Bankroll Management

20x or bust. Sometimes in life and in poker you need to learn the same lessons over and over and over again. I wont get into the life part, but in poker probably the most important lesson I need to keep relearning is to play within my limits. That does not mean to re buy (something I have never done as was my promise with my lovely wife). It means that you NEED 20x the max buy in to SIT at a no limit poker table.

To clarify this I had a neat chat with another online player the other day. I was discussing a bad beat that I took where I got tired of playing at 50 cent tables and broke my rule and sat down with $100 at a $1 table. I don't have $2000 in my bankroll so this broke the rule no excuses.

The Beat: within three hands of sitting down I flop middle set. Two diamonds on the board. My opponent I know is on a flush draw I raise he re-raises to $22 I push total $98.00 He immediately calls with his flush draw and hits on the river.

The chat: I was discussing another way to play it so I don't end up with all of my money in the pot when you are 2 to 1 at best. If I called his big bet and then pushed on the turn when the diamond missed then he would have to call where he was worse than four to one. I like that play but the player I was chatting with said no he wanted all his money in and his on the flop every time. You will win far more than lose long term with the play that I made..... however, he added, you need to be prepared to loose your two to one in your favour five times in a row.

and that is the rub. So when Mike Caro says to not treat your bankroll like a tournament buy in, I read it, I felt I got it, and then continually got my money in good and lost at a $2 or $4 table when I couldn't afford to loose my 2 to 1 odds in my favour, five times in a row.

So strangely.... the most important lesson I have learned in poker (hopefully for the last time) has nothing to do with pot odds or reading your opponent. It's sit where you can afford to.

See you at the 25 and 50 cent tables until I am ready to loose that hand for all my chips five times in a row... cause when those odds swing around my way... this time I am going to be there to win 10 times in a row... I wont be broke.

Next time you hear a player whining about a bad beat... they are playing beyond their means. Whether you want to accept it or not when you play where you can afford to... it does not hurt. It just doesn't, you say nice hand, you re buy and you wait for that fish to do it again.