Lots of people have trouble with this very simple and fundamental concept in poker, both live and online - I’ve put this in the online poker section, though, as that’s where most people try to build bankrolls.

When deciding how big your bankroll should be you should look at a number of things:

-How much money can you afford to lose? If you only have a part-time job earning $150 a week then it’s not a good idea to start off playing anything higher than the very smallest stakes (this applies even if you’re a poker God).

-What’s your game like? If you’re a Hellmuth-esque nit then you can probably go with the bare minimum of 20-25 buyins. If your game is wildly loose and bluffy then max out. I know one guy who plays NL5 with an $800 roll - he’s a total freakin’ nit when it comes to bankroll management but at least he’ll never go broke. He probably needs it anyway; he raises suited connectors under the gun.

For a solid, tight player who isn’t too aggressive, 20 buy-ins is probably enough for full ring cash games, with 25-30 for 6-max. A tight-aggressive player probably needs 25-30 for full ring and 35-40 for 6-max. If you’re an incarnation of Sam Farha go with 50+.

These are all NLHE guides - I’ll leave it to Nima to write the limit section.

I would say have 5x the roll for tourneys that you do for cash - there is far more variance, especially in MTTs. In single-table sit’n'goes you can probably afford to have only a little more in your bankroll than if you’re a cash player. In turbo STTs, you need literally hundreds of buy-ins.

Let’s use an example - Bob is a solid player, who prefers shorthanded cash games playing no limit hold ‘em. He also plays tournaments. His cash game is quite tight for 6-max but he is aggressive; he runs something like 22/18/4.

He plays NL200 but when he’s on a good upswing he’ll occassionally take a shot at NL400. He plays a lot of MTTs, usually freezeouts with a $25-$50 buy-in and some single-table tourneys of the same level, but not many. What is a sensible sized bankroll for him?

a) $4000

b) $15,000

c) $7,000

Answers on a postcard, please - I’ll post tomorrow.

Ciao.

Categories: Online Poker, Poker Strategy
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David Sklansky’s Theory of Poker is often – correctly – considered to be the best book on poker ever written. Applying mathematical and psychological theory, this book is truly the “Desert Island Disc” of poker books. I can’t reinforce that enough – if you only ever read one poker book in your life, make it this one.

At first the mathematical processes can be overwhelming but in all honesty there’s nothing overly challenging there – it’s around a high-school level of mathematical problems, and even people who struggle with numbers should wrap their heads around it after some time.

He expresses complex points in a very simple and understandable way, and while you might (nay, will) need to read it several times to fully understand the meanings of what he talks about, once you absorb even a small fraction of what he is getting at you will be a better player.

Some people may be put off by the fact that he draws on examples from lesser-known games such as Stud and Draw poker, but even those examples are explained well enough for novices to those games – and in the back of the book he includes a brief run-down of the rules of Stud, Razz, Draw and Hold ‘em.

In short, if you don’t get this book you are quite literally burning money. It’s as valuable a tool to a player as cards and chips.

Categories: Poker Books
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The very first hand of our new full table was an incredible orgy of all-ins. Here’s how it went down:

I was the big blind and no sooner had my chip touched the felt than the player next to me announced he was all-in in the dark. I could see why, as he moved only t2,750 into the centre of the table. The cards were dealt and the player to his left called, and after two folds another player moved in over the top for an additional t5,000. It folded to the small blind who called, and then the first player moved in for t6,000 more. The small blind called for most of his chips, and after about four years sorting out the main and side pots, the hands were shown down:

UTG shortstack – 7s-Kd

UTG+1 – Ah-Qh

MP – Jc-Jd

SB – As-Kc

Stack sizes meant that only the SB could scoop the lot, and he did it in style when the flop fell Js-Qs-Ts, with the nuts and a nut flush draw. There were splits and redraws possible though, and I heard him breathe an audible sigh of relief when the turn and river both blanked. He took the pot of around t18,000, giving him a stack of t25,000 and reducing the field to 16.

Sadly for me his chip increase turned out to be my demise.

Six-handed and with 12 players left it folded to him in the small blind. With blinds of 800/1,600 he made it t4,000 to go. I looked down at 5d-4d and decided to repop him and steal the pot. I made it t12,000 and was playing about t25,000 behind. Unfortunately he called.

Fortunately the flop was 5h-4d-8s.

I bet t10,000 into the t24,000 pot, intending to call a shove or shove any turn. He simply called, and the turn revealed the 9h. Unless he was playing 9-8 or something that was a good card for me and I went all in for t15,000 more. I think the exact amount was closer to t16,500 but that will suffice.

He was getting slightly less than 3-1 on his money and it was blind vs. blind so I think his call with Ah-8h was fairly reasonable. He had top pair and the nut flush draw, and in addition any 9 counterfeited my flopped two pair. All I had to do was dodge a heart and I would be the chip leader of the table.

The river fell… Kh.

I tried not to feel too dejected as I had only lost a relatively small sum of money and gone deep. Replaying over the final hand it seems I should have let him pick up the blinds, but I (correctly) put him on a marginal hand. If I were him I would have folded that to my re-raise pre-flop, especially out of position and when my stack rivalled his own. On the flop he had top-top and wasn’t going to put me on 44, 55, 88, 76 or some other combination that beat him so I think his call was justified, if a little passive. If he thought he was beat I prefer a shove there, but hey, what do I know? I came 12/52!

Overall it was a very fun night out for me and I’ll be back again. This time hopefully my opponent won’t hit their 2-1 shot and I can go on to take it down.

Categories: News
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