Proper Bankroll Management and Tilt

[BookTheWin]

Bankroll Management is pretty essential to online poker success due to the variance of luck in poker.  If you are properly bankrolled for the game you are playing, you should be able to handle any bad beat that you will inevitably suffer.  The majority of players I am certain on here don't play with proper bankroll management.  This is more of a recreational playing poker room which is great. 

Bankroll Management can prove if your a winning player, a break even player or a player that has things they need to work on or change.

To play cash games with full buy in's you probably need at least 25 buy ins if your playing a single table and 40 with 2 tables 60 with 3 tables 75 with 4 tables etc.  With SNG's its probably 20 buy ins and MTT's more like 80 buy ins+.  Most people who 4 table 2c/4c aren't starting with a 300 Euro bankroll, I assume at least.  Most are playing under rolled for various reasons.  They don't have enough money, they don't want to play 2c/4c when they think they are 5c/10c or higher players.  But when you aren't playing properly bankrolled you can go on a horrible down swing and eventually go broke.  I've played for so many years that you can go on incredibly sick downswings, where you lose 20 flips in a row and nothing goes right for days, weeks sometimes months.  

But if you take poker seriously with bankroll management and you are a winning player at the game you are playing, well you shouldn't ever go broke.

Now at the same time, bankroll management is boring, you can stay around the same bankroll till you go on a heater and especially if your playing low stakes you don't make much money for what could be a very long time.

My solution would be while practicing bankroll management when your doing good and profiting, take shots at the next level when you are comfortable to do so and if you can do well enough to get rolled for the next level than move up.  Example: let's say you are 1 tabling 4 euros and you started with 100 Euros.  When your up 5 buy ins for the next level aka 50 euros you could try take a shot at 5c/10c with your Profit and if you lose your 5 buy ins move back down and start again at 2c/4c while being still properly bankrolled.  If you turn that 50 euros at 5c/10c to 250 euros then move up the stakes.  Or try adding a second table at 2c/4c and see if you can still profit while playing more tables.  It's rarely going to be optimal to just play a single table.

Tilt- everyone tilts at some time, but maintaining your tilt better than others is a profitable edge that you can acquire.  Best way I can think of looking at things is, outcomes never matter.  Cash Games are easier than MTT's to contain your tilt, so if your a tilty mctilterson than bankroll management and cash games is probably your best option for now.  MTT's are worse because well you can lose so much potential cash in a single pot relative to your buy in. 

Example: 12 left in a $10 tourney with a $50 Bankroll I'm 2nd in Chips but its a turbo and despite being 2nd in Chips I only had 18 Big Blinds.  12th paid $31 1st paid $460 2nd $340 3rd $250.  Folds to the SB who Open Shoves and he is in 3rd place with 16 Big Blinds.  I have a timing read on the player and I have A5 in the Big Blind.  It would be probably a borderline decision to call in a normal circumstance due to the substantial pay jumps and I'm in decent shape.  But I have a timing tell and I insta call.

He flips over 53 off suit i'm in the best place I can be in,  he makes a straight and I go from being massive chip leader with 11 left to 2 bb's and in sb next hand where i bust in 12th.  That really gets me when in great spots with substantial payjumps and also my final table edge equity.  It makes me mad going from a small win to potentially a really nice win on 75/25 ish hands and you know what I shouldn't be upset at all.

If I was playing with $800 bankroll and playing the $10 tourney instead of a $50 bankroll the $460 first prize doesn't dbl my roll and I can just count it as 1 tourney of 80 and keep going.  But with a $50 bankroll you feel like you just missed out on a shot to 10x your roll instantly.  But at same time playing $10 tourney with 5x bankroll your going broke almost all the time.   MTT's are so about hitting that big homerun and if you don't you will lose your cash fast and need a lot of buy ins to avoid going broke.  All just a matter of perspective if your playing within your means. 

Only Tilt Advice I can give is when they shove with 106 and crack your QQ, you should be thinking you made a profitable decision and they didn't.  You keep getting in spots against that person like that, you are going to be richer and they'll eventually be with less cash.  If your playing with bankroll management it shouldn't faze you because it didn't hurt your overall roll, its just a hand and move on.

[psrquack]

I think that was a standard situation and didn't depend on the BR. Turbo structure, 18 BB's, a tell and a chance to be a massive CL and a bubble situation. The real +EV decision. The better example is when you have 18BB-s, the structure, the tourney, the opponents are the same, but you are the UTG +2 and  UTG goes allin and you have AQ, you get the clue and you think ITM is so near so I fold because +30 euro is almost the half of my BR. That's a multiple wrong decision (palying over your limit and playing badly) and that's much worse than make a good decision and getting bad beated.

Btw the solution is playing satties. If you are a hobby player with €50 you can easily play the €1 satties and getting experienced on the higher level tourneys (€4 or above too).

[JillianP]

Excellent advice, only trouble is those who need it the most probably won't read it!

The same as those on a limited bankroll probably wouldn't be happy playing satellites.

 just a gentle nag darling ❤️

[MoreTBC]

I've always found BRM extremely hard on Unibet due to the big gaps in buy-ins for SNGs/MTTs. Coming from PS, where there are multiple options in the $0-$11, to big jumps (in BRM terms) and a lack of constant options has been tricky. TBH, BRM doesn't exist for me and I've just been lucky with the odd win and things like Butler League fuelling the roll. I'm the posterboy for doing it wrong :)