Bankroll Question

[Jason B]

I hope I put this question in the right forum. I am a long time reader of these forums and have never made a post so please be patient. I have been playing poker for about 8 years now mostly at the 10-20 level live games. This includes stud (although becoming scarce these days) and hold em. I have read every book on the market multiple times. I consider myself to be a successful player. Let me define that. In the past I have taken say $500 and bought in to the game. The majority of the time I cash out ahead. My wins far outway my losses. I have made as little at $20 and as much as $2000 in a session of 10-20. Of course there are times I come out with less than I bought in for. I have never kept a "bankroll" dedicated to poker. If I feel like playing I take it out of that weeks check and go play. If I win, I have extra spending money for that week.

Now to get to the point. I have decided to keep a dedicated bankroll for poker for the first time. I have no plans to play above the 10-20 level but who knows down the road. My plan is to keep a dedicated bankroll and never take from it for other expenses. I will only remove profits to have as some extra spending money. What is a suffient amount of bankroll to play at the 10-20 level. I am thinking of setting aside $4000 but I need some opinions as to whether this is enough.

Thanks for your help in advance and if I posted this in the wrong section I apologize.

[Louie Landale]

First off: you need to know your win rate. If you don't have a bankroll you are probably also not keeping track of your results (hours played and win-loss at a minimum). That means you don't know how much you are making. If you don't know that then you cannot calculate bankroll requirements.

If you are a Pro and its a disaster to get a job, 300BB is a ballpark figure for reasonably selective folks making 1bb/hour ($20/hour). Much less is needed for folks with actual jobs. In fact, bankroll requirements don't make much sense for these folks.

$4000 looks plenty for you.

Keep track of your results. I keep track of hours played, Net, and game played.

- Louie

How OFTEN you win isn't that relevant. In fact, if you are winning 2:1 to losing sessions you are PROBABLY leaving games that are worth playing to "secure" your win and playing in bad games in a vain attempt to avoid a loss. That's a disaster. It may also mean you are playing far too conservatively. I've got a 50:50 ratio, but my wins are bigger than my losses. More reasonable winning folks are probably in the 55:45 range. Folks with higher hourly rates are of course winning more often.

- Louie