Carefully managing your money is an integral part of being a successful tournament player. It doesn’t matter how good of a player you are, if you don’t have any bankroll left!
Here are my Top 3 Tips for bankroll management for online poker tournaments.
1. Don’t Take Too Many Big Shots
There is always another poker tournament. If we can’t find a way to buy into a tournament comfortably, it’s usually not going to be worth it.
It’s not the end of the world to miss a tourney if it could put our bankroll at risk.
That’s not to say we should never take shots, but we are looking for those juicy spots. Don’t tie yourself down to specific amounts of buy-ins required.
Be smart when making decisions.
Any serious tournament professional knows that it’s incorrect to investment more than a tiny % of our total bankroll in one event.
2. Mix In Lower Limit Tournaments
Not every event needs to be a high buy-in event where we are looking for a big score. The problem here is that variance can quickly take over. This outcome can, result in losing months or even years.
It’s a smart idea to try and find ways to reduce the effects of that variance. Mixing in lower-limit tournaments is a great way to do this.
Playing fields with fewer entries can also help us to secure more consistent profits.
Going for long periods without profits is a difficult thing for a poker player. Anything we can do to counteract this makes sense in the long run.
Good players are not merely trying to get lucky in one big event. Rather, they consistently show up with solid strategies while putting in high volume.
3. The 1% Rule
Admittedly I’ve always just looked to make good decisions rather than following set rules. But if we want a decent rough ballpark figure, do not to invest more than 1% of our total bankroll in one event.
In other words, if we have $500 in our bankroll, the maximum buy-in for an online tournament is $5. This amount might seem restrictive. But it’s good to remember that variance in online tournaments is exceptionally high.
What if we are working with a smallish bankroll (less than $100 for example)?
It might seem that we would be forced to play outside of proper bankroll management. A glance at the 888poker tournament lobby shows that are many tournaments with buy-ins less than $1.
In fact, there are several tournaments and satellites which cost only $0.01 to join. 9-handed sit and go’s start from $0.10.
Some players have gone on to rake in huge scores after qualifying for a few cents from an 888poker event.
Combined with the freeroll tournaments that are offered by 888poker, there is no need to play under-rolled.
We shouldn’t have to invest chips that we can’t afford to lose.
It’s entirely possible in the modern poker world to build a bankroll from scratch with a little time and dedication.