Bankroll Management Questions (from the Poker Mindset)

[alanrwilson]

Hi,

I have a question about the Bankroll Management section of the book The Poker Mind Set. In this book it says that your bankroll should be approximately 300 big bets. Now if I go on tilt or have a lots of bad beats this will erode my bankroll possibly to a level significantly less than the 300. Obviously if my bankroll is say now only 200 big bets this is much less than the recommended level and I would be playing a limit with an insufficient bankroll. Is the only solution to this to go to a lower limit where my bankroll is the minimum 300 big bets or should I continue to play at the current level taking in the long term view and assuming that if my play is good enough my bankroll will go back up?

The other question I want to ask is if I am playing online what actually constitutes my bankroll, if I say had an account on Poker Stars with $1000 and an account on Full Tilt with $1000 should I consider my bankroll to be the sum of my accounts i.e. $2000 so I can use $2000 as a basis for my 300 big bets. Taking an alternate view if I say had a special bank account which I only used for Poker, this had $2000 in it, and I only had $1000 in my Poker Stars account would my Poker Stars bankroll be only $1000 or could I say that my bankroll is $3000 so I could play at a $5/$10 game using the 300 big bets rule of thumb.

I have used the Bank roll calculator on the website but can someone explain the standard deviation field means.

Thanks.

[cnburns]

The 300 big bet bankroll is just an arbitary number that, if you are a winning player at that limit, mathmatically, you should never go broke. However, it is my no means a guarantee you won't go broke. It takes into account bad beats and the such because sometimes you will profit from the players mistakes. But if you are tilting, you probably are not beating that level and will eventually go broke.

If your bankroll is signigicantly under 300 big bets it is not a bad idea to drop down and build your bankroll/confidence back up. Yes long term you might come out of this downswing but I know my confidence level suffers during such times.

Many people consider their bankroll to be money they have set aside exclusively for poker, whether it is in a savings account or multiple poker accounts. It is your choice what you consider your bankroll. Personally I use what I have on a site since I'm an American and it is a pain to move money around without tons of fees.

Finally, standard deviation is a number which basically tells you your variance. If you have big swings, higher variance. higher standard deviation, more cushion needed in your bankroll for the downswings.

Hope this helps.

[taz115]