearing the way for you to take the pot.

If you are sure that you have a good hand at the beginning of the game, pre-flop, then you want to get as many players to fold as possible before the flop. You can do so by placing a bet worth up to three or four times the big blind. Then, as the game progresses you should increase your bets in order to get more players to fold. Placing pot-sized bets or larger in the later rounds of the game can achieve this objective.

You can practice betting with a free poker game online or begin with low limit games while you learn and improve your betting skills.

Tips for Building Your Poker Bankroll

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

If you are playing poker online for real money, one of the most important things is your poker bankroll. You need money to play the game and you don’t want to wind up in a constant cycle of depositing money, losing it all, depositing more and losing it all again and again. The following tips can help you build your bankroll and keep from running it right back into the ground.

For starters, you’ll want to start building your bankroll in your every day life before you start to play poker for real money. Put aside a little bit every week and once you have a good amount start using it to play poker. Keep in mind that your poker money will be used only to play poker and that you will never break into your non-poker bank account to play poker. If you want to avoid big losses it’s important to keep your poker money separate from the rest of your money.

When you are playing real money games it is important to choose betting limits that match your bankroll. If you play at a high limit table with a tiny bankroll it will be gone before you know it. As a rule of thumb, play at limits that you could afford at least 200 big blinds in. When it comes to tournaments, never enter a tournament with a buy-in that is more than 1% of your bankroll.

If you stick to these simple tips you can build a strong poker bankroll and hold on to it.