Bank Roll Management

One of the most important, if not the most important aspect when playing a winning poker game has nothing to do with how you play your cards or the tells you pick up on someone, it is about managing your money and playing games within your "roll".

Because poker is a game of skill and LUCK, you need to be able to manage the swings of the game you are playing.  A friend of mine had the pleasure of meeting with Phil Helmuth and Johnny Chan a year back and asked them about managing their bankrolls and how much you should have to play poker with.  They both answered around the same.. To sum it up, if you are a recreational player with a full time job, you should have 15-25 times the buy in amount for the game.

So if you are a regular 1/2 NLHE player, you should have around $3000 to $5000 to play in these games.  

They also mentioned that if you are playing poker full time as a job, that you should have 200-250 times the buy in!! Yikes!  For a 1/2 game you would have to have $40,000 to $50,000 just for your poker bank roll!!!

A lot of people think that once you move up in limits, that it is embarrassing to move back down.  Don't ever let your ego get in the way of your Poker Bank Roll!